Community Magazine March 2019

34 Community Magazine T he idea was heartwarming, exciting, and truly incredible. Caroline Palacci, a girl about to become Bat Mitzvah, decided to shift the attention on her special day from herself to those she felt could use it more. The Special Children’s Center The Special Children’s Center, or ‘The Center,” as they call it, is an invaluable community resource, which is focused on a multi-faceted service program for children with complex developmental disabilities. With branches in Lakewood and Brooklyn, their main focus is on after-school programs, as well as programs held on Sundays and any other times students are off from school. The children really look forward to going to The Center. It’s their favorite part of the week. The Center happily serves over 450 families with special needs children. The aid to the families is immeasurable. The children always enjoy all the outings, and end up spending a lot of time with staff and other community members who love to volunteer. In their caring home away from home, special needs children thrive upon individually focused and therapeutically guided attention. The teachers, trained aides, and volunteers at The Center use creative resources to stimulate optimum individual growth and achievement to help every child and Bat Mitzvah Girl Caroline Palacci Celebrates with a Hesed Twist Hesed is something that flows through our community much like oxygen flows through every living object. It is somethingwhich is necessary and constant, and it goes hand and hand with who we choose to be as a people. We have a wide range of individuals in our community, those who can give, and those who are in need of support, those who are ill or elderly, and those who can carve time out of their day to make a visit and bring someone a smile. That being said, it is a very powerful thing when a child of just 12 years of age decides to give back to community youth who are less fortunate than she is, in honor of her birthday. adult maximize their independence, so that they can lead fuller and more productive lives within the family and the community. The Special Children's Center's approach is to never say “no.” The entire operation of staff and volunteers is “heart-based,” predicated on caring about families and loving the children. There is nothing bureaucratic about The Special Children's Center. As such, services are never limited to existing specific programs. Whatever the need, whatever the situation, The Center is committed to doing whatever it takes to help. Caroline Chooses a Carnival for Others Putting a smile on the faces of young special individuals is such an important hesed, and it’s also very rewarding. Caroline, with the guidance of her parents, Sarina and Albert, at the young age of 12 years old, chose to forgo a typical party, and instead host a carnival for the kids of The Special Children’s Center. Caroline invited all her classmates from Ramaz elementary school to join her in this hesed by being volunteers at the carnival booths. She asked them to come an hour earlier than the time The Center kids were scheduled to arrive. During this hour, Caroline read her bat mitzvah speech to her friends and close family. She explained how to go about interacting with the special children and why this mitzvah was so gratifying to her. The smile on Caroline's face could be seen from space, she truly had accomplished what she set out to do. Frieda Schweky