ACI Wins $140,000 Grant From Hurricane Sandy NJ Relief Fund

Edison, NJ, July 21, 2014 – The Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) is pleased to announce it has been awarded a $140,000 grant from the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. The funding will be used to continue the Sandy Recovery Program previously administered by Portlight Strategies. The program provides financial assistance for home accessibility equipment, funding for the replacement of durable medical equipment and supplies, as well as counseling and referral services to disabled residents impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Portlight Strategies’ Sue Pniewski, will join ACI as the Sandy Recovery Program Project Director and continue her work out of The Visitation Relief Center in Brick, New Jersey.

To mark the one-year anniversary of the iconic disaster, long distance swimmer and recent world record holder, Diana Nyad, took part in a continuous 48 hour swim in a 120 foot, 2 lane pool in the middle of New York City's historic Herald Square. On October 9th, members of the ACI team were there alongside various celebrities, athletes, first responders and organizations to swim with Nyad and support the cause.

This historic event meant a great deal of importance to ACI, as team members Salma Harris and Millie Gonzalez both lost their homes during Sandy and remain displaced nearly a year later. Before her swim with Nyad, Salma had a chance to share her continuing story of heartache and frustration in the aftermath of storm. While fighting back tears, Nyad gave Salma some words of encouragement and mentioned that she was the first Sandy victim to swim with her at the event.

"Being a Sandy victim/survivor and having Diana Nyad bring awareness to the public that many of us are still trying to rebuild what we've lost, it was an honor to be a part of the event." - Salma Harris

ACI was chosen to take part in this great cause due to their partnership with AmeriCares, which involved a series of education seminars on emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. For more details, please visit adacil.org.

ACI would like to extend a huge thank you to Lindsay O'Brien, Corey Langworthy, Randy Weiss, MacLean Cadman and Leslie Gianelli from AmeriCares for the amazing opportunity to participate in the Nyad Swim for Relief. We are grateful to AmeriCares and Citizen Paine for the opportunity to work with them on ensuring the venue was fully accessible for all participants. It was truly an honor and we are proud to be a partner!

We would also like to thank Maria Bournias, Salma Harris, Nybil Ghanem, Luke Koppisch, Christopher Bedson, Aimee Maiorino, Jason Askoff, Brian Mazzarella, Natalia Lapidus and Michelle Ford for being a part of our swim team and making us proud! Lastly, a big thanks goes out to Doreen Nalbandian, Lisa Robinson, Zoe Bournias, Carol Barboni, Jose Cueva, Iris Hernandez, Argenys Caba, Colleen Roche, Millie Gonzalez and James Michels for showing their support and cheering our participants on at the event!

Swim for Relief raised over $108,000 with $1000 on behalf of ACI. Proceeds benefited the AmeriCares Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund.

The fundraiser will continue for 21 more days, so if you wish to donate, please visit crowdrise.com/AllianceCenterforIndependence.