An Evening Thank you for coming this evening. Please mark your calendars and join us next year on Monday, December 7, 2020 at Sheraton, to Celebrate Station Square in Pittsburgh. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact Peggie Watson at 412.995.5000 x420 or [email protected]. ACHIEVA extends Season’s Greetings & Wishes for a Happy New Year! 2019 ACHIEVA Awards of Excellence ACHIEVA’s Annual Pittsburgh Promenade Auction Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh March 14, 2020 The Pittsburgh Promenade is ACHIEVA’s largest fundraising event of the year. Last year’s auction drew over 400 guests who had the opportunity to bid on autographed sports memorabilia, vacation packages, golf outings, artwork, home appliances, jewelry, restaurant and theater packages. Thank you for joining us tonight as we celebrate the people and organizations who exemplify ACHIEVA’s vision. ACHIEVA envisions a The annual event benefits children and adults and their families who community where all people with disabilities lead lives of personal turn to ACHIEVA each year for services and support. Your assistance as significance. The work of tonight’s awardees has taken us in that direction. a sponsor, donor or attendee of this event will help to make the 2020 Pittsburgh Promenade even more successful. ACHIEVA is a leader in the field of disabilities, an organization known for its innovative programs and steadfast dedication to children and adults with disabilities and their families. For more than 68 years, ACHIEVA has built upon a strong foundation, rooted in the passion and dedication of families who came together with a common purpose: to ensure that their loved ones with disabilities had the same chances in life that all people should be given. Their commitment helped to establish a nationwide movement that changed the long history of isolation and segregation for children and adults with disabilities. By remaining true to the mission of its devoted founders, ACHIEVA has ACHIEVA’s 22nd Annual Million Dollar Golf Outing woven a clear path for growth. With advocacy at its core, ACHIEVA has Valley Brook Country Club, McMurray branched out, creating a lifelong support system that empowers people August 17, 2020 with disabilities and their families. ACHIEVA’s services include advocacy and public awareness, early Golfers return year after year to play this outstanding 27-hole golf course. intervention, respite and in-home supports, recreational activities, home The day includes brunch and dinner, as well as prizes and gifts, including and community supports, employment supports, special needs trust a chance at the Million Dollar Hole-in-One prize. The generosity of services and future planning. For more information on ACHIEVA, visit corporations, businesses and individuals are what makes this day possible. www.achieva.info. WILLIAM S. DEMCHAK Sattler Humanitarian Award 2019 AWARD WINNERS William “Bill” Demchak has been a RITA CHESKIEWICZ tremendous supporter of not only Excellence in Advocacy ACHIEVA, but the disability community in general. He served as the Chair HEATHER TOMKO of ACHIEVA’s most recent Capital Excellence in Community Awareness Campaign that raised in excess of $8 CAFE IO RESAURANT million dollars for innovative programs CHEF JEFF IOVINO and greening improvements. Excellence in Employment Individually and as the Chairman of JASON RUDGE & SON PRESLEY PNC, Bill has continued to support Excellence in Family Supports charities and organizations in the disability community. He supports JULIAN GRAY, ESQ. those with disabilities in the workforce, as well. As a family member, Bill Excellence in Legal Services understands the supports needed to ensure those with disabilities lead ELENA LaQUATRA a life of personal significance. Bill is also active in humanitarian work: WTAE he is a member of Activate Pittsburgh (a campaign against weight gain Yvonne Zanos Excellence in Media and poor health), and a founder of a PNC Bank sponsored campaign to support underprivileged children in the area. DR. ALIA PUSTORINO-CLEVENGER DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY He has a Bachelor of Science from Allegheny College and an MBA (with Excellence in Professional Service an emphasis in accounting) from the University of Michigan. At Allegheny, he was an Alden Scholar, actively participating in student government, LISA G. SILVERMAN, ESQ. the economics club, the Interfraternity Council, intramural sports, and Excellence in Volunteerism Lacrosse. In addition, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity MJ BARTELMAY as well as the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Marsha S. Blanco Excellence in Community Leadership He is married to Debbie and they have three children. JEREMY SHAPIRA Joe Ott Award TERESA PLUNKETT Tony Leech Award MARK STEIDL Cecil and David Rosenthal Community Award WILLIAM S. DEMCHAK Sattler Humanitarian Award RITA CHESKIEWICZ Boards of Trustees Excellence in Advocacy ACHIEVA Family Trust ACHIEVA Resource Rita Cheskiewicz is a parent of a young man with I/DA and has been Chair Chair a lifelong passionate advocate for Stephan P. Hubbard, CLU, ChFC Mary D. Richter, CPA him. Her exemplary accomplishments Chair Elect Chair Elect in systemic advocacy, information Holly Hoff Chaz R. Kellem sharing and education has resulted in demonstrable improvements for and Vice Chair Vice Chair the empowerment of people with LeeAnn A. Fulena, Esq. Mary Lou Gegick disabilities and their families. Immediate Past Chair Past Chair Jennifer C. Johnson, Esq. Michael L. Dever, Esq. In 2010, Rita was hired by The Arc of Pennsylvania to develop, implement and Trustees grow a new program that was a product James Calhoun The Arc of Greater of the Gaskin litigation against the Pennsylvania Education Department. Jonathan Chitiyo, Ph.D. Pittsburgh Part of the settlement required a program be established to help Julie Dever Chair children with significant disabilities going into kindergarten or first Michael Dudkowski Jillian F. Zacks, Esq. grade be included in general education classrooms rather than being Beth Fulena segregated from their peers without disabilities. This was titled “Include Foster S. Goldman, Jr., Esq. Chair Elect Me From the Start”. During the eight years Rita ran the program, 176 Jeffrey Hantz, Esq. Dr. Nina Butler school districts received Include Me consultations; and 1,214 students Kimberly Jackson Vice Chair and student teams participated in the program, In 2018 alone, 5,000 Kelly Lovato Kitty Williams students, school personnel and family members participated in Include Rob McDowell Me assemblies, trainings and professional development events. Robert Schweitzer, Esq. Immediate Past Chair Joan Shoemaker, Esq. Michael G. Meyer When Include Me first started, school districts with a poor record of inclusion Kristen Stokes, Esq. Trustees were essentially forced by the state education department to accept help Coy Thompson Robie Bruesewitz from Include Me. Today, it’s a fully voluntary program and Include Me often Martha Zatezalo, Esq. has a waiting list of interested school districts which are fit into the rotation Tina Calabro the following year. Carla Devlin, CFA Stacey Diaz Rita left Include Me in 2019 to become Mikayla’s Voice new Executive Robert L. Kelley Director. Rita has permanently changed the trajectory for countless children Michael Lawrence, Esq. in Pennsylvania and numerous school districts whose internal cultural Ted Meyer changes in the direction of inclusive education will positively influence Dan Morgan countless children in the future. Nancy A. Parker, Esq. Elizabeth Powers Rita lives in Dallas Pennsylvania with her husband Allan and sons, AJ and Lisa G. Silverman, Esq. Matthew. Rebecca Ward Boards of Trustees HEATHER TOMKO Excellence in Community Awareness ACHIEVA ACHIEVA Support Heather Tomko is a driving force for Chair Chair disability rights advocacy and inclusion Mary D. Richter, CPA Paul Long and is galvanizing the community Chair Elect Chair Elect around these issues through the Chaz R. Kellem Thomas M. Lee advocacy organization she founded, Accessible YOUniverse. Vice Chair Vice Chair Mary Lou Gegick Josh Scott In 2018, she won the Dick Thornburgh Immediate Past Chair Immediate Past Chair Forum Disability Service Award for her Michael L. Dever, Esq. Mary D. Richter, CPA participation in the Jewish Healthcare Foundation’s Health Activist Fellowship, Trustees Trustees her blog, The Heather Report, and founding Accessible YOUniverse. Greg Fajt, Esq. Lyndsay A. Brown Heather has also contributed first-person essays on disability issues to Beth Fulena Fran Carter Public Source since 2017. Meghan Gannon Anderson Joanne Christopher Gary Grysiak Nancy Gannon Heather was named Miss Wheelchair USA 2018 and used the platform Stephan P. Hubbard, CLU, ChFC Jerry Goodrick to increase awareness of inclusion of people with disabilities across the Jennifer Johnson, Esq. Chaz R. Kellem nation. She is a born leader and effective convener. In July 2019, Heather Paul Long John S. Lynch organized the “Ramp the Divide” summit where participants mapped Rob McDowell Matt Oxenreiter, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CMFC an advocacy agenda for making Pittsburgh and Allegheny County more Michael Meyer Joseph G. Piccini, CPM accessible for people with disabilities. Jeremy Shapira Edward W. Price Steve B. Spolar, Esq. Alexandra Robinson Heather works as a research assistant at the University of Pittsburgh’s David Tilstone Gary Scalise Department of Health Policy and Management. She earned a bachelor’s Rob Unkovic Gary L. Sellers in mechanical and biomedical engineering at Carnegie