Center for Disability Rights scholars named

Eleven local students received scholarship awards at the recent Center for Disability Rights Annual Meeting.

The CDR Annual Scholarship Program, established four years ago, is part of CDR’s Youth Programs and includes Youth Transition Advocacy and Education, according to a prepared statement.






CDR members, friends, and corporate sponsors, who work to make the CDR Annual Wheel-A-Thon a success, make the scholarship program possible, the statement said. CDR’s Fourth Annual Wheel-A-Thon (http://www.wheel-a-thon.org/), will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 6, at the Savin Rock Conference Center in Weat Haven.

It is a CDR fundraising venture to address the need for youth program , for which CDR receives no other funding, the statement said.

“As a membership organization of people with disabilities, CDR is very pleased that we are able to assist eleven promising students make this important transition into adulthood,” CDR Executive Director Marc Anthony Gallucci said in the statement. “We value every community partner and volunteer that has helped us raise the funds to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities.”

To be eligible for a CDR Scholarship, successful candidates must submit a person essay, proof of their disability and residency, and be enrolled or accepted at a post-secondary institution.
This year's scholarship winners, shown l to r in the photo, are: Justin J. Kruscek of Deep River; Ashley Glorioso of Old Saybrook; Jeanette Anderson of New Haven; Madalyn Wild of Ansonia; Troy Fischer of New Haven; Lauren Cozensa of West Haven (her brother Anthony received the award on Lauren’s behalf); Benjamin Kaufman of Essex; Jason Connolly of Old Saybrook; Seth Cohen of Hamden; Paige Mino of East Haven; and (not shown) Albert Maldonado of New Haven.


Photo by Christopher Zurcher, Zurcher Communications, cjzurcher@yahoo.com


Wheel-A-Thon 2009 is dedicated to the memory of Rick DelStritto and James Puccino. http://www.wheel-a-thon.org/