WAE Center News

Recognizing Marilynn Schneider on the 20th Anniversary of the WAE Center Sunday, November 10th, 2024 11am–2pm 760 Northfield Ave, West Orange, NJ 07052 Leave a Message for Marilynn & RSVP Here The WAE Center at JSDD is known throughout the community and …

Celebrating Marilynn Schneider as the WAE Center turns 20! Read More

The WAE Center’s cooking class has been busy with our Cooking Consultant, Crystal Dickerson from Plant Based Planet LLC. This class has been designed to teach participants valuable life skills, promote healthy eating habits, and inspire creativity in the kitchen, including many delicious recipes such as biscuits and gravy, Mac and Cheese and more (all vegan!) The energy in the room is always electric but especially during a recent pancake making class as participants discovered they could be creative with their pancakes. “Who doesn’t love pancakes?”
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The garden at the WAE (Wellness, Arts & Enrichment) Center is both: a place of hustle and bustle and of slow growth and discovery. This summer has been particularly exciting with the addition of 500 pollinator plants that we were given by the Xerces Society. Veggies have been harvested, rocks painted, and everyone has had individual and group experiences in this compact natural habitat. The garden provides inspiration, education, respite and connection to the natural world!
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This past month, I had the privilege of addressing the members of Congregation Agudath Israel during their celebration of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). The invitation arose from our connection with two active families from the WAE Center, who are also congregants of the synagogue, the Elmowitz and Solomon families. Aided by the invaluable support of congregant Ann Leeb and Susan Werk, we collectively decided that the topic of my address would be diversity and inclusion, specifically focusing on the distinction between "serving" and "helping."
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Getting to Know… Tammy Weinfeld Tammy Weinfield is a Music Facilitator and has been working for JSDD since September 2023. Her first impression was that JSDD is a welcoming place, with beautiful artwork on the walls and a vibrant community inside. What suprised her the most was how passionate everyone is about their work. Read more about Tammy Weinfield and her experience at JSDD.
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JSDD continues to grow and broaden its work through Residential Services, WAE Center, Therapeutic Services and Heidi Gallery programming. None of this work would be possible without the skill and passion of our stellar staff. Typically, there are two parties thrown to give everyone an opportunity to enjoy one another’s company, relax and celebrate the years’ accomplishments.
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The WAE Center members and staff gathered for the annual Thanksgiving lunch. This is a time to come together as a community, share what we are thankful for and celebrate the life and memory of Scott Reich. Scott loved celebrating Thanksgiving with his friends at the WAE Center because it usually fell on his birthday. In his memory, the Reich family has continued to support this fun and meaningful tradition.
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