October 19, 2017 | Newcanaanite.com

New Canaan resident Dennis Perry, CEO and president of Abilis, recently presided over the ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening of a new Abilis Life Skills Program in Wilton at the Trackside Teen Center. The 4th such program in Fairfield County—others are in Greenwich, Stamford and Westport—the new Wilton program will serve northern Fairfield County communities of New Canaan, Wilton, Norwalk, Easton, Weston and Ridgefield.

October 10, 2017 | Greenwich Time

GREENWICH — Courtney Baskin said Greenwich-based Abilis “saved my life.”

“I’ve been through a hard life and I didn’t know where I was going to go,” Baskin said. “I had nothing and no employment and it was easy to get into trouble. But once I got here I started meeting new people and making new friends. I never thought I would have a lot of people who cared about me and I so appreciate it.”

 

Photos By Hearst Connecticut Media

Under the help of Abilis’ staff, Baskin was able to enter the world of employment. She started out with an interest in retail, but had no experience. Working through Abilis, she was able to get a job at Stop and Shop in Port Chester. “This young lady is a star,” said Dennis Perry, Abilis’ CEO and president. “She came to us without the equipment to work in the competitive world and we created an opportunity through our café.” Baskin worked alongside staff to open and run the agency’s café. Eventually she could do it on her own. “She became the manager and sadly she did such a good job that we lost her to Stop and Shop,” Perry said. “But that’s the objective. Done properly, this is a stop along the way and we could not be prouder of Courtney.”

Baskin will give back to the agency this week when she serves as a special ambassador at the 12th annual Walk/Run for Abilis Oct. 15 at Greenwich Point.

Abilis supports more than 700 people with special needs and developmental disabilities through its day program, residences and partnerships with local businesses, allowing clients to live as independently as possible. The annual event at Greenwich Point allows staff, clients, families and supporters to walk together to raise awareness and needed funds.

“It’s the thing we enjoy most,” Perry said. “It’s the one thing during the course of the year where we get to present to the town everything about Abilis. We have had a growing number of people taking part every year.”

Given the state’s ongoing budget problems, the fund-raising aspect of events like the walk becomes even more important than it usually is, Perry said. Funding cuts have forced the agency to institute mandatory furlough days, typically the last Wednesday of the month.

“When we first did these walks, we called them ‘friendraisers’ to raise awareness,” Perry said. “Fundamentally that’s what they still are, but because of the budget situation in the state of Connecticut, money is more limited and a fundraising component becomes more of a part of this.”

Abilis has expanded its day program to Stamford, Westport and Wilton to bring in new revenue.

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September 21, 2017 | Norwalk Hour

WILTON — Starting in October, high school graduates with special needs can find help transitioning into adulthood through a new life skills program at Trackside Teen Center.

The program will help young adults develop skills they need to be competitively employed and to live more independent and socially connected lives, said Dennis Perry, chief executive officer and president of Abilis, the Greenwich-based nonprofit offering the program. The facility in Wilton is beautiful. It’s so well-structured that it allows for quiet time, cooking practice, larger groups. And there’s many things we can do in the proximity to downtown Wilton, which is what our program is all about,” Perry said. “We want our people in the community to become familiar with the community.”

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