Dear Friends,
Hope you enjoyed a wonderful autumn and are ready for the holiday season ahead. Here is a run-down of activities Valley Educational Associates has been doing in the final quarter of the year.
Quarter Four Highlights:
- Chicopee Ribbon Cutting celebration was on Nov. 14, 2019
- Maggie Ducheney awarded Employee of the Year
- The Annual 5k Cider Run has several fantastic sponsors
- Building our Board of Directors
- Successful Financial Audit
We had a beautiful ribbon cutting ceremony in Chicopee on November 14th with Mayor Kos and Julie Copoulos, Chicopee Chamber Executive Director. The event had a great turnout and tasty food catered by Magic Spoon. The expansion is home to three classrooms, a sensorial room, and new medication room. We have been enjoying the new space since September.
The fifth Annual 5k Cider Run at the Ashley Reservoir was a big success again this year. Our total runners and walkers were 238. We could not have asked for better weather, sponsors, and donors to make it a great event. A big thank you to Silver & Custom Sponsors: PeoplesBank, Olympic Manufacturing Group, Peerless Precision, and Greenfield Savings Bank. We are grateful for the local businesses that have partnered with us to help set this fundraising race off to a good start. Other sponsors include: Royal P.C., Thornes Market, Ernst Financial Group, ChikMedia, Architectural E.L., River Valley Coop, HomeLight and Whittelsey Forward Advising. Revenue from this race helps afford more vocational and supported-employment learning training for individuals at Valley Educational Associates.
Our board of directors is actively seeking passionate and motivated people to assist with fundraising, networking, event planning, and promoting our organization. The board meets together once a month in our Chicopee facility for about an hour. This is a great opportunity to gain volunteer leadership and learn new skills while helping adults with developmental disabilities. If you or a friend are interested, please fill out our board application here: https://valleyeducational.org/job-postings/.
Our annual financial audit was completed by Whittlesey Forward Advising. They reported no disputes on our financials. Our ratios between expenses and revenues were 81% again this year which indicates the money predominately funding our programs and not administrative or overhead costs. This fiscal year our total net assets increased which indicates our organization is building capacity.
During this season of giving, consider making a difference in the lives of adults with developmental disabilities. Here are a couple ways:
- Consider being a volunteer, sponsor, or donor at our 5k Cider Run.
- Host a piece of art in your business.
- Make an in-kind or monetary donation to our programs.
- Become a volunteer on our Human Rights Committee or join our Board of Directors.
We are seeking volunteers with law or attorney backgrounds for our Human Rights Committee that meets every other month at our Chicopee facility. This position review protocols and behavioral incidents to ensure VEA is in keeping with regulations. Please contact our committee at humanrights@ValleyEducational.org if you or a friend might be interested in joining our Human Rights Committee.
Q4 quietly rounds out and we look forward to greeting the New Year, 2020.
Best Regards,
Kate DaSilva, MS
Executive Director