Erland Foundation Raises Awareness for the New England Center for Children at Annual Bowling Fundraiser

Burlington, Mass. - Erland employees laced up their bowling shoes at Kings in Burlington to support autism awareness and education at their fourth annual Strike Out Autism bowling fundraiser.

The Erland Foundation’s Strike Out Autism event on February 6 benefited The New England Center for Children® (NECC®), a global leader in autism education, research, and technology. Proceeds from this event directly support NECC’s goal to help children with autism acquire the skills they need to maximize their independence.

More than 120 bowlers and countless volunteers participated in making this event another great success. Attendees included NECC students and staff members, subcontractors, Erland employees, friends, and family members. Erland holds this event each year to give back to the Center, where the company built NECC’s 35,000-square-foot John and Diane Kim Autism Institute in 2016. 

“This event has become a staple for Erland employees and the subcontractors we work with,” said Steve Craft, President, Erland Foundation. “People look forward to participating knowing that their contributions are positively impacting the lives of NECC students and staff.”

After working on the NECC campus, Erland’s employees were inspired to establish the Erland Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to provide funding that makes a positive difference to various organizations throughout the area by holding fundraising events. 

For this event, Erland’s goal was to raise awareness and help educate the community about autism, who it effects, and how others can help. With this funding, NECC will:

• Provide students with enrichment programs including community exposure, vocational transportation, adaptive physical education, educational field trips, and peer interaction.
• Offer robust professional development opportunities for staff to increase teacher knowledge and confidence.
• Stay current with the latest in instructive technology (SMART Boards, iPads, AAC devices) to enable students to be as independent as possible.
• Enhance and promote their cloud-based teaching curriculum, the ACE® ABA Software System. 

“Because of the Erland Foundation’s efforts, we can continue to provide enriching educational experiences for our students, offer robust professional development opportunities for our staff, and share our research with clinicians around the world,” said Jared Bouzan, MEd, Chief Development Officer at The New England Center for Children. “Their continued support and encouragement means a great deal to our students and their families and our staff.”

Several generous sponsors of this event included Interstate Electrical Services, Piquete & Howard Electric, Metro Walls, Covenant Fire Protection, and Millennium Companies. 

About The New England Center for Children
The New England Center for Children® (NECC®) is an award-winning autism education center and research institute. Over 45 years, the Center’s teachers, researchers, and clinicians have transformed the lives of thousands of children with autism worldwide through education, research, and technology. The Center provides comprehensive services to maximize independence: home-based, day, and residential programs, partner classrooms in public school systems, consulting services, the ACE® ABA Software System (http://www.acenecc.org), teacher professional development, and research on educational best practices. 

About Erland Construction
Over the past 43 years, Erland Construction has successfully grown into the Northeast’s leading open shop construction management and general contracting firm. The Company is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts and has specialized expertise for new construction and renovations in major market sectors including academic, corporate, commercial, advanced technology/life sciences, residential, senior living, and hospitality. For more information, visit www.erland.com.