Making an investment in the future of our very special children, PNC Bank has made a donation to the Lake Drive Foundation for The Sound Start Early Intervention Program. On hand for a tour of our facilities and the check presentation on February 14th, were: Joseph Whall, Director of Client and Community relations for PNC; Stephanie Deyo a trustee of the Lake Drive Foundation; Patricia Maharajh the manager of the Mountain Lakes PNC branch; Darrell Quinn PNC Regional Manager for Morris/Sussex Counties; Mizar Turdiu a member of the Board of Directors of the Lake Drive Foundation and former “Morning Edition” anchor for NJ Channel 12 News and Jamila Jan the Business Banking Manager for PNC.
The Lake Drive Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children, a 501(c)(3) corporation, was established by community leaders in 1996 for the express purpose of filling the financial gaps in funding and to build an endowment for the Sound Start Early Intervention Program. This is a program, with a 20-year history, designed to provide intensive services to fifty hearing-impaired babies (birth to age three) and their families from 13 counties in northern New Jersey to mitigate the impact of hearing impairment. It is the comprehensive service delivery of the Sound Start Program that empowers families to foster their child’s social, emotional and academic success and allows them to participate in family and community activities. These children, with early roots in the Sound Start Program, go on to claim a place as contributing members of their families and communities and live a brighter and more fulfilling childhood.
Sound Start has already achieved incredible successes with increasing numbers of children being mainstreamed into their local schools. Sound Start children are in colleges all over the country. These children have beaten the odds because of their strong “Sound Start.”
This donation is vital to the Sound Star Program, which relies significantly on private donations. Despite research that supports the benefits of early intervention in fostering long-term academic success for children with hearing loss, current trends in state funding for early intervention indicates a fierce competition for limited resources, exerting pressure on programs to either cut services to the most needy or compromise quality. While the need for early intervention has only risen exponentially with the medical and socioeconomic factors that place children at risk developmentally, programs cannot keep up with the demand in the face of this competition for resources. The Lake Drive Foundation, through the generosity of corporate benefactors such as the PNC Foundation, has been successful in raising the necessary funding to support this comprehensive service program for deaf and hard of hearing babies and their families, with no reduction in services, and is committed to ensuring that this fundraising success continues. We are grateful to the PNC Foundation for their role in this success.
The Foundation would encourage anyone who would like to make a donation to the sound Start Program or receive information concerning corporate sponsorship to contact Patricia Witt at pwitt@mtlakes.org.
Posted 5/2006
