This article was published in the Abington Patch on January 20, 2022.
The Communication Solutions Group is honored to announce that Senior Public Relations Specialist Kellie Patrick Gates is the 2021 recipient of the Annual Jessie Royer-Greaves Award. Each year, Royer-Greaves School for Blind honors someone who exemplifies dedication and service, and represents their founder’s high standard of conduct, devotion, caring and community civic mindedness. This award is the highest honor Royer-Greaves bestows upon someone.
“This year, we are honoring a special woman from one of our business partners, Communication Solutions, our public relations firm,” said Vicky Mayer, Executive Director of Royer-Greaves School for Blind, located in Paoli. “We recognize Kellie Patrick Gates for all she does to promote, represent, share, and spread the word of the mission of Royer-Greaves.”
Gates and The Communication Solutions Group have worked with Royer-Greaves School for Blind since 2016.
“It is very humbling to win the award because everyone at Royer-Greaves does astonishing things day in and day out, and I’m honored to tell their stories,” said Gates.
Gates tells these stories through the school’s website, Facebook, newsletters, press releases and more. This year, Gates also publicized the school’s centennial anniversary and worked closely with one of Royer-Greaves’ parents, JoAnn Warmijak, to publicize her book “Leap of Faith.”
Some of Gates’ favorite projects were the production of two videos, one that provides an overview of all that Royer-Greaves does and another focusing on the Lifesharing Program, a residential option which matches adults who can’t live alone with community members who share their homes and lives.
“It was a great experience to spend so much time with students, adults, therapists, teachers, administrators and everyone at Royer-Greaves,” said Gates. “I also learned new skills throughout the process. I became a video producer – something I did not have experience with before – and thought about ways to tell a story in a different medium.”
The videos can be watched on Royer-Greaves’ website and Facebook. Both videos have been used in ways that were not originally anticipated, such as during The Pennsylvania Lifesharing Coalition Annual Conference, which was virtual this year due to the pandemic.
While working with Royer-Greaves for the past six years, Gates’ has enjoyed experiencing the universal appeal of music. “Music brings together people who are sighted, blind, verbal and nonverbal,” said Gates. “It doesn’t matter what language you speak. Everyone responds to and understands music.”
Ultimately, Gates says the relationships and people are what make Royer-Greaves so special. “Royer-Greaves exemplifies the importance of relationships. When you’re on campus, you can really feel how closely everyone is tied together there,” she said.
“We are so thrilled that Kellie was selected for such a distinguished award,” said Communication Solutions Group President Leza Raffel. “While Kellie is committed to all of her clients, it is no secret that Royer-Greaves School for Blind has always been one of her favorites.”
The Communication Solutions Group, Inc., is a full-service marketing and public relations agency that specializes in schools and school districts, municipalities and nonprofits. To learn more about Communication Solutions, please visit www.comsolutions.com.