STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 \u201cYou\u2019re not alone.\u201d That\u2019s the mantra that three Staten Island parents want to convey to all special education families through a new support group.<\/p>\n
The three moms, Ginamarie Vomero, Joanne Parker, and April Riccardelli, all met several years ago when their children attended P373R at PS 6, Tottenville. The trio stayed in touch, even though their children \u2014 all aged 11-13 years old \u2014 attend different schools now. <\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t until earlier this year that they decided to band together to create the Special Needs Support Group Stronger Together, in hopes to help other parents of special needs children navigate the difficulties they may face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just realized we want to help people,\u201d said Vomero, of Eltingville. \u201cWe want to guide them. We don\u2019t want them to feel alone. We wanted them to have a place to go where there was no judgement, which is so important for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riccardelli, of Huguenot, explained that, since the pandemic, there aren\u2019t many in-person meetings, so having that support \u2014 and having it in-person \u2014 helps families connect. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have people come and say to us, \u2018It feels so good to know that it\u2019s not just me\u2019,\u201d said Parker, who lives in Bay Terrace.<\/p>\n
The first meeting was held in April this year. <\/p>\n
Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. at St. Alban\u2019s Episcopal Church in Eltingville. No registration is required, and the meetings are open to all parents navigating the challenges of raising a child with special needs. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just special needs everyday, special need moms, and we felt that it was necessary for other families to not feel alone. So we searched around for a location that could provide us with a space, and we just took it from there,\u201d said Parker.<\/p>\n
Since then, the group has grown to more than 50 parents. The monthly meetings aim to provide a safe space for parents to share experiences, while also inviting speakers like lawyers and health professionals to talk about guardianship and Medicaid. Those speakers provide an icebreaker for families to ask questions and share perspectives and allow for open discussion.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s plenty of venting, laughing, crying, and hugging.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people, including us, we struggle with going places with our children, like you feel like, \u2018Oh my God, you got to be on top of them. What are they going to say? Who\u2019s going to look at you funny?\u2019 And our event was so nice because nobody felt that way \u2026 Everybody understands what you\u2019re going through. Nobody cares and nobody\u2019s looking at you funny,\u201d said Parker.<\/p>\n
Parents of kids of all ages are able to attend the meetings, from as young as pre-K, to kids in high school, and even adults with special needs. Parker explained that the system is difficult to navigate. Having these meetings allows parents to get advice and learn from others\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n
The meetings are open to all parents of special needs children. The group also plans other outings and events outside of regular monthly meetings, such as a \u201cwinter wonderland\u201d scheduled later this year.<\/p>\n
You can join its Facebook group, Special Needs Support Group Stronger Together,<\/a> for more information and updates.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes me, personally, feel just so good to know that I can help other people,\u201d said Vomero. \u201cIt\u2019s helped me too with my daughter, because I\u2019ve met people that \u2014 my daughter has anxiety \u2014 and I\u2019ve met people that are in similar situations, and that\u2019s really helped in certain ways. I just feel very good about the group. I look forward to it, and it\u2019s just a great place.”<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 \u201cYou\u2019re not alone.\u201d That\u2019s the mantra that three Staten Island parents want to convey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-33765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33765","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=33765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}