Willing Hands

In a town full of community-minded spirits, these individuals distinguish themselves. For them, the season of giving is 12 months long.

By Cindy Schweich Handler
Montclair Magazine, Holiday 2008

Striking a Chord

A clinical social worked trained to "help people reach their potential," Alma Schneider realized that she needed an outlet for doing just that after the birth of her third of four children. The former New Yorker had studied singing at the High School of Music and Art, and her quest for open mikes led to the former Coffee Club Cafe on Valley Road.

"I put together a night of parents like me, musicians who'd performed when they were younger and gotten away from it because of careers and responsibilities at home," Schneider recalls. The cover charge was five dollars for Tsunami relief, corporate matching donations raised the night's take to $900. Ands Parents Who Rock (http://www.parentswhorock.com), a fundraising powerhouse, was born.

Four years later, recipients of their largesse include Montclair's Developmental Learning Center, for whom they raised $30,000; the children of murdered resident Monica Paul; and an All Children's Playground in Edgemont Park, built with $150,000 that PWR raised in conjunction with the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence. A Parents Who Rock CD recorded for the latter effort brought in $12,000 alone. A concert for Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit music program, will provide 500 new instruments and teacher-training to the public schools. "The only criteria for playing at our shows it that you be a parent, though most people who perform are pretty good," says Schneider. And be patient: There's a waiting list, and you might not play the same year you get on it.

Almost time to ‘Let ’em Play’

Thursday, October 30, 2008
By Mark S. Porter
Of the Montclair Times

Their membership is made of moms and dads who, years ago, put aside guitar amplifiers and microphones to raise children in Montclair.

Thanks to organizing dynamo Alma Schneider, many former performers have signed onto Schneider’s social and musical cyclone, Parents Who Rock.

Along with motivating responsible adults to rival their children in performing rock music, PWR has become a local vehicle to raise funds for local nonprofits.

PWR’s focus this year is to raise $50,000 for the Little Kids Rock organization, a nationwide group that provides guitars, basses and drums, along with trained instructors, to schools. Little Kids Rock’s founder and executive director, David Wish, is a Montclair resident who intends to bring his organization’s prowess to the Montclair School District.

"You need to be a board-certified teacher to volunteer to teach music in the Little Kids Rock program. We have two of them in Parents Who Rock who are going to be volunteers for this," said Schneider. She cited Avril Fagan, who teaches at Edgemont Montessori School, and Alisa Harmon, who teaches students enrolled in the Developmental Learning Center."

"Parents Who Rock and Little Kids Rock are terrific groups, and Alma Schneider has done a terrific job garnering support in the public schools," said Mayor Jerry Fried. "The program is great. It’s a step in the right direction.

"Having the Little Kids Rock program in the schools is a top-notch way to provide music education, but it’s really just a step. We have to find a way to find more funding for music education."



New CD

Parents Who Rock will release its second compilation of music performed by members. The CD, "Let ’em Play," will be released in mid-November, she said.

"Greg Calbi is mastering our CD, and Dave Cushing is once again producing our CD. We have over 20 songs on it," said Schneider, who noted that Cushing produced PWR’s debut release, "Go Play Outside."

"We’ll be selling it in more than 20 stores," Schneider told The Times.



Holiday fundraisers

PWR will perform a concert and a "Holiday Sample Sale" on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Andrew Tedesco Gallery on North Willow Street. Twenty percent of the profits of the sale will go to Little Kids Rock’s local goal.

Performers are embarking on Parents Who Rock House Gigs, in which volunteers will host PWR performances in their homes. "You can throw a party or, if you’re already planning a party, you can turn it into a fundraising effort," Schneider said. "We now have 15 people. We’d love 100 people hosting these parties with a token Parents Who Rock concert in their home. You can charge $10 or $20, whatever you’re comfortable charging."



Rock of ages

Parents Who Rock has evolved into new elements. For the first time in the organization’s history, there will be a concert performed by kids. This show will be held in Diva Lounge on Bloomfield Avenue, with the date to be announced.

And there’s a new offshoot: Grandparents Who Rock.

"This is for more ‘seasoned’ parents," Schneider said of the members.

Jill Berke, who suggested creating the offshoot, described its membership as "grandparentally aged."

Berke said she was inspired by her boyfriend, Jim Steiner, who won a first-place award in the Adult Division of the New Jersey Sings competition. "He won at age 69 against people less than half his age," Berke said. "This is about spirit, and people who would like to share the spirit."

"We are looking for grandparents and grandparent wannabees to be involved in the Grandparents Who Rock show," stated Schneider of a concert Berke said would likely occur in February 2009 in the Diva Lounge.

People can contact Schneider at alma@parentswhorock.com.

School (district) of rock

Thursday, September 18, 2008
By Mark S. Porter
of the Montclair Times

David Wish, left, founder of Little Kids Rock, is joined by Bonnie Raitt and a roster of other musical luminaries who are honorary board members of the organization dedicated to enriching children in learning to perform music. Photo courtesy of David Wish.

In the movies, the hills are alive with the sound of music.

In Montclair, Hillside School might soon be a-tune with the sound of rock music.

Hillside and Montclair's other public schools will be the beneficiaries of free musical instruments and volunteer tutors in a plan now underway in a collaboration involving the locally based Parents Who Rock organization and the national Little Kids Rock non-profit group, whose director and founder, David Wish, resides in Montclair.

Alma Schneider, founder of Parents Who Rock (PWR) said the goal is to generate $50,000 to purchase 500 guitars for the town's 11 public schools.

"For every $100 we make, there will be an instrument brought into school. The total we're hoping to raise is $50,000," Schneider said. "That includes up to 500 instruments, curriculum and Little Kids Rock staff who will train volunteers to teach the programs.

Schneider said she knows of PWR members who are "ready and waiting to teach the kids during and after school hours."

Expressing concern regarding the level of musical education in the public schools, Schneider said, "A small group of high school parents approached me, talking about the need for more music in the schools."

She acknowledged that the members of PWR -- who are all former performers in rock bands who have coalesced, as parents residing in Montclair, to again plug in the guitars and microphones -- are more focused on contemporary music than on Baroque or classical.

"It's rock-based, but the kids will be learning to compose music," Schneider said. "Kids relate to rock music and contemporary music. Once a child gets more involved in music, then the community expands. Being a part of a community gives a student a leg up."

About two months after David Wish founded Little Kids Rock in August 2001, he and his family moved from California to Montclair. During the past decade, Wish has set up local chapters of Little Kids Rock in 18 cities, "reaching over 25,000 kids.

"All instrument donations we make are really part of a program," Wish said. "We really believe children should be taught the music they listen to... We teach our kids to create their own original music."

About 30 teachers will be tutored in Little Kids Rock methodology, he said.

Wish started the organization in East Palo Alto, in the San Francisco Bay area, where he had worked as a first-grade teacher. Little Kids Rock has now rolled into cities such as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas.

Referring to Alma Schneider as "a force of nature," Wish said that he enthusiastically agreed to partner with PWR. "Does it sound like a match made in heaven?" Wish asked, adding that the partnership could also be akin to a show on the Comedy Channel.

PWR and Little Kids Rock are working with the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence, a non-profit organization that supports the Montclair School District.

Describing the collaboration as "a wonderful effort," Montclair Schools Superintendent Frank Alvarez said, "This will allow us to put an instrument in the hands of every fourth- and fifth-grader who wants to learn how to play.

"We would not have been able to do this on our own."

Alvarez said the promised volunteer instruction will be vital. He said the budget cuts that the district was forceed to make severely limited what music instruction it could provide this school year.

Schneider is already turning up the volume control on her self-amplifier to "11" to combine PWR with Little Kids Rock in a goal to enrich the students attending Montclair's public schools.

"We're going to be doing bake sales, concerts, and many other grassroots activities," Schneider said. "Parents Who Rock musicians can host a dinner. Parents Who Rock musicians will perform at other people's homes.

"We want to keep Montclair the coolest suburb in New Jersey."

Playgrounds that Welcome Wheelchairs

By JENNIFER V. HUGHES
Published: July 6, 2008
The New York Times

THE first time Lisa Vaccino took her children to Hannah’s Dream, a playground in New Haven designed for disabled children, she immediately noticed a difference in her son, Johnny, 5, who has cerebral palsy.

“When we got back into the car that day I didn’t even have to ask him. He said, ‘That was fun!’ ” said Mrs. Vaccino, who also has a daughter, Emma, 2, who is not disabled. “That was a lot coming from him. That was huge.”





CHILD’S PLAY Lisa Vaccino with her 5-year-old son, Johnny, who is using a special shovel to dig in a sandbox at Hannah’s Dream, a playground in New Haven. Photo: Thomas McDonald for The New York Times

But it takes them a half-hour to drive to the park from Milford, Conn., their hometown. After that visit, in October, Mrs. Vaccino formed a nonprofit group and started a fund-raising drive for an accessible playground in Milford.

With the summer in full swing, playgrounds are a daily part of life for most families with small children. But for many disabled children, they remain tantalizingly out of reach. That is starting to change in many towns around the region, where handicapped accessible playgrounds and ball fields are being built or planned.





At Miracle Field in Hartsdale, N.Y., Tanis Annicchiarico, far right, gives Joey Lombardi a hand running to first base. Photo: Alan Zale for The New York Times

Mrs. Vaccino said that a location for the park in Milford has not been chosen, but that it will be named Bodie’s Place, for her son’s nickname. It even has a mascot, a spunky-looking firefly flitting out of a jar, and a motto: “Get Out and Play!”

Ms. Vaccino and other Milford parents are working with Boundless Playgrounds, a nonprofit group that has helped create 129 accessible playgrounds in 24 states since 1997. It was founded by Peter and Amy Jaffe Barzach of West Hartford, Conn., whose son Jonathan had spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative neuromuscular disease, and died at the age of 9 months. There are 11 accessible playgrounds in the metropolitan region, and three more in the works, said Glandina Morris, a spokeswoman for Boundless Playgrounds.

Accessible playgrounds have rubberized surfaces that accommodate wheelchairs and walkers, and a child in a wheelchair can use wide ramps to get to the top of all climbing structures, Ms. Morris said. Many of the playgrounds include “cozy spots,” where children with Down syndrome or autism can go if they are overstimulated.

The playgrounds cost more than traditional ones, Ms. Morris said, because wheelchair-friendly surfacing can cost four times more than that of typical playgrounds. She said most groups and communities pay for them with donations and public funds.

Some accommodations are obvious, like high-back swings and bouncers; others are more subtle, like a sandbox placed at wheelchair height, or picnic tables with cutouts so a child in a wheelchair can sit with his or her family, not off to the side, Ms. Morris said. Many playgrounds include Braille panels on the equipment and gardens with fragrant flowers for blind children.

An accessible playground under construction in Teaneck, N.J., will eventually have many of those features and more, said Cindy Balsam-Martz, who led the effort to build it. Mrs. Balsam-Martz was inspired by her struggle to find a place to play with all of her children, the twins Eric and Noah, 10; Elaine, 7; and Nettie Faith, 6, who is partially blind and deaf and uses a wheelchair.

When they visit most parks, Mrs. Balsam-Martz said, her older children play while she practices walking with Nettie Faith.

“It feels like punishment,” she said. “All it does is further isolate her and outline her disability, which is not who Nettie is.”

Construction on the playground in the township’s Votee Park is expected to be completed by early fall.

Nationally, the drive for accessible playgrounds began in response to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, said Antonio Malkusak, who has designed spaces for Boundless Playgrounds for a decade. Although the act did not cover playgrounds, “it got people thinking,” Mr. Malkusak said. More playgrounds were also built after companies started offering more adaptive equipment, prompted by the act, he added.

When Boundless Playgrounds began, Mr. Malkusak said, he would often hear, “ ‘We don’t see those kids coming out, so we don’t need to consider them.’ ”

“What was really happening was the reason why those kids didn’t come out was because there was nothing for them to do,” he said.

Since 2004, the Bush administration has been considering whether to require specific guidelines for handicapped access at new and existing playgrounds. A public hearing on the issue was set for July 15 in Washington.

The Town of Huntington, on Long Island, will include a Boundless Playground as part of a renovation and expansion of Veterans Park. Officials hope to open the playground, which is being named for a teacher with Lou Gehrig’s disease, by 2010.

In Montclair, N.J., work was to begin in a few weeks on the Edgemont Park All Children’s Playground. The project will cost about $200,000, about $40,000 of which was raised in bake sales and coin drives, as well as by a group of local musicians, Parents Who Rock. They held fund-raising concerts and released a CD that was sold in local shops.

Alma Schneider, Parents Who Rock’s founder, said accessible playgrounds are fun for all children. “This playground is for everyone,” she said. “There is no playground where typical kids and special-needs kids can play together.”

At a groundbreaking ceremony last week, Dave Fucio, a member of Montclair’s People With Disabilities committee, said accessible playgrounds were also important for parents and grandparents who use wheelchairs.

As part of the renovation of the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, Morris County, N.J., is building Miracle Field, a baseball field for disabled players and spectators. It is being paved with a rubberized surface to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. Officials hoped to hold the first ballgame this month.

The field was built with the help of an organization called the Miracle League, which provides communities with architectural designs and consulting support for the fields. The first Miracle Field was built in Georgia in 2000; now, there are 130 of them nationwide and another 100 under construction, said Diane Alford, founder of the league.

There are four Miracle Fields in the New York region and another 10 are planned, Ms. Alford said. The Westchester County Miracle Field, at Ridge Road Park in Hartsdale, has been hosting games since 2006.

At Miracle Field games, able-bodied siblings often act as buddies, pushing a player in a wheelchair to first base or helping one with a walker hit the ball, Phyllis Lombardi of Dobbs Ferry said. Her 10-year-old son, Joey, who is autistic, is a player and her 13-year-old son, Nicholas, is a buddy.

“What has happened is the most extraordinary thing, because he’s started to be so engaged in it,” Ms. Lombardi said of Joey. “We couldn’t get him to run to first base in the beginning, but now he does it. Now he says the word ‘ball.’ When you only have 11 words, it’s a big deal in a mother’s heart.”

All-Children’s Playground nearing reality

Thursday, June 26, 2008
By Erica Zarra
of the Montclair Times

After eight years in the making, a universal playground in Montclair is close to fruition.

On June 20, under a bright blue sky, municipal officials, residents, children, and financial donors convened in Edgemont Memorial Park for the kickoff ceremony of an "All-Children’s Playground," which will feature play stations, a playground surface and entrances designed to accommodate people with disabilities and special needs.

Susan Irby, a representative of Montclair’s People With Disabilities Advisory Committee, whose members started the idea of a universal playground nearly a decade ago, called the event "a great day for Montclair."

"It punctuates a major step forward for our community’s commitment to bring full participation in public life for everyone, and it brings it closer to reality," Irby said. "If we think outside the box about access, then we find expanded use and purpose."

Irby noted the universal playground would accommodate not only children with disabilities, but also parents with special needs.

"So much time and effort has been put in by everyone to make this happen," Irby told dozens of supporters in attendance. "And everyone, I can’t thank you enough."

Township Manager Joseph Hartnett noted, "The sense of satisfaction and reward and warm heart from this [project] far exceeds anything else that I have had the privilege of being involved in."

Hartnett praised supporters of the project, including the People With Disabilities Advisory Committee for their longterm commitment to the project.

"As we all know and believe, families that play together stay together," he said.

The Township Council has purchased $140,656 worth of playground equipment from Marturano Recreation Co.

The municipal government also awarded a $282,000 contract to JC Landscape Construction & Management Co. for the playground’s design and construction.

A portion of the funds for such improvements has been appropriated through bond ordinances and additional finances, some of which are from private donors.

The council had committed $200,000 to the project, and the municipality obtained a $50,000 state grant toward it.

The remainder of money was secured through private donations and fundraising initiatives, including those by Parents Who Rock, a locally based organization of mothers and fathers who had performed rock music professionally or as amateurs.

Second Ward Councilwoman Robin Schlager, who served as chairperson of the project’s general fundraising campaign, said she saw a universal playground a perfect fit for Edgemont Memorial Park, which she called, "the jewel of our town."

"I can’t think of a better way to end the four years with such a monumental day as we have here," said Schlager, who will be departing from the council, along with her six colleagues, this coming Tuesday, July 1. "It was a collaborative effort, a very unique effort between the town fundraising and the grassroots fundraising."

Schlager noted that coin drives, bake sales, T-shirt sales and CD sales were integral in raising money. She said such initiatives could not have carried out without the efforts of Parents Who Rock. The councilwoman also noted the work of Hartnett and Sara Gilbertson, an employee in his office, and the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence, of which she is the associate director.

Alma Schneider, the founder of Parents Who Rock, emphasized how pleased she is to be a Montclair resident: "I am very proud to live in a town that not only considers everyone’s needs but have also had the courage and the perseverance to act on that and have the desire to make a change.

"So a big thank you to Township Council and to all the donors, musicians, and everyone else who assisted in making this unique and amazing playground a reality in our great town of Montclair."

The hour-long program featured a choral presentation in American Sign Language performed by Edgemont Montessori School’s 4th grade students, led by their teacher Regina Waller.

The event also featured two music performances by Parents Who Rock members.
Deputy Mayor Joyce Michaelson said she looks forward to visiting the All-Children’s Playground with her grandchildren.

"This has been an outstanding exercise in how a community can work together and partner together to do what we all want," Michaelson said.

All children's playground on it's way

Thursday, June 19, 2008
By Mark S. Porter
of the Montclair Times

With a radiant smile sweeping across her face, Lily Vakili rejoiced: "It’s just blossomed."

Vakili’s joyous demeanor was shared by three women who joined her in Edgemont Memorial Park, aglow at the promise of the "All-Children’s Playground" being constructed.

Eight years ago, Montclair residents Dorothy Schattner, her daughter Helaine Schattner and Susan Irby proposed the construction of a recreational area in town in which children and adults with disabilities could enjoy playing on rides with "able" kids and grownups.

There have been eight years of discussions, analyses and, eventually, approval of the All-Children’s Playground.

During the past year, there have been penny drives, musical performances, a walkathon, bake sales and a CD offered for sale to raise funds to construct the specialized playing area in the Edgemont Park location of an existing playground.

Tomorrow morning, Friday, all of the advocacy and fundraising activities will prove their worth.

The All-Children’s Playground Kickoff Ceremony, featuring key activists, supporters and municipal officials, will occur at 11 a.m. in Edgemont’s playground area.

Funding for the All-Children’s Playground has suddenly reached the construction-cost requisite, pushed over the top through substantive contributions by two anonymous donors. "There were some amazingly generous donors," Vakili said.

The playground is estimated to cost about $400,000. The Township Council appropriated $200,000, and the state provided a $50,000 grant. Donors and fundraising activities have provided the remaining $150,000, along with some funds necessary for maintenance and upgrades of the specialized playground equipment.

Susan Irby said every resident should rejoice when the playground opens.

"We focus on the ways we can enrich one another’s lives," Irby said.

Along with their smiles, the four women gathered in Edgemont Park sported black "Parents Who Rock" T-shirts. Joining Irby, Vakili and Leslie Kunkin was Alma Schnieder, founder of Parents Who Rock, and a hyper-committed advocate for the All-Children’s Playground.

Performing members of the Montclair-based Parents Who Rock contributed nearly two dozen songs for a CD, "Go Play Outside," with revenues from the $10 discs donated to fund construction of the All-Children’s Playground. Parents Who Rock initiated or collaborated in several fundraisers throughout Montclair to generate funds. The CD is available for purchase in numerous local businesses.

"Between donors who donated services and volunteers at all the fundraisers, we had well over 100 volunteers," Schneider said.

This past Saturday, during Mayor Ed Remsen’s speech dedicating a memorial in Anderson Park to famed Montclair High School lacrosse coaches and physical education teachers Gil Gibbs and Homer Robinson, the mayor cited tomorrow’s ceremony: "We’ve worked very hard and we’re really excited" about the onset of the playground.

"The contract is signed. The design is approved," Vakili said. "It should be built this year."

All-access playground close to construction

Thursday, June 12, 2008
BY ERICA ZARRA
of the Montclair Times

A universal playground in Montclair will soon be built.

During the meeting on Tuesday, the Township Council approved two resolutions concerning an "All-Children's Playground" to be erected in Edgemont Memorial Park.

The full-access outside facility will feature play stations, a playground surface and entrances that are designed to accommodate children with disabilities and special needs.

The council members purchased $140,656 worth of playground equipment from Marturano Recreation Co.

They also awarded a $282,000 contract to JC Landscape Construction & Management Co. for the playground's design and construction.

A portion of the funds for such improvements has been appropriated through bond ordinances and additional finances, some of which were from private donors.

"The support in this community warmed my heart and was a wonderful tribute to Montclair," Township Manager Joseph Hartnett said.

The Township Council committed $200,000 to the project and the municipality obtained a $50,000 state grant toward it.

The remainder of money was secured through private donations and fundraising efforts, including those by Parents Who Rock, a locally based organization of mothers and fathers who had performed rock music professionally or as amateurs.

Second Ward Councilwoman Robin Schlager, who chaired a subcommittee of the project, called the playground "a great example of what this town can do working with a lot of people."

"No matter what the price tag was, many people in town embraced an all-access playground," Schlager said.

Hartnett concurred, saying, "This has been the most rewarding experience since being township manager in Montclair. Over 200 Montclair families sent in their checks ... from every single neighborhood. The support for the playground covered every area, every nook and cranny of Montclair."

The Council Chamber was packed with supporters of the project, many of whom cheered when the resolutions were approved.

"The support has been overwhelming," said Susan Irby of Montclair's People with Disabilities Advisory Committee, who is also a member of the fundraising committee.

Irby, who helped lead the idea of an all-access playground years ago, said the project represents "education and awareness about community inclusion."

Irby's daughter, Rebecca, added that the playground reflects the "equality and promotion of diversity" integral in Montclair.

Alma Schneider, the founder of Parents Who Rock, thanked the council members and the "people in Montclair who stepped up." Schneider told The Times that an official groundbreaking ceremony likely will occur soon.

Members of the Friends of Edgemont Park Committee said they were in favor of the playground, but noted concerns such as parking and landscaping in the vicinity.

They also articulated a feeling of not being fully informed of the effort.