New York Foundling clients talk jobs
Organization provides services for adults with developmental disabilities
BY JASON COHEN
This year has proven to
be particularly diffi cult for
adults with developmental
disabilities, presenting unprecedented
challenges as
those who participate in programs
like The New York
Foundling adjust to living
in isolation.
The New York Foundling,
one of the city’s oldest social
services organizations,
provides health care, socialemotional
support, entertainment
and friendship for hundreds
of adults, most of whom
live in their group homes
full time.
Desiree and Nancy, 37, two
residents of The Foundling’s
Laconia residence in the
Bronx, have been friends for
25 years. They leaned on each
other to get through the newly
enforced safety measures and
had to learn to remain patient
as both became unemployed.
The pair adjusted to the
times by fi nding new ways to
entertain themselves, decorating
masks and engaging
in other safe activities in the
confi nement of their room. In
honor of the 75th anniversary
of National Disability Employment
Awareness Month,
the duo sat down with the
Bronx Times.
“We’ve been friends a very
long time,” Desiree said. “It
feels like we just met.”
Both women are originally
from the Bronx and as
children suffered severe emotional
trauma, which caused
them to be sent to a facility
in Pennsylvania until they
were 18.
Nancy moved to the New
York Foundling Home in the
Bronx in 2004 and then a few
years later, was gifted with
a surprise.
“I hear a doorbell one day
and it was her Desiree,” she
recalled. “I was like what are
you doing here?”
The home, which has
eight people in it plus staff,
allows residents to go places
on their own, cook and helps
many of them to move out on
their own.
Prior to the pandemic, the
women participated in activities
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like shopping, bowling,
gambling at the casino, eating
at restaurants like the
Cheesecake Factory and even
saw a concert in New Jersey.
But they explained how diffi
cult it has been for them to be
shuttered inside these past several
months. The best friends
passed the time by playing a lot
of cards, watching TV and just
relaxing. Nancy even made
bracelets for women living in
the homes that are pregnant.
Just recently as things began
to open back up, the duo
went to eat at a restaurant.
The ladies who described
each other as “sisters,” share
a room at the facility, which
Desiree always makes sure
is clean. But now, the pair is
ready for the next chapter of
their lives.
“We’re older, we want
to move out of the nest,”
Nancy said.
Today, both are looking forward
to returning to a “normal”
routine and to regaining
their independence with
new job prospects on the horizon.
Both women have had
previous experiences including
seasonal volunteering
at Burlington.
Nancy worked as a clerk
at The Foundling’s offi ce in
Manhattan prior to the pandemic
and is eager to return
to her duties, while Desiree
recently secured a job as cashier
at Family Dollar on the
Grand Concourse.
The ladies are so close that
when Nancy’s father passed
away, Desiree said it hurt a
lot because he was like a dad
to her.
“She’s funny and kind and
sometimes we get on each
other’s nerves,” Desiree said.
“She’s like my baby.”
Nancy and Desiree who live in a New York Foundling Laconia group home
and have been friends for nearly 25 years.
Courtesy of The New York Foundling
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