T: Hi, I'm Tonia Caruso. Welcome to Comcast Newsmakers. Helping young people throughout our region since 1832, joining us in our studios this half hour is Denise Sedlacek. She is the Vice President of Educational Services at Pressley Ridge. Thank you so much for coming in and talking with us today.
D: My pleasure Tonia. It's nice to be here.
T: So, Pressley Ridge has been around since 1832?
D: 178 years, hard to believe, serving children and youth in our community and our region. We have been serving kids in treatment foster care, residential programs, education and community based services. So, we have a lot of experience in serving our kids.
T: And you really do. You've grown and expanded so much over the years.
D: Yes, we're in seven states, the District of Columbia, Hungary and Portugal. So, we're serving close to five to seven thousand kids every single day in all of our locations and we're growing exponentially. We're opening a school for autism in Cincinnati this fall and looking to open schools in Baltimore, but we're committed to serving, more and more kids in our region.
T: And when we talk about this, these are young people who are facing challenges.
D: Yes. Our kids have behavioral issues, they may have emotional issues and they're served in our Day School for social and emotional disorders, they may be served in our School for Autism, Treatment Foster care are kids that have a high level of needs that can't be served in regular foster homes. And so, our parents are specially trained to work with some of the difficult behaviors or educational challenges that these young children and youth have. Our community based programs are kids that just aren't making it and really need our intervention, so we have a committed staff that also committed to the principles of Re-Education which is our philosophical framework.
T: Yeah and when you talk about some many different programs, you've mentioned Autism a couple times and that just goes to show how you've evolved over the years. And let's talk about that work a little bit.
D: Well, it's meeting the needs Tonia. Ten years ago, maybe one in ten thousand kids suffered from Autism or Asperger's. We really didn't know what it was and we were serving those kids in our program, but we didn't know that they were autistic or on the spectrum. And so, we've really again grown to meet the needs of our community. Now, one in every one hundred children may suffer from somewhere on the Autism spectrum. So, Pressley Ridge once again is growing to meet the needs so that we can serve the kids in our communities in all of the states and locations that we serve kids.
T: Making such a big difference in their lives and along with all of this, you have community events, you're trying to raise money, you have a big event coming up putting two great things together, ice cream and the zoo.
D: Oh, absolutely! It's our Pressley Ridge Ice Cream Fundae. It's on August 28th at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium from 6:30 on. And it's an opportunity to try twelve to fifteen different flavors of ice cream, for the kids to see the animals, and for really families and community members to come out and enjoy and meet the staff and the people who do all the great work in our communities that are Pressley Ridgers.
T: As we continue to talk, we're putting on the screen website, phone number, Facebook, Twitter, lots of places folks can go for information not only about your services, but also about the Fundae and you really do want the general community to come out.
D: Oh, absolutely! We really want people to know what we do. We're here as a resource even if you don't need our programs, but you know someone that may or you want information about lots of things that are happening with this population or opportunities to really give. Our CEO just completed the Badwater Run, one hundred and thirty-five miles in Death Valley, with raising $75,000 for our kids and what a phenomenal accomplishment. Only ninety people in the world are invited to this event.
T: Wow.
D: So, we're always looking for opportunities for people to give because I think they want to give to organizations that are making a difference in our communities.
T: Do you ever stop to think where many of these children would be if it weren't for Pressley Ridge?
D: That's a pretty sad place. Sometimes, we lose kids, that haven't made it in this world and that's not a good place to be.
T: But you've saved some many others and we thank you so much for coming in and talking with us today. We certainly do appreciate it.
D: Well, thank you so very much for having us here.
T: I'm Tonia Caruso. Thanks for watching Comcast Newsmakers. We'll send you back now to HLN.
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