PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
President's Report for 2008-2009
Congratulations to the Clinic Board of Directors and staff as we begin our 52nd year of service to the children of our communities. We have enjoyed an ambitious agenda over the past year, which has been extremely successful.
The Autism Assessment Program is going extremely well and offering families, not financially able, the opportunity to have their children properly attended to in this area. We continue to offer high quality service by the Director and her staff in this area of need. The greater good is certainly being served with a very needed program. It is our endeavor to keep the waiting time at a minimum, since every day that passes properly diagnosing autism and its spectrum disorders becomes more problematic for a child and their family.
We continue with our two major fundraisers, namely the Golf Tournament in June and Silent Auction in October, both of which have exceeded our expectations in view of the economic climate. We did not raise as much in either event as the prior year, however, did very well in terms of clearing monies for our program needs above our calculations. A great deal of thanks goes to our Board of Directors, Clinic staff and other individuals who are supportive of the Clinic. We continue to benefit from the largess of Hartford Foundation grants, as well as reaching out to other not-for-profits for monies to continue our programs. We were honored to participate in the Manchester Road Race and once again show the public face of our Board and staff members. This continues to be challenging and enjoyable considering the numbers of people who now participate in the race.
The success of our School as well as Clinic programs is reflected in the steady calls for our services. The School in particular has over 40 children currently enrolled. The needs for the School program are great, with the willingness of towns to support the financial outlay for increased intervention appropriate for these youngsters. The School Administrator and staff are to be commended for the outstanding efforts in providing state-of-the-art care and education for a very at-risk group of young people.
We continue to service our communities and their young residents for the needs are greater now than ever. The economic downturn has not only provided financial situations, which are now untenable to many families, but impact the psyche of our young clients. We are proud to have programs which can intervene positively in this high risk environment.
I continue to personally thank everyone on the Board of Directors, the Clinic staff, and Executive Director, Cliff Johnson, for all the help they have continued to offer me in the past year as Chairman of the Board. I am dedicated to our cause and will continue to participate vigorously to enhance our abilities to serve our young people.
Ellen L. Marmer, M.D.
Dr. Ellen L. Marmer, CCGC President
