Success Stories
Highlighting the results of our past events
Our First Achievement
Not all beginnings are easy. In 2017, ERC Charities formed and held its first annual event, a golf outing in memory Lorraine De Vito, our founder’s aunt, whose son Michael is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and non-verbal. The team sought to make supporting autism awareness its top priority of year one in her honor.
With less volunteers than today, and no past year’s blueprint, the first annual golf outing went off not only without a hiccup, but was successfully able to raise $5,000. $4,000 of which was presented to Autism Speaks during our first post outing dinner and awards ceremony. The organization has never looked back, & continues to grow the event in both participation and funds raised.
Expanding to our local community
After making our mark, the team sought to continue working in line with our vision, and make outreaches into the local community. In 2018, we visited Northern Hills Academy, Meeting Andrea and her team for the first time. We were immediately touched by the role they played in helping educate our neighbors with special needs, and knew this was our door to truly making our golf outing “All Fore the Kids”.
At the 2019 outing, Northern Hills was presented with a $2,000 check to be used towards their Sensory Wall project, and early in 2022 our team was able to present another check to continue funding the project which has thus far been a complete success. At this year’s outing, the kids will help prepare packages for our golfers. We continue to set our sights on further impacting the daily lives of the children at Northern Hills Academy.
Branching out within the region
It didn’t stop there. ERC charities began hosting it’s second annual event, the Michael De Vito Jr. Scholarship Gala. The event provides both an annual scholarship for additional services not covered by the DDD budget of a Second Home participant, but also dedicated funds to be used to enhance the second home facility. Previous donations have been used to purchase equipment for the new sensory room at Second Home’s Totowa, NJ location.
ERC Charities volunteers were able to get out to the program, sponsoring a table at Second Home’s Pasta Dinner fundraiser. Our team was so impressed with the things the program is doing that we had the faculty give a similar presentation at the 2024 annual gala, in an effort to educate our attendees on exactly what their contributions can benefit. We continue to work with Dr. Haimowitz and his team on finding ways to help make a difference.
As a part of the growth initiative, we continue to visit local organizations to see the impact they have, and learn about how we can help. If you are an organization with a project in mind, please contact us about it.