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Recipient of little girl’s gift holds ... A special place in her heart
By Sean Barron
BOARDMAN
Five-year-old Giuliana Ricchiuti of Poland loves writing her name, playing dress-up and learning new “popcorn” words in her preschool class.
“Those are words that pop up everywhere, like ‘is’ and ‘and,’” explained Giuliana, who attends preschool three days a week at Holy Family School in Poland.
If Giuliana wanted to come up with a few “popcorn” words to describe herself, “giving” and “unselfish” would fit the bill.
That’s because during her birthday party in January, Giuliana wasn’t interested in receiving the usual toys and gifts.
Instead, the studious, soft-spoken little girl wanted to raise money for a 16-year-old school dedicated to helping youngsters with autism spectrum disorders and their families.
Her generous efforts paid off.
At the birthday gathering, Giuliana raised $395 for the Rich Center for the Study and Treatment of Autism, on the Youngstown State University campus.
She also encouraged attendees to donate toys, puzzles and dolls, as well as hand sanitizer, paper towels and other necessary supplies to the facility.
“I wanted to do that because the Rich Center is special to me,” Giuliana said recently while at Skedaddles Indoor Playground, a Market Street business her mother, Dini, opened a year ago.
On Jan. 31, Giuliana presented the $395 check to her grandmother, Phyllis Ricchiuti, a co-founder of the Rich Center.
The center, established in June 1996, has 45 employees who work with 80 children age 3 to 16 with autism spectrum disorders. The facility also serves as a support system for parents and siblings of those on the spectrum. It receives no university funding, and families are not charged tuition.
Giuliana is the niece of Anthony and Paula Rich, for whom the center is named. Both were killed in the Sept. 8, 1994, crash of USAir Flight 427 in Hopewell Township, Pa., near the Pittsburgh International Airport.
“They are special angels,” Giuliana said of Anthony and Paula.
Dini Ricchiuti said she wanted her daughter to learn that many other youngsters are less fortunate, so Giuliana asked party guests to donate to the center in lieu of gifts.
Between 25 and 30 children and many adults attended the gathering, which took place at Skedaddles.
“She’s the sweetest little girl,” Phyllis said of her granddaughter. “She’s very caring and attuned to people around her.”
A primary Rich Center goal is to tailor programs and services to meet the needs of each student so the youngsters can be mainstreamed into regular classrooms, Phyllis noted. To that end, programs based on several methodologies are designed to fit each child’s needs, and the center tries to maintain a ratio of one teacher for every two students, she continued.
“The families recognize that we’re making a difference in their kids’ lives,” said Phyllis, adding that one former student opened his own sweeper business and another went on to college.
Also part of Giuliana’s family are her 3-year-old brother, Antonio, and her father, Vince, a urologist with NEO Urology Associates Inc. in Boardman and Austintown.