JCC STARS program finds success in elevating children and teens with special needs

(WHITEFISH BAY) - In 1987, President Ronald Reagan declared March Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month capping off a decades long effort to change the way we respond to people with developmental learning disorders. In the more-than 30 years since, tremendous progress has been made. And perhaps nowhere else in the area is that progress more evident than in the halls of the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay where one program teaches children with special needs to reach for the stars.

On CBS 58 Sunday Morning, Stephanie Buffamonte sat down with Mande Matheis, a 16-year old girl with special needs who has participated in the JCC’s STARS program for years and has displayed tremendous progress.