On March 22 Rivershore was honored as one of the 2011 Best Places to Work in Western New York by Business First Magazine! This recognition is based on surveys completed by Rivershore employees. This is a great honor and we are all very excited about this esteemed recognition. Thank you to everyone at Rivershore for making us one of the Best Places to Work!

On May 13, 2011 Rivershore hosted its 2nd annual Alumni Luncheon at Antonio’s Banquet Hall. The event welcomed back many notable members of Rivershore’s notable past to celebrate our history, present and exciting future! Thank you to all of our alumni and friends who made our event such a success. See you in 2012!

L to R: Tina Tyran, Pat White, Alumni; Gay Goodroe, Board Member; JoAnn Johnson, Alumni; Frances Klein, Board Member; Jeff Sanderson, Executive Director; Rose Siegwarth, Alumni; Richard Blakowski, Rivershore Maintenance; and Lisa Jameison, Alumni.

On September 21, 2011, Rivershore will host its 2^nd Annual Gala Dinner at the Niagara Falls Country Club. This year’s theme will be “Celebrating Art and Innovation”. With emcee Maryalice Demler from WGRZ TV, this year’s event will help us to continue providing the highest quality services to more than 175 people and their families throughout Niagara County. As Rivershore continues to grow and support people living with developmental disabilities pursuing and achieving meaningful lives, involvement from donors and sponsors is vital to our success. 

This year we are excited to welcome actor, author and comedian Geri Jewell as our guest speaker! Introduced to millions as “Cousin Geri”, Geri Jewell has risen to become a leading force in disabilities advocacy. Geri started her acting career as the personal choice of famed producer Norman Lear for her role as Cousin Geri on the ground-breaking NBC sitcom, The Facts of Life. With this role she became the first person with a visible disability to become a regular performer on a national, prime-time television show. During her run on the show she broke barriers by addressing issues of disability awareness.

Not only an exceptional actress and comedienne, Geri is internationally recognized as a powerful and motivational speaker and trainer. She is famous for her uncanny ability to captivate the hearts of audiences by using humor to facilitate attitude changes. Geri brings to her presentations personal experience of having her behavior and actions misunderstood because of her cerebral palsy. By sharing her disability as her greatest blessing, and revealing insights about the world as she sees it, Geri turns the focus from disabilities to a true celebration of ability, resulting in an inspiring, empowering and healing experience. 

Geri’s advocacy also translates to her workshop and training skills. She is one of the original trainers in the internationally recognized disability awareness training program, WINDMILLS. Her knowledge of workforce development, transitioning, and human relation skills assists her in the development of many exciting workshops.

Geri continues to entertain many with her acting. She was personally selected to be part of the Emmy winning HBO series, Deadwood where she became qualified to be nominated for an individual Emmy for her portrayal of “Jewell”.  She is also a re-occurring character on, Young and the Restless and was recently featured on Strong Medicine. If holding three roles at one time wasn’t enough, Geri just made her film debut in an independent feature that was recently shown at the Tribecca and Fort Lauderdale Film Festivals.

Most recently, Geri was honored by the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, DC with their highest honor – The Victory Award – and participated in the inauguration of President Obama at the United Cerebral Palsy Power and Pride Ball, the first and only inaugural activity for people with disabilities.

The current chapter of Geri’s life is perhaps one of the most exciting. In April of 2011, she released an autobiography, I’m Walking As Straight As I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and Beyond.

For information on how you can purchase tickets for this once in a lifetime event, please contact Jeffrey Irwin at 754-7272 ext. 45.

Through the combined support and sponsorships from various organizations, dinner attendees and donors, we were able to raise over $12,000 for the Rivershore Foundation, Inc. in 2010.

The Self-Advocacy Association of New York State held their annual conference in Albany in October and named Richard Hermanson Self-Advocacy Group Advisor of the Year! The essence of Rivershore can be best understood though the concept of self advocacy. This is truly a great honor and we are all very proud of Richard for receiving this state-wide recognition. Rivershore and the Road Runner Self-Advocacy Group have now been recognized an unprecedented 5 times by the Self -Advocacy Association of New York State. Past honors include 3 time Agency of the Year (Western Region 2006 and 2007, and state-wide 2006), Self-Advocacy Group of the Year 2008. Thank you to Richard for bringing this honor to Rivershore, through your work many people have found their voice and have advocated for a better life.

On September 29, 2010, Rivershore hosted its 30^th Anniversary Dinner Celebration at the Niagara Falls Country Club. With emcee Maryalice Demler from WGRZ TV, we welcomed nearly 140 guests to pay tribute to Rivershore’s history and celebrate our exciting future. With the combined support and sponsorships from various organizations and donors, we were able to raise over $12,000 for the Rivershore Foundation, Inc.

One of the evening’s many highlights was the performance and presentation from Sujeet Desai. As both an accomplished musician and renowned speaker, Sujeet has become a role model and brings inspiration and hope to people living with disabilities, their families and service providers.

This year’s event helps us to continue providing the highest quality services to more than 175 people and their families throughout Niagara County. As Rivershore continues to grow and support people living with developmental disabilities pursuing and achieving meaningful lives, involvement from donors and sponsors is vital to our success.

On behalf of the Rivershore Foundation, the people we serve, their families and our staff, thank you to everyone for making our event such a success!

30^th Anniversary Dinner Sponsors:

Upstate Pharmacy – Platinum Sponsor

Key Bank – Gold Sponsor

Providium – Gold Sponsor

The Bonadio Group – Silver Sponsor

Proclaimed Rivershore Day by Niagara County, November 8 recognizes Rivershore being named a COMPASS agency by New York State in 2002. Rivershore is one of just seven agencies across New York State named a COMPASS organization by the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. COMPASS designation is given to agencies that have demonstrated their ability to successfully self-monitor and who achieve excellence through consistently providing services that meet the highest quality standards.

This year’s celebration took place on November 8th at the Aquarium of Niagara and Rivershore presented their 5^th Annual Community Service Award to A-1 Land Care, represented at the event by Tony LaRosa and Sue Harbinson. The award is given annually to a person or organization that has put forth uncommon and sustained effort that promotes acceptance and respect for people living with developmental disabilities in our community. A-1 Land Care was recognized for their accomplishments and innovative vision for people living with developmental disabilities in areas of employment and community inclusion. Their ongoing involvement in creating a positive future for our society is both impressive and inspiring!

A special thank you to Wegmans of Niagara Falls for sponsoring the 2010 Rivershore Day Event!

Building the Perfect Kitchen

In August of 2008, Ingram Micro hosted its 13^th annual charity golf tournament at The Links at Ivey Ridge in Akron, NY. Each year, Ingram Micro selects a few local charitable/non-profit organizations to support with the proceeds from the golf tournament. This year Rivershore Inc, Brian Moorman’s Punt Foundation, Kevin Guest House, Moving Miracles, and Heritage Centers were the organizations chosen. The event raised over $150,000 for these organizations with the help and support of over 100 Ingram Micro associates and many vendor partners including top sponsors HP, Microsoft, Ricoh, IBM, SanDisk, Imation, Brother, Castle Pines, and de lag landen. This event has grown each year reaching a new record in fundraising for local charities. To date, the annual golf events have raised over $600,000 in support of local organizations.

Rivershore received $42,000 from the tournament proceeds that was used to remodel the kitchen at our Creek Road residence. Since being established in 1993, our residence located on Creek Road has been home to ten adults who live with developmental disabilities. Over the years the home’s kitchen has received heavy use and was very worn and dated. More significantly, as the residents of the home have aged and the majority now utilize wheelchairs for mobility, the nature of the environment needed in the home to support maximum independence and personal dignity has changed greatly. Simple everyday tasks such a retrieving a coffee mug from the cupboard, getting a drink of water, or preparing a snack independently have become difficult or impossible for many people in the home.

In 2007 Rivershore had an assessment of the kitchen completed by The Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access, School of Architecture and Planning, University at Buffalo. The architects found that “the existing kitchen is not sufficient for meeting the needs of the residents and caregivers”, and “it is inefficient and inaccessible”.

A new kitchen design based on Universal Design Technology was created and recommended to Rivershore. Universal Design as a general concept seeks to provide improved usability and safety for all people in the community. The new design has improved the value of the home for all involved, and has created an environment that welcomes all visitors with grace and dignity. In simple terms, this new kitchen will help people to help themselves, which is an essential foundation for a quality life.

Rivershore, Inc. is a private not for profit agency with a mission to support people who live with developmental disabilities as they pursue and achieve a meaningful life. With administrative offices located in the Village of Lewiston, Rivershore currently provides services throughout Niagara County. Rivershore has been designated a COMPASS organization by New York State, one of just 7 of 750 organizations in our State to achieve and maintain this level of excellence. As a groundbreaking leader in our field, Rivershore is on the cutting edge of a powerful new vision for people with developmental disabilities in our community. Rivershore is very active in establishing partnerships and works collaboratively with sister agencies and other community organizations.