A MONTH OF DISCOVERY NOVEMBER 2025

Dear Friends,

As the holiday season invites us to pause and reflect, we’re reminded that the greatest gifts are connection, community, and care. At The Center for Discovery, this season has been filled with meaningful moments—from advancing innovative, whole-person care through our SynergE6 Healthspan Model, to celebrating joy across our campuses, strengthening community partnerships, and giving back together. In the stories that follow, you’ll see how compassion, collaboration, and creativity continue to light the way for the individuals and families we serve. Thank you for being part of our community and for helping make this season—and every season—one of hope and possibility.

Fueling a Model That Changes Lives

At The Center for Discovery, we believe everyone deserves the chance to truly thrive. That belief comes to life through our SynergE6 Healthspan Model, a whole-person approach that guides everything we do, from our schools and the Children’s Specialty Hospital, to our residential and clinical programs.

The SynergE6 brings together six essential elements: food as medicine, supportive environments, rhythm and rest, calm and connection, continuous evaluation, and evidence-based care. When these pieces work together, they create something powerful: better health, deeper engagement, and real progress for individuals and families who may have run out of options elsewhere.

As our Annual Appeal continues, there is still time to be part of this impact. Your support helps strengthen the programs and teams that bring the SynergE6 model to life every day, so we can continue changing lives, improving health outcomes, and reach even more individuals in need.

We invite you to watch a video to see SynergE6 in action, and to support this work by making a gift today to our Annual Appeal today.

Giving Back, One Bite at a Time

We’re proud to share that members of our Quality Improvement and Strategic Outreach teams recently volunteered with A Single Bite, helping prepare meals that are delivered to families across Sullivan County. This partnership reflects our shared commitment to nourishing our community and supporting neighbors in need.

Through A Single Bite, we welcome 7th graders from Monticello and Liberty to our Thanksgiving Farm for hands-on tours and donate CSA farm shares for use in their meal delivery program. Staff volunteerism is another meaningful step in this partnership – one rooted in connection, and in strengthening the community we’re all working to nourish together.

A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Partners at USDA Rural Development

A big thank-you to the USDA Rural Development team for visiting our Children’s Specialty Hospital! Their support, and a critical low-interest loan, helped make this groundbreaking facility possible. It was wonderful to show how their partnership is now transforming care for children every single day. Our CSH kids even created their own special thank-you notes to share with the team – a heartfelt reminder of the impact of this collaboration.

Our Very Own Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Move on over Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Our first annual Gobble Day Parade was a celebration to remember!

Smiles, music, and giant inflatables filled both our Ridge and South Campuses as staff from People Operations, Program Leadership, the Department of Nourishment Arts, Finance, and more brought the holiday spirit to life.

Thank you to everyone who marched, danced, cheered, and donned the most unforgettable inflatable costumes. This is the magic of community – joy shared across campuses, and laughter that lifted us all.

In case you missed the live event, you can relive it here.

Learning Kindness in Action

Thanksgiving Farm School and the Early Learners and Explorers School recently partnered to collect much-needed items for the dogs and cats at Catskill Animal Rescue (C.A.R.E.).

Students were excited to learn how small acts of kindness can make a big difference in their community. Taking part in collecting and delivering the donations made the experience especially meaningful, fostering a strong sense of compassion, teamwork, and purpose.

Building Community Partnerships

We were pleased to welcome Regina Clark, Director of Development, and Lisa Mitchell, Programs & Donor Services Coordinator from the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan for a tour of our Children’s Specialty Hospital. The visit was a wonderful opportunity to share the innovative work happening at the hospital, learn more about each other’s organizations, and explore ways we can collaborate to better serve our region.

Innovation in Action: Kandi’s New Accessible Workstation!

Huge shoutout to Kandi, our Innovation Labs Team, and our incredible carpenters for an awesome home-grown accessibility upgrade! Kandi’s computer setup wasn’t giving her the access she needed so the crew jumped in to redesign the space from the ground up.

The new contoured tabletop is now mounted directly to the wall – no more bulky legs getting in the way – and her monitor and display settings were fine-tuned to boost visual access, helping her easily locate and navigate her programs. This transformation not only improves comfort and independence, but also enhances safety by giving Kandi a stable, barrier-free workstation that supports proper positioning for optimal function.

Scenes from Around The Center