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The |
e-AADDvocate |
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Newsletter of
All About Developmental
Disabilities (AADD) |
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Our mission
is to build
communities of
support, acceptance,
and opportunity for
children, adults,
and families living with
developmental
disabilities
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Issue 51
August 2009 |
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(Click
on title below to go directly to
article.)
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1. AADD celebrates
Mary Yoder's 33 years of service |
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Mary Yoder (far right) thanking
guests for attending her
retirement party and supporting
AADD. |
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June 30 was a bittersweet day at
the All About Developmental
Disabilities office. Current
and former staff, Board and
Advisory Board members, and
other friends of AADD
congregated to celebrate Mary
Yoder’s career on her final day
before her retirement.
More than 100 people gathered to
thank Yoder for the many ways
she touched their lives and
for her decades of service to AADD’s core mission of
supporting people with
developmental disabilities.
Yoder started her career with
AADD in 1976 as an Advocacy
Specialist. When Outreach
Specialists wanted a different
perspective in addressing
specific issues or needed
assistance advocating for
program participants, Mary was
the person to whom they turned.
When the Director of Project
RESCUE (the predecessor to
AADD’s Georgia Family Support
program) left to work for the
Georgia Advocacy Office, Yoder
reluctantly became the Acting
Director, though she continued
to focus much of her time on
working to solve participants’
problems.
In July 1978, Yoder took the
reins as Director of Project
RESCUE, which became the
position of Director of the
Community Services Division in
an organizational restructuring
in 1994. Later that year, Yoder
began serving as the Assistant
Executive Director under Tom
Graf.
When Graf decided to retire in
2003, AADD’s Board of Directors
formed a Search Committee to
begin the extensive process of
finding a new Executive
Director. After several months
of collecting résumés and
interviewing candidates, the
Search Committee chose Yoder.
Through her six year tenure as
the Executive Director, Yoder
oversaw the production of AADD’s
50th Anniversary Film
Series and Family Reunion, two
conferences focusing on the
Justice system and how it
affects persons with
Developmental Disabilities, and
six Legacy of Leadership
events which worked to expand
the agency’s donor base and
raised over one million dollars
for AADD. As evidence of the
esteem she earned, staff and
Board members alike nominated
Yoder for AADD’s Employee of the
Year award, which she received
to a standing ovation in May at
the Heart of Gold Awards event.
The Mary Yoder Fund for
Emergency Needs is one of the
many ways Yoder’s legacy will
continue at AADD. Established
after her retirement was
announced, the Mary Yoder Fund
will assist program participants
who find themselves in dire
circumstances. As of July 16,
more than 30 donations have been
made, raising over $3,000 for
the fund. For more information
about the fund and about how you
can contribute, please read the
article below.
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Denise Shaw waits for Advisory
Board members Chip and Darlene
Conrad to finish arranging a
dish as
guests mingle around them.
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2. Blanchard takes lead at AADD,
optimistic in the face of
challenges |
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Dave Blanchard, AADD's new
Executive Director, speaks to
guests at Mary Yoder's
retirement party.
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With Mary Yoder’s retirement on
June 30, Dave Blanchard, All
About Developmental
Disabilities’ former Director of
Public Policy & Education, took
over the reins of the
organization as the Executive
Director on July 1.
Blanchard began his career with
AADD in August, 1999 as the
Project Coordinator of Partners
In Policymaking and was promoted
to Director of Public Policy a
year later. During an
organizational restructuring,
Blanchard’s title was amended to
Director of Public Policy &
Education in 2004. After the
Board conducted an extensive
search and interview process,
Blanchard’s promotion to
Executive Director was announced
at the 2009 Heart of Gold Awards
event. Before joining AADD,
Blanchard was Service
Coordinator for the Early
Intervention Program for the DeKalb County Board of Health
that developed and evaluated
Individualized Family Service
Plans for children, birth to
three years, with developmental
delays. From 1996-1998,
Blanchard served in the Peace
Corps in Papua New Guinea where
he trained and managed volunteer
health educators.
Blanchard takes over the agency
during a particularly difficult
time. The poor economy has led
the State of Georgia and United
Way of Metropolitan Atlanta to
drastically cut funding for
support. These cuts have had a
real impact on AADD’s community
support for people with
developmental disabilities.
Additionally, revenue from
AADD’s partnership with the Last
Chance Thrift Store chain is
down as donations of clothes and
household goods have slowed.
The decreased revenue has forced
AADD and the Board of Directors
to make some very hard
decisions, including the
discontinuation of AADD’s
Recreation and Leadership
Development & Training programs
for the foreseeable future.
Despite the agency’s financial
challenges, Blanchard remains
optimistic. “For more than 50
years, AADD has worked through
difficult financial times. I
have faith that we will come out
of this crisis stronger and
ready to spend the next 50 years
building communities of support,
acceptance, and opportunity for
children, adults, and families
living with developmental
disabilities.”
To compensate for the losses,
Blanchard is refocusing agency
fundraising efforts on finding
other diverse sources of
funding. Additionally,
Blanchard has been working with
other AADD staff to educate
state officials to recognize the
critical need for increased
funding and the unique role AADD
has among disability service
providers in Georgia: serving
individuals and families living
with developmental disabilities
in the most difficult economic
circumstances. Without the kinds
of services AADD provides, this
population is at extremely high
risk.
To become a part of our
important work, please consider
donating financially to AADD.
Follow
this link to make a secure
online donation or you can
contact Bradley Hartman at
404-881-9777 ext. 221 or
Bradley@aadd.org.
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3.
AADD regretfully discontinues
Recreation program, says goodbye
to Dan "Dij" Evatt |
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Dan "Dij" Evatt (second from
left in yellow shirt) pictured
with AADD's 2009 BRAG team. |
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With decreases in revenue from
the State of Georgia and other
funding sources, All About
Developmental Disabilities
reluctantly decided to
discontinue its beloved
Recreation program and lay off
Dan “Dij” Evatt.
“It was a very hard choice to
make,” said Linda Wilson,
President of AADD’s Board of
Directors. “Everyone loves Dan.
He’s been a wonderful
ambassador for AADD: inspiring
many thousands of individuals
with disabilities to live
healthy lifestyles; partnering
with more than forty other
groups and agencies to provide
recreational and social
activities for people throughout
the metro area; and breaking
down social barriers to create
communities that welcome people
with disabilities. I’ve admired
Dan for years, so it was
agonizing for me and everyone
else on the Board to come to the
realization that we just
couldn’t afford to continue
Recreation services.”
Evatt touched thousands, but it
is in the individual stories
that demonstrate his impact. A
mother of a cycling participant
told about how Evatt came over
to the house on his own time to
put together a bicycle. That
individual has been a repeat
participant on the unified team
that Evatt leads on Bicycle Ride
Across Georgia (BRAG) each
year. This year he led a party
of eight AADD Recreation
participants and supporters on
the 325 mile, week-long BRAG.
The trip took riders from
Hiawassee though Dahlonega,
Mount Airy, Athens, Elberton,
and Washington on to Clarks Hill
Lake, right on the border with
South Carolina. Evatt recently
displayed pride in all of this
year’s participants, noting that
one in particular “dropped 50
pounds when he began riding, and
now he goes all over the place
on his bike. He’s gained his
freedom."
Evatt was also responsible for
organizing AADD’s annual Holiday
Dinner/Dance and Valentine’s Day
Dance events, where his personal
connections with people were
most evident. Evatt spent much
of each event greeting
participants with a hug and a
smile, while many attendees
would make a point to approach
Evatt at some point during an
event and thank him for his
work.
“We’re very sorry to lose Dan,”
said Lesa Hope, AADD’s Director
of Community Services. “He’s a
friend to everyone he meets,
both here in the office and out
in the community. Dan built the
Recreation program from the
ground up, and it’s become a
great source of pride for the
agency. We’re in mourning at
the loss of funding for our
Recreation program, and we wish
Dan the best of luck in all of
his future endeavors.”
Evatt’s departure and the
program closing will be
disappointing for many in the
Atlanta area. Evatt has served
as AADD’s Recreation Manager
since 1988 and has become a
familiar face to many in the
disability community. Over the
years, Evatt has become a real
asset to other partnering
organizations, supporting events
with groups such as Special
Olympics of Georgia, the YMCA
and Parks and Recreation county
programs. The loss of this
Recreation program and Evatt’s
expertise will no doubt reduce
the number of opportunities for
recreation, making it even
harder to respond to the demand
for these kinds of programs.
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4. AADD employee
honored with Distinguished Service
Award |
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Rena Tolbert, AADD Outreach
Specialist, enthusiastically
helping a program participant's
child in educational play.
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On June 3, AADD Outreach Specialist
Rena Tolbert received a
Distinguished Service Award at the
annual Metropolitan Atlanta Employee
60+ Award.
Quiet and unassuming, Tolbert has
worked continuously at AADD for 38
years. In addition to providing her
professional support for individuals
and families with developmental
disabilities, she has been a mentor
and a source of strength within the
office. In the nomination for her
award, Tolbert’s patience, sense of
humor, and uncanny ability to handle
difficult situations were mentioned
as several of the qualities that
made her an employee worth
honoring. Despite qualifying for
retirement, Tolbert continues to
work as a part-time Outreach
Specialist, even though she also
assists in the care of her grandson
who has quadriplegia as the result
of an accident.
The Metro Atlanta Older Worker
Project and the Atlanta Regional
Senior Employment Collaborative,
which consists of the Atlanta
Regional Commission;
AARP–Foundation–Work Search; Your
Tools for Living, a division of
Jewish Family & Career Services; and
Experience Works, sponsored the
luncheon. Tolbert was one of four
employees recognized for their
outstanding achievement as mature
workers.
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5.
Honor Mary Yoder by helping program
participants in need |
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AADD serves families on the edge of poverty and that have
been particularly hard hit in the
current economic crisis. Costs have
increased dramatically for food,
utilities, medication, and housing,
but AADD program participants
already live on the brink of
disaster with marginal finances and
resources. “Many participants have
already been stretched beyond the
breaking point,” said Mary Yoder in
a discussion with some AADD staff
members in early May. “I’ve lived a
fortunate life in comparison, so I’d
prefer people donate to our
Emergency Fund rather than buy me
retirement gifts.”
Mary’s words were not only
characteristic of her compassionate
and selfless nature, but they
confirmed discussions that senior
staff have had about ways to honor
her service to the agency. “We
thought it would be appropriate to
name our emergency fund after Mary.
She spent decades directly
supporting many of the people we
serve, and as the Executive
Director, she made it a priority to
seek funding to help support program
participants with the greatest
financial needs,” said Lana
Hardy, AADD’s Assistant Executive
Director.
All donations to the Mary Yoder Fund
for Emergency Needs will be used to
help program participants in times
of crisis. When someone can’t
afford her medications, needs help
paying a gas bill in the winter, or
is struggling to escape an abusive
relationship, the Fund will allow
AADD to support her.
If you would like to honor Mary
Yoder by contributing to the Mary
Yoder Fund, you can make a secure
online donation
here, or you can contact Bradley
Hartman at 404-881-9777 ext. 221 or
Bradley@aadd.org.
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All About
Developmental Disabilities
(AADD, Inc.)
1440 Dutch Valley Place - Suite
200 Atlanta, GA
30324-5371
Phone: 404-881-9777
Fax: 404-881-0094
Email, AADD newsletter ONLY:
bradley@aadd.org
Email, AADD Information:
info@aadd.org
AADD web site: AADD
WEB SITE
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Excepting programs of which AADD
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privilege, or service.
AADD is proud to receive support
from the United Way of
Metropolitan Atlanta and the
Junior League of Atlanta
AADD
WEB SITE
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