Bancroft Client Wins Community-Service Award

A client of Bancroft, the 129-year-old center for people with neurological and developmental disabilities, was recently honored for his advocacy work on behalf of people with disabilities.

Nikos Pappas, 46, who lives in an apartment in Voorhees with assistance from Bancroft, was awarded a Community Star awards by the New Jersey Association of Community Providers.

“Over the years, Mr. Pappas has demonstrated leadership and personal strength in his work in support of the developmental disabilities community,” Bancroft staff member Michael Rogers said in a statement. “He has exemplified the philosophy of community integration and self-direction in both his personal life and in his advocacy work. Furthermore, he has taken an active role in positively influencing services and policies that benefit not just him, but many others.”

Some of Pappas' accomplishments include:

• Advocated tirelessly for the new state law that eliminated the “r-word” and other outdated language from New Jersey regulations and statutes (bill S1982).

• Testified before the state Senate budget committee this year and in 2010 against state budget cuts to community programs for people with disabilities, helping individuals move from state developmental centers into the community.

• Took part in local meetings of New Jersey’s Statewide Self-Advocacy Network, which addresses the rights of all New Jersey residents with disabilities.

• Serves as an elected officer of Bancroft’s Self-Advocacy Focus Group. In this role, Pappas has helped give presentations at New Jersey Self-Advocacy State Conferences on improving communication with support people, equal rights of people with disabilities, and what families, friends and support people should know about self-advocacy.

Over the past two decades, Pappas has overcome many challenges to become an independent self-advocate, Rogers notes.

“He has acquired all the abilities necessary to live independently in the community, with minimal supports. Today, he balances a full agenda of meaningful work, socializing with family and friends, volunteering in support of self-advocacy activities and more.”

Pappas works at BOSS, a Bancroft-operated printing and copy center in Voorhees, and for the organization’s rug-cleaning service.