Built in the 1920’s and featured in many scenes in the 1990 film “Awakenings” starring Robin Williams and Robert DiNero, the home has been beautifully remodeled for its new residents.

“After we opened our first home on City Island, I was asked many times when we would open up our second home here,” said Christopher Weldon, AABR Executive Director.  “The community has welcomed us with open arms.”

City Island is a community unlike anything else in NYC, a place where everyone seems to know everyone else’s name.  AABR bares many similarities, “that’s what we strive to be, unlike anything else in NYC,” said Weldon, “an organization big enough to meet the needs of our consumers, but small enough to know their names.”

Seven men and women with developmental disabilities will be moving into this home and will be serviced around the clock by trained AABR staff.  Those who use the services of organizations like AABR are often called consumers, but that may be misleading.

“A consumer almost sounds like someone who takes from their surroundings,” said Chris Luther, AABR Community Development Associate.  “The new residents of this home are Contributors, they teach us and they do whatever they can to give back to their community.”

These Contributors already bring a lot to AABR and now, City Island. “It’s only fitting that the newest contributors to City Island live in a home named after two of the biggest contributors to AABR, Alex and Janet Levchuck,” Luther remarked.