June 19, 2017: Giant Steps is proud to announce that the school has been approved to receive a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley. The grant will go toward technology for the Canopy Adult Services Program cohort at Giant Steps’ Sugar Grove campus.
“We are thrilled to have been selected for this grant from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley,” said Giant Steps’ Executive Director, Dr. Sylvia Smith. “The money will be put to use by providing participants at our Sugar Grove campus with access to technology and equipment that will enhance their learning of life skills, as well as help them with leisure activities and overall enjoyment of their daily lives.”
“For citizens living with autism, technology can help to give a voice to the nonverbal and enable individuals to enjoy a more inclusive, independent and fulfilling life,” she noted.
Giant Steps’ Canopy Adult Services Program serves individuals, ages 22 and up, who have “aged out” of school-based support services. Canopy has created a day program that is designed to meet the individual and specific needs of adults with autism. Canopy provides therapeutic services, as well as community inclusion opportunities, as well as life skills and vocational training, helping participants to continue to grow and develop throughout their lives.“Serving the adult autism community is an area where we as a society need to answer the call for help. At Giant Steps we strive to be a leader in this area by creating an innovative environment that will serve as a blueprint for successful, autism-specific, adult programming,” Smith said.
The Canopy Adult Services Program currently has 26 participants across two campuses; one in Lisle and the other in Sugar Grove. Each participant is responsible for paying a daily rate, however these payments do not come close to covering the costs of providing services and programming.
“This is why donations and grants awards, such as the one we’ve just been approved for from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley, are so critical to our operation,” Smith Said.
For more information about Giant Steps’ or how you can become a Giant Steps supporter, visit www.mygiantsteps.org, call Giant Steps’ Development Team at 630-864-3800 or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mygiantsteps.
About the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley
The Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley is a non-profit, tax-exempt, philanthropic organization that administers individual charitable funds from which grants and scholarships are distributed to benefit the citizens of the Greater Aurora Area, the TriCities and Kendall County, Illinois. Founded in 1948, the Foundation provides a simple and powerful approach to charitable giving. Individuals, families, businesses, and organizations have the opportunity to custom design their own named funds that reflect their charitable goals and interests. Since its inception, the Community Foundation has grown to more than $80 million in assets and has awarded more than $63 million in grants and scholarships. For more information on the Foundation, visit www.CommunityFoundationFRV.org.About Giant Steps:
Since 1996, Giant Steps has been focused on providing education, therapeutic and recreational programs for Elementary, Junior High, High School students and young adults affected by autism, their families, and the community. Our goal is to improve a child’s ability to interact, communicate, and develop academic and daily living skills.
Grant funds from the Community Foundation helped provide updated technology. These upgrades were transformative. By creating new time saving processes, it turned us into a more efficient organization.
Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry
Grantee
YEP has made me realize the importance of being involved in my community, and how to make a difference. There are a lot of problems in the world but if we can do everything that we can to help the world will become a better place. YEP has helped me realize this and encouraged me to help more people in the future.
Madi Porter
YEP Member
YEP was a great experience to have in high school. I became a more confident person, someone with a lot more perspective. Coming from a small school, YEP allowed me to branch out into my community, meet students from other schools, and learn about their backgrounds. I made some great friends and still keep in touch with them today.
Abby Vagnoni
YEP Alumni
Give your gift of time and see what it means to the people you impact. Helping others is what life is all about.
Neal Ormond
Donor & Fund Advisor
Being a part of the Community Foundation scholarship committee is the highlight of my year. For many, a scholarship from the CFFRV is the reason they are able to continue reaching for their dreams and changing the future of our world. I hope each recipients knows just how inspirational they are to those of us who are lucky enough to read their stories.
Jessica Breugelmans
Scholarship Committee Member and Board Member
Education is important to us. We support causes that touch our lives and align with our values. We believe in paying it forward. We are here for a short time,, and it is the next generation that will take on what we leave behind.
Michelle Emanuel
Donor and Past Scholarship Recipient
I am incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Zari Foundation Scholarship and the Community Foundation in supporting my education. I am majoring in mechanical engineering with a concentration in aerospace engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institue of Technology. In my spare time, I volunteer on campus, in the community and I’m also the principal violist in the symphony orchestra. I hope to make an impact on the next chapter of space exploration by eventually working at a groundbreaking aerospace company such as SpaceX or NASA.
Taytum Newell
Albert M. Zari Scholarship Recipient
