Letter: Fortunate to live in this community

This Thanksgiving, the Hickory House made our nonprofit the beneficiary of its annual public holiday feast. On this extremely busy week in our community, we wanted to give a shout out and thank you to all those who helped make this a very successful event.

Ascendigo Autism Services is very grateful to receive the support from this event, and wish to thank the many who helped: The Hickory House team, including Paul Dioguardi and Bryan Baker and all their staff that volunteered that day; all the individuals, local families and Ascendigo staff who generously volunteered their time; Bill Dinsmoor and his team at Main Street Bakery who donated the pies and bread; and Paradise Bakery who gave us a discount on the cookies. If I have missed anyone, my apologies and than you too!

Ascendigo empowers kids and adults on the autism spectrum – both visitors and RF Valley locals – to live more self actualized and enriched lives through our variety of programs and services. Some of these include 1) outdoor education, including residential summer camps and ski/riding camps; 2) continuing educational, recreational and vocational opportunities; 3) clinical services; 4) community integration and socialization; and 5) residential support services. For more information visit http://www.ascendigo.org.

Revenues from operations only cover about 35 percent of the costs of delivering these services, and we count on donors and grants to make up the difference. As many have said over the years, we are all very fortunate to live in a community that cares so deeply about everyone’s quality of life.

Happy holidays and thank you all.

Hugh Zuker

Executive Director, Ascendigo Autism Services