Vol. 4, No. 5

C N S A Community News Service Publication Hamiltonspace.com

Axis of Allies

From tennis skills to life skills Federally funded program serves free sports instruction toat-risk middle schoolers BY SARAH UNGER

In 1968, as the late tennis great Arthur Ashe made his mark at the U.S. Open and worldwide, the top-ranked player combined star

power and humanitarian goals with the sport of tennis to create opportunity for urban youth.

Forty years later, the National Junior Tennis League he founded thrives in 525 chapters nationwide, including 2007 chapter of the year Trenton.

Trenton’s lean operation is making its own mark, fueled by the enthusiasm of director Dan Faber, development director Rob

Howland, several part-timers, and legions of volunteers who swing into action in schools and in sum-mer community programs.

One such after-school program, funded through a 21st Century Community grant to the Hamilton district, fi res up every Wednesday for 40 middle-school students, 20 from Grice Middle School, where the fi tness program is conducted

Reynolds Middle School student Markenson Chery, 12, takes a swing during a National Junior Tennis Association instruction session at Grice Middle School Dec. 17, 2008 as Zak Spence, 11, from Crockett Middle School, Marcel Oliver, 12 (Crockett) and Jamir Jenkins, 13 (Reynolds Middle School) look on. (Photo by Suzette Lucas.)

Nonprofi t advocates for people with disabilities and their families

BY KR YSTAL KNAPP

When Krystal Odell’s sister was growing up in the 1950s, there were few options for a child like her with Down Syndrome. Getting any kind of education meant being shipped off to a residential school, which is what happened to Odell’s sister.

“The options were dismal, to say the least,” Odell said. “It didn’t seem fair to me that my sister would have to leave the family and be apart from us so she could go to school. There was no alternative back then. She had no choice. But people should be offered choices.”

For Odell, offering choices and opportunities to those with disabil-ities has become her life’s work. Infl uenced by her sister’s experi-ence, she started a career serv-ing the developmentally disabled early in her adulthood. Eventually she rose to become the director of the state division of developmental disabilities. Afterward, she started her own nonprofi t agency to serve those with special needs.

Allies, Inc., which she founded with Hamilton resident Elise Gambino in 1999, has grown from a basement operation in her house to a statewide agency with offices on Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road that employs 650 people and serves more than 1,000 New Jerseyans.

Odell and Gambino were a good

fi t as partners from the start. Odell had the strong agency experience, while Gambino was well versed in the business side of things because she had previously run a pasta company.

Their organization works with a broad range of people with disabili-ties, from people with traumatic brain injuries, to those with devel-opmental disabilities, people with autism, the blind, the deaf and peo-ple with other physical disabilities.

Programs are funded through state and federal sources, but the group also counts on donations and fundraisers to cover costs that state programs do not pay for, such as a bus trip for a social outing.

The agency provides a variety of services, from housing assistance to residential programs, day pro-grams, job placement, fi nancial lit-eracy training, community network-ing and recreational activities.

The list of programs offered by Allies keeps growing. Odell said that is because the agency’s goal is to provide innovative residential, employment and advocacy pro-grams for individuals with disabil-ities based on their choices and needs, with an emphasis on inde-pendence, self determination and self-suffi ciency. As people’s needs change or the organization fi nds better ways to serve them, more programs are offered.

The agency works to make sure that individuals with disabilities are includes in all aspects of local communities and strives to see its clients live and work as indepen-

See TENNIS, Page 12 See ALLIES, Page 6

Hamilton Township’s Community Newspaper January 2009

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dently as possible and contribute to their communities.

“We try to keep people in their own homes whenever possible, or we help them fi nd affordable housing or shared living situa-tions,” Odell said. “Not everyone is a good fi t for living with others or wants to do so. Would you as an adult necessarily want to live with other people who are not related to you?”

Often people with disabilities have trou-ble fi nding a job once they fi nish high school. Allies, which has a strong connec-tion with the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce, recruits potential businesses, matches clients with those businesses.

Later they follow up to make sure the match is a good fi t. The organization tries to fi nd jobs that would be a good fi t with the person’s lifestyle and disability, and teaches clients how to manage their money.

“Businesses are outsourcing their jobs to other countries,” she said. “We have people right here who can do the work and are enthusiastic about it.”

Wawa has been fantastic about provid-ing job opportunities, she said, and some employees learned sign language when a store hired a deaf employee.

Allies also runs a gift basket business in Mount Holly and Somerville, staffed by people with disabilities, that many busi-nesses use.

Many clients are referred to Allies through government social service agencies, but oth-ers hear about the organization through word of mouth. Odell said often people are not aware of the resources that are available to them, for example a parent might not real-ize that a child is eligible to be placed on a list for job placement after graduation.

In the end, Odell said the mission of Allies is all about providing those with disabilities with s sense of dignity and fulfi llment.

“People want to work and feel productive,” she said. “A lot of young people with disabili-ties are never even asked what they want to do for a job later in life.”

When I get up in the morning, I am always

up to something,” she said. “I know I am blessed. I have work to do.”

She wants people with disabilities to wake

Miss New Jersey, former Ultimate Fighting champion set for Allies’ January fundraiser

Elise Gambino and Krystal Odell co-founded Allies Inc. in 1999. (Photo courtesy of Krystal Odell.)

ALLIES continued from Page 1

up and have that same sense of purpose and a job to look forward to.

On the Web: alliesnj.org.

The next Allies fundraiser will be held at KatManDu Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) Royce Gracie will sign autographs along with Miss New Jersey 2008 Ashley Fairfi eld. Trenton Thunder mascot Boomer will stop by to

say hello and there will be live music and raffl es.

Tickets are $20 each and will be avail-able at the door. Military with i.d. and kids will be admitted for free. On the Web: alliesbenefi t.blogspot.com. – K.K.