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Developmentally disabled adults get red carpet experience in Ridgewood

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JULY 24, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015, 1:14 PM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Park West Tavern Loft will host a special event for developmentally disabled people Friday night.

The event, titled “Club LOU ’15 Summer Blast,” will feature dancing and fun as the participants are taken out for a “night on the town.”

Life Opportunities Unlimited, a Ridgewood-based charity, is the driving force behind the occasion.

“Life Opportunities Unlimited is a human service agency that provides residential and day program services to adults that have developmental disabilities,” said Gail Tamirian-Mandeli, head of the organization.

The charity, founded in 1995, has a number of homes throughout area towns and a day program in Ridgewood.

People from all over will be coming to the event, giving the participants an opportunity to meet new friends.

“From living in our group and other agencies’ group homes, to living in the community with their parents, to living on their own in Orchard Commons in Allendale, people come from every place,” Tamirian-Mandeli said.

https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/club-lou-plans-night-on-the-town-1.1380515

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Ridgewood bank building will transformed into nightclub for developmentally disabled adults

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Ridgewood bank building will transformed into nightclub for developmentally disabled adults

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014
BY  CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE REORD

RIDGEWOOD — On Friday night, the old Bank of America building on East Ridgewood Avenue will be transformed into a nightclub — the setting for a private affair being organized for a select group of VIPs.

For the second year in a row, velvet ropes will pop up outside a Ridgewood landmark and inside, dozens of developmentally disabled adults from around the region will dance, party and laugh the night away.

The event — dubbed Club LOU Tonight — is the brainchild of Matthew Mandeli, a Ridgewood High School junior inspired by the work of his mother, Gail, with Life Opportunities Unlimited, a non-profit that manages group homes for developmentally disabled adults.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community/246821481_Ridgewood_bank_building_will_transformed_into_nightclub_for_developmentally_disabled_adults_turning_nightclub_for_a_special_night.html#sthash.bZJr0hUM.d