The Rich Center for Autism

Sorry if we missed your call today. We were "working". In all seriousness, we had a very productive day as a team. We used a little extra time back at the center this morning to catch up on tasks post-holiday and then decided to get our week off to a great start with some team building at Westside Bowl. Thank you to all of our staff for the roles you play today and every day throughout the year. You're the greatest!

We would like to extend a huge Thank You to Darrell Jones from Youngstown United as One and his staff for stopping by our center early this morning with a $2,000 donation. Darrell has made it his mission to make a positive impact on the Youngstown community and we are very grateful for his gift to us today. His crew also stopped by Development with another $2,000 check to help raise awareness about autism. Thank you, Youngstown United as One!

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at The Rich Center!🧡🦃 We are forever grateful for our amazing students, families, staff, and friends. Your support and dedication mean the world to us. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving!

Congratulations to the 2023 Lucky Lotto winners from November 13-November 18!

11/13: Dan Cooke ( #731), sold by the Halowell Family
11/14: Mark Fabian ( #400), sold by the Brier Family
11/15: Rebecca Henry ( #807), sold by the Henry Family
11/16: Keith Forestal ( #253), sold by the Tablack Family
11/17: Dana Krantz ( #474), sold by the Krantz Family
11/18: No winner

Checks will be mailed/delivered this week. Please message us with any questions.

Wishing the entire Youngstown State Football team and our amazing student-athlete ambassador, Mitch Davidson, best of luck today against Murray State! Play your hearts out and bring home that win! ❤️🐧🏈💪


Youngstown State Penguins

Thank you, friends at Knights of Columbus Youngstown Immacolata Council 274/Assembly 3760, for your generous donation of $5,000! Your support is immensely valuable in sustaining The Rich Center's endeavors. We remain committed to enhancing educational experiences and outcomes for individuals with autism and their families through our focus on teaching, research, and community engagement. Your contribution will significantly aid us in achieving our goals!

Exciting news! As many of you already know, YSU football quarterback Mitch Davidson has been generously supporting us here at The Rich Center as our inaugural student-athlete ambassador. We've been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from YSU's student-athletes, and it brings us immense pleasure to share that more ambassadors will be joining us soon! Yesterday, we had a sneak peek of our newest supporters visiting the center. We can hardly contain our excitement as we prepare to introduce them officially and showcase how they'll support our goals!

1 week away!! Come out to Champion, OH to kick off your Thanksgiving activities all while supporting a great cause! Huge thanks again to the Warren Kiwanis Club for dedicating this run to us. Registration details can be found in the post or listed below. 🍗👟

Where? Kent State Trumbull Campus, Champion, Ohio
What? 1K Kids' Fun Run, Two Mile Run, Five Mile Run
When? The first race begins at 8:30am, with the last beginning at 10am
How much? If you register before November 20 (11/20), there is a $25 registration fee. There is a $30 registration fee if you register on the race day.

Congratulations to the 2023 Lucky Lotto winners from November 7-November 11!

11/7: Autumn Gatewood ( #076), sold by the Gatewood Family
11/8: Jay First ( #313), sold by the Newton Family
11/9: Mason Krantz ( #507), sold by the Krantz Family
11/10: Maria DiVieste ( #460), sold by the DiVieste Family
11/11: Rene Holz ( #103), sold by the Holz Family

Checks will be mailed/delivered this week. Please message us with any questions.

✨What a fantastic night we had at our school dance last week!✨

A big thank you to our incredible parents and families for organizing such a wonderful event and thank you to everyone who attended! We're grateful to our dedicated staff for their support in ensuring everything went smoothly.

From the fun dance moves, to a special singing solo from Carson, to the laughter, it was an unforgettable night! Thank you, everyone, for making it a memorable event! 🕺💃

Last week some of our Rich Center students teamed up with Youngstown State University's Dental Hygiene students for a free teeth cleaning! Everyone had a blast learning all about how to keep our teeth healthy and squeaky clean! 🦷🌟

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all veterans for your service and sacrifice.

It was an honor to be recognized as a 2023 Gold Sponsor at the Autism Society of Mahoning Valley's luncheon! Interim Executive Director Mike Latessa accepted the award on behalf of The Rich Center. It was a fulfilling experience being surrounded by people who share the common goal of supporting those affected by autism and the autism community. Thank you!

Come out for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner run for a great cause! Thank you to Warren Kiwanis Club for dedicating this run to us. Registration details can be found in the post, or listed below. 🍗👟

Where? Kent State Trumbull Campus, Champion, Ohio
What? 1K Kids' Fun Run, Two Mile Run, Five Mile Run
When? The first race begins at 8:30am, with the last beginning at 10am
How much? If you register before November 20, (11/20) there is a $25 registration fee. There is a $30 registration fee if you register on the race day.

Welcome to our first week announcing the winners of our 2023 Lucky Lotto Calendar Fundraiser!🍀 Congratulations to the following winners from November 1-November 4:

11/1: Rene Holz ( #103), sold by the Holz Family
11/2: No winner
11/3: Rebecca Henry ( #744), sold by the Henry Family
11/4: No winner

Checks will be mailed/delivered this week. Please message us with any questions.

Our students have been hard at work making special Christmas ornaments for Operation Evergreen - Trees for Troops! The Ohio Christmas Tree Association began this project to deliver fresh-cut Christmas trees to military personnel overseas every year. They hope to send a total of 100 Christmas trees this year along with ornaments and letters written by students! 🎄🎁💚

Thank you to all our brave military heroes for their dedication and sacrifices. ❤️

We had a wonderful time at Dylan’s House fundraising event last night! What an amazing turnout to support a great cause! Ill will brewing was packed with supporters and it was an honor to be one of the sponsors for this fundraiser. Thank you for all you do and the opportunity to attend this event!

Happy Halloween everyone!🧡 We had so much fun trick or treating at the center today! Special thanks to everyone from YSU who came by to pass out candy and to all the families for stopping by!🎃👻🧛🧟

Buckle up because we’re going to Flavortown!

Interim Executive Director Mike Latessa is ready for Halloween at the center. He’s making his way from class to class in search of the best student costume. More pics to be posted as we get the Halloween party started, Rich Center style!

What a busy, productive and positive week we've had! There's so much to be grateful for at the end of this week. Thank you, Doug Krinsky, for visiting us prior to the Youngstown State Football game with a generous donation. Thank you, Pat McGlone from Overall Paint Co., for painting a beautiful rendition of The Rich Center logo on our conference room wall. Thanks again to SenSource Inc for helping to clear out our basement. Thank you to our families, friends, relatives and staff members who continue to make our center the best it can be day in and day out. It takes a village and there's so many more to mention that we appreciate. We think the smiles in these photos say enough. Have a great weekend!

Huge thanks to SenSource Inc for volunteering their time and strength yesterday to help us with decluttering our much-needed storage space! This is the first step toward renovating our basement and adding additional rooms to our center!

We had a great time celebrating Purple Pinkie Donut Day this past Tuesday! Special thanks to Rotary Club of Youngstown and to the bakers at Nemenz IGA for hosting this fundraiser and to our friends at Potential Development for selling and distributing the donuts! 💜

Check out the article, you may see someone you know! Congratulations to our team for making the list! Thank you RoboKind! 💙🤖

Celebrating the '22-'23 RK Champions Celebrate our '22-'23 RoboKind Champions' exceptional implementation, usage, outreach, or outcomes and learn more about joining this month's challenge!

Our high school students had a great time yesterday here at YSU with Mahoning County Extension! They grew and spread kindness by distributing succulent plants to YSU students! 🌱😊

It was an absolute pleasure having the Junior League of the Mahoning Valley visit us today! We hope they enjoyed touring our facility as much as we did showing it off. Thanks for the support and interest in our center!

Our intermediate students had an amazing time at Countryside Farm Market last week! They went on a hayride, conquered a corn maze, visited some cute animals, picked a pumpkin to take home and had a yummy treat of popcorn and cider! Thanks again for having us! 🎃🍂🧡

Come visit us today at YSU’s family day! We’ll be here till 3!🐧❤️

OSU Extension is joining the global community to celebrate Urban October! Ohio’s theme is Celebrating Kindness in Ohio Communities – Where We Live, Work, Play, Learn & Serve.

Join OSU Extension Mahoning County, the Mahoning County Commissioners, and the YSU Rich Center for Autism as they grow kindness by distributing succulent plants at the below locations on Wednesday, October 18th. Supplies are limited so come early to pot your plant!

Mahoning County Extension

Happy World Teachers' Day! 📚🍎 We just wanted to take a moment to show our appreciation to all our Rich Center teachers. Thank you for going above and beyond for our kids every day. You all have touched many lives, and we are so thankful to have such wonderful and caring educators at our school! 💙👩‍🏫👨‍🏫

This week some of our primary students had a blast exploring all things corn to kick off the fall season! They did some hands-on science experiments using popcorn kernels and even had a yummy treat of corn on the cob! 🍂🍿🌽

Thank you Gault Heating & Cooling for your generous donation! It was a pleasure having you visit our center along with some members of the YSU football team. Your donation helps us to continue doing what we love!

We are honored and thrilled to be named RoboKind’s “2022-23 Robokind Regional Rockstar of the Year”!

Thanks so much to RoboKind for your continued support!🤖🏆

Having a great time tonight at Penguin City Beer gearing up for Rock The Rich Center in January. Thank you Seamus for providing live entertainment tonight. They’re on stage until 9pm so come on down!

Thank you Autism Society of Mahoning Valley for launching these workshops! We hope you can attend and learn more on these important subjects!

This Wednesday! Planning for today and tomorrow is so important! We have started a free family workshop series led by local attorneys to help families prepare for their unique financial and legal needs. Learn about legal guardianship, STABLE accounts, and Special Needs Trusts. The next and 2nd workshop in the series is Wednesday, September 20th at noon at the Columbiana Library. This is our only daytime event in the series, perfect for those who have flexible work schedules and/or who need to attend while kids or adults are in school or programs. Join us for one or all of these events. Free. The September workshop will include a light lunch for those who pre-register. Pre-Register at: https://autismmv.org/event/sophia-gift-educational-workshop-september/

Yesterday was a win for so many reasons. Great job Mitch Davidson for getting the job done! Victory Sunday! 🐧💪❤️🏈

Check it out! YSU quarterback Mitch Davidson is repping some custom footwear on the field today. Thanks Mitch, for doing your part to bring awareness to the Rich Center and those affected by autism. Now go get that win!!! Go ‘Guins!!!

Mitch Davidson, Youngstown State Football's quarterback, stopped by The Rich Center before the big game and to prepare for a big announcement next week!

We greatly appreciated your time with us! Good luck today and Go Guins!🐧🏈❤️

Special thanks to the Fuller Family for helping us secure a grant from ABF's Youngstown Team! They stopped by with a donation of $1000! With this donation we can continue doing what we love!