Celebrating Summer with an NYC-Style Bash

As Frank Sinatra’s classic hit “New York, New York” blared through the loudspeakers, students from the took the stage for Feroleto Day, the school’s annual family picnic and carnival.

Kids and their teachers paraded out of their classrooms onto the grounds dressed in homemade costumes based on this year’s theme, “I Love NY.” There were Broadway, the New York Yankees, Times Square, South Street Seaport, Foreign Tourists, and the Bronx Zoo.

The Trumbull school is home to an alternative special education program run by the St. Vincent’s Special Needs organization.

Students and their families gathered before the school’s two-week vacation to have a barbecue and to play outdoor games like the “Make a Pizza” pizza toss, the “Get through the Traffic” race, "Big Apple Baseball" and NYC scratch art.

There was even the “Central Park Petting Zoo,” which featured farm animals to provide a tactile experience for the children.

Dawanda Winston, mother of student Tajmani, 13, was there along with her son Shannon. “I love the creativity,” she said. “Every year they find something new to do, and the staff is really involved.”

Each booth was rigged with special buttons and levers, adapted so that the developmentally challenged children could operate them.

The school therapists ran the games as teachers escorted their students from booth to booth.

Jim Flory, father of student Nicholas, 12, said he loved how everything was accessible to children with varying disabilities. “It’s very difficult with these kids to find something they can do all together,” Flory said.  

“It’s like Chuck E. Cheese’s,” he added. “Everything there is great because it’s at his height so he can reach all the buttons and switches.”

For entertainment, 30 children from the Monroe Dance Company performed a routine to a medley from the Broadway show “Gypsy,” which was choreographed by dance director Dana Rodriguez.

One school aide, Suze Michel, even used her talents to do a 3D perspective chalk drawing on the pavement. Michel, who majored in painting in college, was able to create a piece that resembled the work of sidewalk artists on the streets of New York.

Another educational aide, Marcus Maignan, who was dressed as a sailor for his class’s NYC theme, South Street Seaport, said, “[The event] really gives the kids an opportunity to interact with one another. Today, we just try our best to help the kids feel special and the families feel special.”

Eleanor Feroleto, the school’s namesake and sponsor of the day’s event, was attending along with her daughter Lisa Framularo. In 1991, the Feroleto family donated the money for the school to move from Bridgeport to its Trumbull location.

Framularo, who has been on the school’s Board of Directors for 18 years, said that over the years, the center’s fundraisers have raised at least $300,000.

The Feroletos will sponsor the upcoming 18^th annual Last Bash of Summer Dinner-Dance and Silent Auction, which is this Sept. 17. The money raised at this event goes toward the “mini-grants” program.

These mini-grants are funds that allow for the extra staff needed to provide children with special learning and recreational opportunities.

In the past, there has been a field trip to a Yankees game, and future plans include a trip to an American Idol taping and another to a wrestling match at the WWE.

Funds raised through these events also help purchase special adaptable equipment, the apparatuses and machines that help the children get dressed and to feed themselves, as well as to speak, as with the aid of computerized voice machines.

But today was not for funds, just plain fun.

“It’s a great way to celebrate our benefactor and celebrate ourselves. It’s a great end-of-the-year event,” said Donna Kennedy, Family Center Coordinator at St. Vincent’s Special Needs.

It was clear that the star of the day was not the school itself, but the students and their families.

For more information about September’s Last Bash fundraising event or for general information about the Feroleto Children’s Development Center, go to www.stvincentspecialneeds.org.