Share
It’s not every day that you expect to get a letter from the president in the mail, so when Jessica DeAngelis recently did, she couldn’t contain her excitement.
DeAngelis, a 43-year-old YAI resident, wrote to President Biden in 2021 when she was upset COVID was preventing her from attending her day habilitation program in Farmingdale. After hearing her frustrations, Bruce Fenster, a Direct Support Professional at the home, suggested DeAngelis voice her concerns and write to the president.
“She was particularly upset that day and I helped her draft the letter...we discussed what she was going to write, I dictated a sentence or two, we got an envelope, and mailed it out,” Fenster said. “After that, it was just a lot of waiting. But a year later, we got a letter back and it was really gratifying.”
One line of the letter reads, “Because of people like you, I know we will emerge from this moment stronger than ever before.”
The letter also urged DeAngelis to keep making her voice heard and challenging herself. DeAngelis has the letter framed in her bedroom and beams with pride whenever she sees it.
“You try to say yes to everything when it comes to the people we support and what they want to do, and you don’t always expect anything to come out of it, but when it does it’s amazing,” said Alyssa Armour, Assistant Supervisor at the residence.