FUNDRAISER KICKOFF
AIM Services celebrates 30th anniversary of ADA
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » It’s hard to believe that 30 years ago a group of physically challenged citizens of this country abandoned their wheelchairs and crawled up the steps of Congress in Washington, D.C. to make the point that the nation truly needed the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Curb cuts on sidewalks for wheelchairs and ramps next to stairs are taken for granted these days but 30 years ago they were not, and it was a battle to get enough Congressional support to admit there was a need.
On Monday, Saratoga Springs-based AIM Services, a private nonprofit organization providing residential and community-based services to individuals with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries, kicked off a weeklong fundraiser by recognizing the legislation’s anniversary.
Formed in 1979, the organization is dedicated to supporting the power of potential in people of diverse abilities. Through community-based ser
vices, advocacy, and education, dedicated professionals focus on supporting people in achieving their personal goals while promoting a sense of self-confidence and independence.
Monday’s anniversary celebration and fundraiser kickoff was held in the Garden Tent of the Adelphi Hotel, 365 Broadway. Under a large marquee tent in the hotel courtyard, AIM Board of Directors Chairman Brian Gwynn discussed AIM’s philosophy and the intricacies of fundraising.
“We take care of more than 3,000 individuals with diverse disabilities throughout the state with 2,800 employees,” he said. “We look at their needs as an individual. It’s all about you individually. We have a saying, the power of potential. We use if for everything we do.”
Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic AIM’s annual summer fundraiser, Croquet on the Green, has been transformed into a play-it-onyour-own game, Croquet Off the Green. Shoppers in the city are the croquet balls and 30 participating businesses are the wickets. Each stop in one of the participating stores gets a player a stamp on their scorecard booklet. Get the required minimum stamps, submit them to AIM Services, and your name goes into a raffle for a variety of prizes.
In discussing how an organization takes in funds when playing the game is free or a suggested donation, Gwynn pointed to sponsors’ support.
“You get your funding from sponsorships,” he said. “In a typical year, we’d have teams on the green playing croquet. You’d get corporate teams or individuals who form a team and they’d pay to join; then we’d get sponsors involved.
“This year is indeed different but once our sponsors realized we working to help businesses in the city they really came on board.”
Also coming on board were a number of elected officials.
At Monday’s celebration June MacClelland, AIM Services senior director and chief compliance officer was presented with citations and proclamations from the city of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, the state Assembly, the state Senate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the U.S. Congress.
Making appearances to formally present their documents in person were Saratoga Springs County Supervisor Matt Veitch, Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, and state Sen. Daphne Jordan, RHalfmoon.
In her remarks, Jordan noted that individuals with disabilities had been left out of the text of the civil rights legislation of 1964 and a new civil rights campaign began shortly after its signing for those with disabilities
“The underlying premise of the ADA is equality and inclusion,” she said. “The premise is that all individuals including those with disabilities should be guaranteed the right to be productive members of our community and have control and choice over their own lives.”
Veitch, who has two sons who are autistic and makes use of AIM’s services as a family, said the ADA allows people with various forms of abilities to experience all aspects of everyday life.
Woerner, in her remarks, noted how important and groundbreaking the ADA legislation was in 1990 by reminding those in the audience that it was the passage of the legislation that got doors of public buildings to open with the press of a hand. Asked if she had any direct experience with the ADA, she said an uncle is now legally blind and confined to a wheelchair.
“His caregivers use aspects of the ADA with him for everything from getting him to doctor’s offices to the occasional meal out,” she said. “When you meet people who use the services of organizations like AIM and you see that, thanks to the ADA they are holding jobs, and how happy they are to be productive members of society and the relatively small number of accommodations they need but are indeed necessary, you develop an understanding of how truly important and groundbreaking this legislation was.”
City resident and retired, Hall of Fame jockey, Ramon Dominquez, is the fundraiser’s Honorary Event Committee Chairman. He knows first-hand the importance of organizations like AIM and what it is they do. Dominquez retired from his sport due to a traumatic brain injury. He discussed how much the services provided by organizations like AIM and others mean to the family of those being treated.
“Many times the family suffers along with the person getting the treatment because they don’t know what to do, how to proceed,” he said. “Many of these organizations offer emotional support along with the other services because it’s difficult for people to understand what to expect. It goes beyond just the help the individual is receiving.
“It’s very clear to me that the whole family is affected; it could be negatively or positively. It’s not just something that faced by the individual.”