Two Very Short Stories To Begin a Celebration of 50 Years Ago.

It was in 1972 when a young emboldened TV Reporter crashed the security of the New York State Willowbrook School in Staten Island and used the TV optics to expose the inhuman government care of over 5,000 of intellectually disabled adults and children. The Reporter was Geraldo Riviera.

It exposed a hidden government shame. And because Rockland was the home of 5,500 intellectually disabled residents in the New York State Letchworth Village, the reformation impacted Rockland like an earth quake. The Reform took many years and fought many battles for a humanity that was designed to replace inhumanity.

It is my intention to share as many stories during the year about what followed the State Government Reformation and about the many stories of how the Reformation created heroines and heroes. It was a mega cohort of my life for 44 years.

For the time being I am sharing two short stories that took place in the late 70's to get started.

At one point in time Kathy Lukens, in collaboration with her devoted husband Jack and Sister Helen Murphy of the Sisters of Charity, decided to construct the first Rockland IDD Community Residence on a parcel of the property of the St. Agatha's Home For Children Orphanage in Nanuet. To raise as much money to do so, Kathy applied to the "One-To-One" Charity created by Geraldo and John Lennon of the Beatles to help facilitate the State's transition from Bad to Good.

Camp Venture was awarded $50,000 from a Concert, One-To-One, organized by John Lennon & Yoko Ono and held by the Beatles in New York City.

Ergo, I love to tell my musician Son, Chris, the story of the Beatles contribution and he reminds me that he performed at all of Camp Venture's Fundraisers in the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center without getting paid.

My second story is about Camp Venture's summer camp. This is not a play on words. Kathy Lukens and her blessed army of passionate Mothers were able to secure a parcel of the Letchworth Village property from the State. The Lukens Army of both Mothers & Fathers created the first free all-day Summer Camp on the property. It was a giant step for our IDD population.

For me it is iconic that 2022 will be the year that Camp Venture changed it name to "Venture Together" and the Venture Foundation will update the summer camp to a 3-4 season destination with a wide range of what a recreation park would offer and a new pool that wheelchairs will be able to roll into, something I always wanted.

These are signs that what Kathy Lukens created will always be there for the population that was once shamefully taken care of so poorly and now will be treated as person in your family with a life span almost twice as it was in 1972.