WEST ORANGE, NJ — Jenna Rosa has spent the last few weeks trying to reach an ambitious fundraising goal.
Nominated as a Champion of the Year through Best Buddies International, a nonprofit organization that teams neurotypical people with those who have intellectual and developmental disabilities to build friendships and career opportunities, the West Orange native is working to raise the most money for the organization before the end of the fundraising campaign on Nov. 12. Her mission partner is Dawy Aly Ahmed, a fellow graduate of West Orange High School and the high school’s first homecoming king from within the IDD community. They’re trying to raise $20,000 for the program.
“As part of the nominations I had to have a mission partner,” Rosa said in a phone interview with the West Orange Chronicle on Oct. 14. “They’ll pick randomly for you, but I paired up with a family friend. I’ve been working with him and his mom and sisters on it.”
Rosa’s and Ahmed’s parents met at the Ginny Duenkel Pool when their children were young, and the two friends grew up around each other. When she was nominated, Rosa didn’t even consider anyone else to be her fundraising partner.
“My sister is an aide at WOHS and she taught him in that program,” she said. “They came to my wedding. So I didn’t even have to think about it.”
Ahmed and his family have been working on fundraising outreach by knocking on doors and asking for contributions, while Rosa is better at the behind-the-scenes work. They’ve set up two fundraisers, in order to add to the $13,000 that they’ve already raised: one at the Panera in West Orange and the other through a sip-and-craft event. On Oct. 21, a portion of orders at Panera will be contributed to the team’s total when customers enter the code “PRFUND” at checkout; people can RSVP to the Oct. 24 crafting event by emailing [email protected]. Tickets are charged.
Rosa has been an intern coordinator with Best Buddies through her own job, where she hires people from the IDD community as interns to work with her, either in the hopes of bringing them on full time or setting them up for an opportunity somewhere else. She works for SBM Management Services, and her interns are based at clients’ offices in cities throughout the country. They work with a sustainability team to determine best practices that work toward increased efficiency, waste minimization and waste reduction opportunities. She was inspired by her sister to volunteer for Best Buddies.
“I’ve always admired how dedicated she is to her career, and how she always helps in any way she can,” Rosa said. “I never thought I had that skill set, but being a career partner does match my skills and lets me give back to a community that’s really important to me.”
She’s had to get creative in the last year and a half during the COVID-19 pandemic; some internships had to be completely virtual, and tasks were retooled to be completed off-site. But everyone was able to adjust.
“We had to be creative in the tasks assigned to our interns. But it really was during that time that I realized the value that my team brings to the interns is equally as important as the value they bring to our organization,” Rosa said. “We used this time to focus on longer-term projects that would hit on multiple career experiences, including research, problem solving, proposals, and presentations to multiple levels of management and clients where applicable.”
Rosa and Ahmed are $7,000 away from their goal, but there is still time. They have opportunities for more fundraising at the Champion of the Year Gala in November, though things slowed down a bit when they reached the $10,000 mark.
“I knew we could get $10,000, and I was pretty confident we’d get $11,000,” Rosa said. “I’m always competitive, so I set a big goal.”
Donations can be made at https://www.bestbuddieschampion.org/newjersey/supporting/#JennaRosa.
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