Down syndrome Association Hudson Valley
14 Zerner Blvd. Hopewell Jct., NY 12533 (845) 226-1630

Membership Application

A LETTER ABOUT MEMBERSHIP

Dear Fellow Members: February 3, 2009

Thank you for your continued support of The Down Syndrome Association Hudson Valley. Your membership allows us to continue to serve our mission:

  • To provide support to new parents
  • To obtain and provide up to date information on Down syndrome to parents and others
  • To increase community awareness of Down syndrome
  • To improve education for our children
  • To enhance employment opportunities for people with Down syndrome

In retrospect 2008 was another successful year for our growing organization. We had the opportunity to hold numerous events during the year that provided both social and information networking-the Children's & Young Adult socials, a Dinner Dance for our children and their parents and several Bowling parties. Rolling into the warmer months we held our Summer Picnic in Orange County and had a fun outing to a Hudson Valley Renegades baseball game. We continued with our annual Buddy Walk and again had wonderful support from our event organizers, volunteers and sponsors. We conducted New Parent training to help us keep up-to-date on relevant opportunities and issues. Later in the year we continued our planned visits and discussions for our parents of young children at the Children's Museum in Poughkeepsie. We also agreed to pilot our first ever Siblings Group for teens to share their common experiences. Our Orange County Chapter- Angels Amongst Us continues to be active and growing. We do thank Jane Harrington, the founder of Angels, for her dedication and passion as she leaves the Board to pursue exciting new interests. We continued to enhance our website (www.dsahv.org) with useful resource information and a calendar of events.

We have been fortunate to gain the services of several new parents to the Board. These volunteers bring their passion, energy and desire to help us move forward in 2009 in several planned areas: Educational Advocacy, Bike Camp and Summer Camp sponsorships, Sexuality Awareness, updating our Resource Library and Newsletter, customized Social events by age group, Grants and Fundraising and this year's Buddy Walk. We hope to attract additional volunteers this year to assist with projects and contribute ideas for the advancement of our organization.

The $20 fee for 2009 Annual Membership is now due. Your continued support helps us to improve the lives of those we love with different abilities, their families and professionals who support them.

Please make checks payable to: DSAHV and return in the enclosed self-addressed stamped envelope. Remember if there is nothing to update on last yearÕs application you may send it back with just your name printed on the sheet. Otherwise, please include a completed application in order to update our membership database. We also ask you to complete the enclosed short survey. The DSAHV is funded in part with a grant from the Family Support Services Council of the Taconic DDSO. The survey not only keeps us compliant with the terms of the grant; your feedback is important to us and will help us identify how we can better serve you.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I thank you in advance for your support. Sincerely,

Richard L. Mangini
2009 Board President

 

The Membership application can be retrieved below