By Mark Manning | Development Director
Hello GlobalGiving Supporters!
We have a couple big changes to announce at Dragonfly Forest. First, we'd like to welcome Josh Holmes and Ryan Tressler to the operations team!
Josh "Purple Josh" Holmes spent his first summer at Dragonfly Forest back in 2010, where he started as a unit leader and later as Mystery Hour activity director. When camp was not in session he taught and worked with other non-profit organizations. Josh taught at a school in Michigan for kids with learning challenges for five years in classrooms ranging from 1st to 12th grades.
Josh also worked at a nonprofit in California that helped adults with neurological and physical challenges acquire and practice job skills to be better prepared to enter the workforce.
During the summer of 2017 he returned to Dragonfly as the Senior Program Director and is thrilled to be back to help foster a fun, nurturing, and safe environment for kids to build relationships with others facing similar challenges.
Ryan "Grandpa" Tressler joined Dragonfly Forest in 2010. At the time he was a unit leader of the Blue and Red units, worked as a director in 2015 and came back to camp full time as the Advanced Program Director in 2017. Ryan has spent time volunteering at other camps including Camp Abilities (PA) and Camp Tall Tree (MI).
Ryan studied Adapted PE at West Chester University and in the past worked at Lionville YMCA day camp and at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health as a Direct Care Specialist. Ryan can't wait to help create a camp experience that will be the most memorable week of the year for all of our campers!
Next, we're already working to make Dragonfly Forest better and more accessible for all children with autism and medical needs, regardless of their family's ability to pay! For the summer of 2018, we anticipate bringing 375 children up to camp. One of the first steps towards this was condensing our three annual fundraising events into one event, Dragonfly Forest Honors. The event raised $44,000 for the scholarship fund and recapped in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Judie Albertson, a camper parent, was able to speak to the crowd about the impact of the Dragonfly Forest program on her son, Derik. The event honored Jenifer Westphal, a longtime advisor to our chairman and friend of the program, for her work for Dragonfly Forest and the autism community at large.
Finally, an administrative note. As mentioned in previous reports, the Dragonfly Forest program has become a program of the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA. This fall we're switching over the EIN on our GlobalGiving page to more accurately reflect that change. Any contribution - whether already received or a future gift - will continue to go directly to our program to help children attend camp if their family cannot afford the cost of camp. As a program of the YMCA, we are able to offer the same quality program for a lower cost! We're pretty excited about that!
Until next time,
Mark ManningDevelopment Director(484) 431-4898mark.manning@philaymca.org
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