Glee Project Star Ali Stroker Highlights Fourth Annual Access Ridgewood

The Ridgewood community is celebrating the abilities and talents of its special needs community for the three-day annual Access Ridgewood Weekend, beginning Friday.

The fourth annual event features the tried-and-true activities like a fashion show, great musical performances and dozens of educational components.

"We're doing much of the same program we've done in past years," said Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn, who chairs the Access Ridgewood committee. "It's worked and we just refine them to make them better each year."

"We have schools, the interfaith community, children – we hit it all," Aronsohn said. "It's a fun way to engage in these issues. And they are important issues; we have a lot of folks in the community who have special needs and we need to address those. But also, everybody has special gifts and sometimes that's overlooked when we talk about disability."

The biggest name to appear this year is Ridgewood's own Ali Stroker, a finalist on the hit competition show The Glee Project.

Stroker uses a wheelchair after sustaining spinal cord injuries in a car accident as a small child. Her incredible voice and vivacious, warm personality highly impressed the judges on The Glee Project, where she placed in the top three for an opportunity to be on Glee.

She'll be singing at the Ridgewod Public Library on Friday starting at 7 p.m.

"It'll be a real hit for the kids to see her," Aronsohn said. "She's going to sing a couple songs at the beginning so that'll definitely be fun."

Also planned is a senior program on Friday to focus on emergency preparedness during disaster scenarios.

"It's about what to expect the village to do in times of crisis but also what they should do to prepare themselves beforehand," Aronsohn said.

In one of its primary educational components, Access Ridgewood will again be further examining the Pearls Project at Ridge Elementary School. The program was developed two years ago in conjunction with non-profit group Positive Exposure. The photo galleries of individuals with disabilities presses observers to confront the stigma of the subject and celebrate their beauty.

Saturday represents the "community fair" component of the weekend during 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Non-profit group Sharing the Arts will perform a scene from "Charlotte's Web," in which helpers with team up with children who have disabilities.

Municipal Alliance Chair and school board president Sheila Brogan, OEM Director Jeremy Kleiman, Aronsohn and Health Department head Dawn Cetrulo are scheduled to speak on Saturday on the topic of disability.

Bergen County Executive Kathe Donovan and Disability Services Director Jim Thebery will also address the crowd on Saturday. 

A number of musical acts like Take 4, Fragment, and Melissa Baney will be at the courtyard between Village Hall and the Ridgewood Public Library. Food from Tito's Burritos, Natalie's, It's Greek to Me and others will be free to the public.

On Sunday, the focus morphs to a more spiritual theme.

The main interfaith service will be held at Friends to Friends First Reformed Church in Ridgewood, a congregation entirely comprised of adults with disabilities. That service begins at 7 p.m.

Other houses of worship will be working the topic of disability into their services, Aronsohn said.

"The whole concept is based on the premise that it's important for us to recognize that people have special needs but also recognize and celebrate that all of us have special gifts," Aronsohn said. "The weekend is light, it's fun, it's informative, entertaining."

Correction: A previous version misidentified where Stroker will be singing on Friday.

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