Our very own Mike Balzano was interviewed recently by Spectrum News about The Orange Effect Foundation and our unique 100 Holes of Golf Marathon. Mike explains that our mission is "...very simple and direct. The children who get the speech therapy help when they're kids have better confidence, grow, and have a better chance of having a great adult life." Because of his tremendous efforts, the …
speech therapy
The Story of The Orange Effect Foundation
This post originally published on The Orange Effect Foundation blog on January 26, 2016. Due to its popularity, we are reposting it here for you. The Orange Effect Foundation (OEF) officially launched last spring, but its story began more than a decade ago, when Joe and Pam’s first-born son, Joshua, was diagnosed with autism. In those days, Pam was a stay-at-home mom with a healthy baby …
Ensuring a Path To Success For Everyone
In 1975, two 20-somethings, Brian Daw and Anne McEvoy started Cornucopia, Inc., a non-profit in Cleveland, Ohio. Cornucopia was created to help people with disabilities develop skills and confidence leading to sustainable employment. Over their tenure opening and running The Bin in Lakewood’s Birdtown neighborhood, they helped hundreds and hundreds of young adults live, work and thrive in their …
A Letter To a Friend
Dear Kayla, Hello, my name is Mike. I'm so glad you are an Orange Effect Foundation grant recipient! I know someone who also received speech therapy. He was a young boy when he started going to sessions, probably about your age, and last year he graduated from high school with honors. He now goes to college! I’ll bet you will do big things too. My job is to help The Orange Effect raise money …
The Best Speech Therapy Example Is No Example At All
At The Orange Effect Foundation, the board does an amazing job of contributing to the newsletter and blog. It’s important to our business model and the community. This week, of course, is my turn. And as such, I was sitting at lunch with my oldest son asking him what he thought I should write. It went like this: Me – What should I write for OEF this week? Son – I don’t …
Speech Language Therapist Appreciation Day
The month of May brings so many things--signs of summer, graduations, weddings, and so much more. May is also Better Hearing and Speech Month. Part of that is Speech Language Therapist (SLP) Appreciation day on May 18. SLPs are VERY important to us here at the Orange Effect Foundation. One example of this is that every application is required to involve a therapist who is certified by the …
49 Reasons For Speech Therapy
I didn’t know, until my son needed speech therapy, that a speech therapist has to have a master’s degree and a state certification. Just last year, the rigorous 2020 Standards and Implementation Procedures for the Certificate of Clinical Competence were implemented. These eight steps required to maintain certification include 36 graduate semester hours, a minimum of 400 hours of supervised …
Creative Fundraising in 2020 Helps Fund Orange Effect Foundation Grant Recipients
CLEVELAND - March 22, 2021 - PRLog -- 2020 challenged us all. Faced with an unexpected economic constriction, the Orange Effect Foundation took the opportunity to try something new. By adding two new fundraisers, the 100 Holes of Golf Marathon and Silence For Speech Therapy, this grant making organization was able once again to meet the needs of children with speech …
100 Holes of Golf Marathon
Last year, it was desperate times in the fundraising space. Of course, this was not only for Orange Effect Foundation, but for almost every not-for-profit organization who survived on in-person fundraisers. During and after the lockdowns, we were unsure whether we'd be able to run our biggest fundraiser in August, our annual OEF Golf for Autism. In addition, donations were harder to come by …
A Personalized Approach to Fundraising
I had the opportunity to participate in a study regarding making large contributions to non-profits and foundations. During the study, I found out that a lot of donors feel the same way I do...they just want to know that what they give is making an impact and is used for how it was intended. From that study, I received a call from the New York Times for an interview. During the interview, I …
It’s Gonna Be All Right
I seem to be having a recurring conversation this month. Parents are concerned that their child is “falling behind.” At first, I spent most of the conversations reassuring parents that we are all trying to float on the same ocean during this pandemic. Then I realized that I didn’t have enough information. I really didn’t know what people were talking about when they were sharing their concerns. I …
Can You Understand Your Child’s Speech?
This post originally published on the OEF blog on March 21,2019. Due to it's popularity and valuable information we are reposting it here for you. It’s common for most children to make some mistakes as they learn to say new words. Different sounds are mastered at different ages. Consistent, correct sound production will vary from child to child. When mistakes continue past a certain age, …