By: Amy Filippone, Dept. of Parks & Recreation
Moorestown Parks and Recreation Department will be adding a new program for Middle School students with special needs. It is an offshoot of the Social Meeting After School Hours (SMASH) that has run for four years and serves the local high school special needs community.
Starting on April 30, “SMASH Too” will run every Tuesday for six weeks. It is open to residents and non-residents. It will be held at the Church Street Recreation Center on the third floor from 2:50 to 4:30 p.m. SMASH programs are intended to be affordable and inclusive. The new SMASH program will be a structured and fun environment with karate, music, art, yoga, pre-vocational activities and games. The cost per student is $25.
Ken Catanella has generously underwritten this wonderful addition to the Parks and Recreation Department’s offerings for the special needs community. His involvement began with Challenger Baseball, which he funded and launched through the Recreation Department in September 2018. Challenger Baseball is an adaptive baseball program for individuals with physical and intellectual challenges and is played across the country. Players range from 5 to 22 year of age in the Moorestown Recreation League. Catanella is also generous with his time – he was the pitcher for all seven of the Challenger Baseball games.
“As I did with the Challenger Baseball program, I’m just an asterisk in a bigger picture, because the main reason is the dedication of the Moorestown Rec. Staff and Volunteers,” Catanella said. “They really believe in helping these kids that are less fortunate than most. I saw that in the Challenger Baseball Program. Kids came up to me and said they always wanted to play baseball – their brothers and sisters played and they always wanted to get out there. You could see the joy in those kids when they hit the ball and ran down the bases – most of them screaming and laughing.”
The success of Challenger Baseball spawned this new chapter.
“If you saw that, then the next question was pretty easy – what else can I do? Tell me about these kids in the off-season,” Catanella said.
He then learned that the Middle School students were in need of their own afterschool program and so,Catanella took the lead and said he would step in to help.
For full details visit www.moorestownrec.com under Spring 2019. Cyndi Roberts will contact each family once registered for more information on your child or you can call her at 856-914-3093 with any questions. Transportation will be provided only from William Allen Middle School. Transportation home must be provided by a parent or
