"If I had my way, I’d remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead."

Quote by Roald Dahl

Mark your calendars and save Sunday September 15th 11a - 2pm at the Turtle Back Zoo!! More details to come, but if you're a part of the Eiros Group Family, we would love to have you join us!

Save the Date, we will be sending out invitations soon!

Eiros Group goes to Cooper!

We are thrilled to share that Eiros Group recently attended a conference hosted by Cooper University Health Care, the leading provider of health services, medical education, and clinical research in Southern New Jersey and the Delaware Valley, PA. Our presence included an exhibition table and a heartfelt presentation by our CEO and Founder, Jennifer Brown, alongside Jennifer Konek, the mother of one of those we support. Together, they shared powerful family experiences and insights.

It was an honor to engage with medical professionals, discussing our mission to help people self-direct their services. We enjoyed explaining how Eiros Group can assist individuals of ALL needs, emphasizing our commitment to providing personalized support.

Thank you, Cooper University Health Care, for this incredible opportunity to connect and collaborate!

Camping Light

by Katie Birkner

Every year we get our family together and have what we call “Camp Light” in our front yard. We live in a wooded area, so we put together a little get together for family and friends spending time away from phones and technology and just enjoying each other’s time.

Since we are the outdoors type, but our children are still young, it works for us for now. We always invite family and friends. Wind up with 4 to 6 tents spread out throughout the yard with about 20 people spending the night in the cool summer air.

Near the fire, the kids can toast smores and cook their hot dogs fire side as well. During the day the kids get to run around having the time of their lives, playing with bubbles, and soaking each other with water balloons. When dusk comes, we sit around the fire with our mallows and enjoy stories told by everyone. Some kids will disperse to their tents and play board games like Candy Land or Shute’s and Ladders. Eventually as the evening winds down and the kids slowly drift to sleep, the parents spent the rest of the evening relaxing by the fire and enjoying listening to the quiet of the night.

As the children get older, we will eventually move to a Campground, but for now Camp Light it is! Our family hopes these traditions will be remembered for years to come once the children are older.

The following morning, my other half takes out the skillet and makes everyone pancakes for breakfast outside as we all get ready for our second tradition, Camp Light Morning After Fishing Trip! We take all the kids and haul down to the nearest watering hole and cast away. Enjoying the summer sun and company of friends and family makes for a wonderful finish to a great night of camp!

Eiros Group

Anniversaries & Birthdays!

This month, we are celebrating a lot of birthdays and anniversaries!

We want to wish Happy Birthday to Ryan B., Keyonia B., Ed D., Elihu (Cissy) G., Codie K., Amanda L., Kevin M., Tina N., Grace O., and Jodeline S.!

We also want to wish Happy Eiros Group Anniversaries to Colleen A., Desiree C., Mark D., Robin E., Ricardo H., Melanie M., Andre O., Coliece S., Merle S., and Toni W. Thank you for being a part of our amazing group!!

Do you have a question about how support brokerage can help you, someone you know or a loved one in self-directing? Send your questions to jennb@eiros-group.com and Jenn will answer them!

“We keep trying to establish feelings of companionship and forming community among those who are marginalized. Yet, we struggle to create a sense of connectedness in a culture that demands independence and self-reliance. We listen to newscasts that announce this. We hear newscasts tell us the strong must control the weak. We read newspaper stories that trumpet the glory of the self. These cultural attitudes become part of our care giving. We have been trained to seek compliance and control. We demand that those whom we serve choose what is right and good when they do not trust us, in fact, often fear us. We live in a world that places the individual above the community.

As care givers, we have to reverse this trend and begin to question what the other needs — to feel safe with us and loved by us. A psychology of interdependence assumes that we find ourselves in others and in the strength of our connectedness to others. It is the foundation of who we are and what we are becoming. It leads us to develop a sense of companionship with those who distance themselves from us. We have to move from a culture of self-reliance to one of human connectedness and from a culture of self to one of otherness. As we do this, we are slowly moving toward the formation of community where we will feel collectively safe, loved, loving and engaged.

Interdependence is based on our shared values — the wholeness and inherent goodness of each person in spite of violent behavior and the thirst that we all have for a feeling of being one-with-one-another in spite of paradoxical behaviors that push others away. These values are difficult to maintain, but are necessary if we are to help those who cling onto the slippery edge of family and community life.”

John McGee

“Mending Broken Hearts: Companionship and Community”

We are all guilty of it... brb, fwiw, btw, lol... condensing words into acronyms. Sometimes they're a great way to get a point across, or describe a topic. However, there are times that acronyms point to specific terms or programs or services and in the DDD world, we are especially guilty of this! In realizing that not everyone in our world will know what we are referring to, we thought we would dial it back a few steps and create an Acronyms List to help decipher some of those abbreviated terms you may hear. If you have any others you know that you would like to contribute to our growing list, please send us an email! Info@eiros-group.com. The list is here -->

We are growing! We have a number of open positions throughout New Jersey. Want to learn more? Click here and apply today!

Upcoming events throughout NJ

Below are upcoming fun things to do throughout New Jersey! If you are hosting a similar type of event, and would like it included in our newsletter, please send to info@Eiros-Group.com

*Please allow 2 weeks or more advance notice. Thanks!

NORTH JERSEY:

Dream Food Fest
July 12-15

The Feast of Mount Carmel
July 12 through 16: 6pm-11pm

Lincoln Park Cultural Festival
July 13: 12pm-3pm

Afro Beat Fest
July 13

Maplewoodstock Music & Arts Festival
July 13 and 14: 12pm-9pm

Sourland Mountain Festival
July 13: 3pm-8pm

A Grateful Summer Music and Arts Fest
July 20: 12pm-10pm

Moving Experience for Adults with Disabilities
July 23: 6:30pm-7:30pm

St. Ann’s Festival
July 24 through 28

Morris County 4-H Fair
July 26 through 28

Warren County Farmers’ Fair
July 27 through August 3

Annual Art Show for Seniors and People with Disabilities
July 30: 12pm-2pm

Annual Clam Festival
August 1 through 3: 6pm-10pm

Middlesex County Fair
August 5 through 11

CENTRAL NEW JERSEY:

Summer Concert Series
July 12 through August 16: 6:30pm

Ocean County Fair
July 10 through 14

Summer Music and More
July 13: 5pm-7:30pm

Studio Route 29 Benefit Dance Party
July 13: 7pm-10pm

Free Movies on the Beach
Every Tuesday: 8:30pm-10:30pm

Annual Belmar Sandcastle Contest
July 17: 11am-2pm

Christmas in July
July 26: 3pm-9pm

Italian Festival and Wine Tasting
July 27 through 28

Monmouth County Fair
July 24 through 28

Mercer County 4-H Fair and Wheat Threshing
July 27 through 28

Soulsational Music Festival
July 27: 11am-8pm

Board Game Night
July 30: 6pm-8pm

SOUTH NEW JERSEY:

Tropicana’s Free Fireworks Series
Every Saturday starting July 6 through August 31

Whitesbog Blueberry Summer Fest
July 6, 13, 20, 27: 10am-3pm

Cumberland County Fair
July 9 through 13

NJ State BBQ Championship and Anglesea Blues Festival
July 12-14: 4pm-11pm

AC Beer and Music Festival
July 13: 12pm-4pm

South Jersey Caribbean Festival
July 13: 2pm-8pm

Taco Palooza
July 13: 11am-7pm

Haddonfield Crafts & Fine Art Festival
July 13 and 14: 11am-7pm

Burlington County Farm Fair
July 16 through 20

North Wildwood Christmas in July
July 20

Night in Venice
July 20: 6:30pm-9:30pm

The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
July 15 through 20

Cape May Lighthouse Full Moon Climb
July 21: 8pm-10pm

Music Under the Stars
July 23: 7pm-8:30pm

Seize the Wave
July 23: 9am-1pm

Gloucester County 4H Fair
July 28 through 31: 10am-5pm

NJ DDD Self-Direction Family Networking Meeting
August 8: 1pm-3pm

VIRTUAL:

Danielle’s Law Refresher for families and SDE’s
July 18: 3pm-4pm

Mercer County Disabilities Advisory Council Meeting
July 17: 3:30pm-4:30pm

Learn to Play Mah-jongg
Wednesdays in July 1:30-3:30

WEBINARS:
Pathway to Preparedness

Informative training specifically designed to support Disabilities, Access, and Functional Needs Community (DAFN)
.July 17: 1pm-2:30pm Must register ahead of time

PPL New Jersey Self-Direction Virtual Summit

July 11: 8:30am-3pm

Register for event by July 11 at 7am

What is Digital Accessibility?

July 24: 11am-12pm

Must register online by Thursday, July 11 at 7am

If you are hosting a similar type of event, and would like  it included in our newsletter, please send to info@Eiros-Group.com

*Please allow 2 weeks or more advance notice. Thanks! Please note, we are relaying information found on other websites or through other organizations, and doing so as a service. Please confirm event details and information directly.