{"id":325907,"date":"2026-08-20T16:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325907\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:06:15","slug":"annual-queens-special-needs-summer-festival-returns-to-queens-botanical-gardens-in-flushing-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325907\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Queens Special Needs Summer Festival returns to Queens Botanical Gardens in Flushing \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"CPCPicnic1\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Chinese-American Planning Council hosted its 2026 Queens Special Needs Summer Festival at the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing on Aug. 15.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council<\/p>\n

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC)<\/a> hosted its 2026 Queens Special Needs Summer Festival at the Queens Botanical Garden<\/a> in Flushing<\/a> on Aug. 15, bringing together individuals with developmental disabilities and their caregivers for a summer picnic.<\/p>\n

The event honored caregivers and provided a fun and safe environment for disabled individuals, providing a fun-filled day of food, games and meaningful community connections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 400 participants attended the event, which aimed to tackle the challenges faced by disabled individuals and their caregivers, including obstacles to accessing services such as home care, transportation support, public assistance and benefits.<\/p>\n

\"\"CPC staff helps supervise art activities during the picnic.Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council<\/p>\n

According to the CPC\u2019s newly released 2026 FAIR Survey documents<\/a>, which listed the barriers faced by individuals with developmental disabilities, 66% faced delays obtaining services in the past year. Not only that, but 76% needed an interpreter while only 45% were satisfied with translation. The survey also showed that 46% reported depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many families of individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities, finding a community where they truly feel understood, supported and included can make all the difference,\u201d said Jacqueline Fan, program director of CPC Queens Special Needs. \u201cThis festival is a celebration of that community. It brings families, caregivers, volunteers and partners together, not only to enjoy a wonderful summer day, but also to build connections, create lasting memories, and remind every family that they belong. We are proud to stand with these families and to continue building a community where every individual is seen, valued and given the opportunity to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sponsors of the event included the National Financial Network, Healthfirst, NYP Queens, Royal Care, MTAPD Asian Jade Society and Raising Cane\u2019s, along with in-kind donors Urgent Care-Health Needs, Up One and Apollo Music Art Center.<\/p>\n

\"\"Attendees jump into a bouncy house at the festival.Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council
\n\"\"Attendees receive information and gifts from sponsors.Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council
\n\"\"Younger kids play with Play-Doh and other toys.Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council
\n\"\"Mrs. Met joins the party at the DJ booth.Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council
\n\"\"An attendee is all smiles during the Saturday picnic.
\n\"\"Attendees lounge on picnic blankets and lawn chairs for a relaxing afternoon.Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council
\n\"\"Kids play with paint and other art supplies.Photos courtesy Chinese-American Planning Council<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chinese-American Planning Council hosted its 2026 Queens Special Needs Summer Festival at the Queens Botanical Garden in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-325907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}