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Riverhead nonprofit’s 30th East End group home is quite different

TIM GANNON PHOTO | Roseanna Brown, Michael Pontius and Donna Francis outside their new home on Kings Drive in Riverhead run by Aid to the Developmentally Disabled.

Aid to the Developmentally Disabled celebrated the opening of its first “Supportive Individualized Residential Alternative” home on Kings Drive in Riverhead this week.

Most individuals who have been diagnosed with mental retardation have round-the-clock staff present. But this group home is different, as the three residents living there are more self sufficient.

“I do everything on my own,” said Roseanna Brown, one of three residents living in the Kings Drive group residence, all of whom work at Riverhead’s retail stores. “I take a walk in town and go all over. I love to cook and bake. I’ve been doing that all my life.”

Aid to the Developmentally Disabled,  a Riverhead-based nonprofit group, held an open house Wednesday to celebrate the opening of the Kings Drive location. The new location marks the group’s 30th group home on the East End.

Meet the rest of the residents in an April 19 Riverhead News-Review newspaper story.

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