The relationship between Berkowsky and Associates, Inc. (BAI), and Community Options began in Spring 2021. Through a mutual consultant and Community Options’ need for an architect, BAI came recommended by reputation for sincere partnership to mission-based organizations. Through this engagement, BAI has provided Community Options with site studies, design, and construction management for offices, a flower shop, group home, and day centers throughout New Jersey. From these accomplishments, BAI was invited to attend Community Options’ 35th Annual Fundraising Gala, and for our founder, Mark Berkowsky, to Chair the Silent Auction. Robert Stack, President and CEO of Community Options, mentioned Mark in his letter to attendees, “Mark Berkowsky…showed creativity that resulted in an exciting set of distinctive auction items. I thank Mark for his exemplary leadership and all of the donors who contributed to the auction.” Mark led the Silent Auction Committee through virtual meetings over the span of six months. The auction was conducted through live and virtual bidding and prizes included private retreats, NFL and MLB game tickets, concert tickets, jewelry, artwork, and much more. These were donated by many of the Community Options’ regular contributors. Mark was in attendance with his wife Nadine, daughter and BAI CEO/CFO, Siri Berkowsky Heinrichs, with her husband Bruce Heinrichs, and son and BAI Executive Vice President, Eric Berkowsky with partner Alexandra Schubach. Together, they enjoyed networking and seeing the live gift-giving, but were most enamored with what no successful event could go without–the orchestra, Philadelphia Brass. It was truly a night to remember and BAI was so honored to be included. About Community Options Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, Community Options is a national nonprofit organization with the mission to develop housing and employment support for persons with disabilities. The organization supports 6,000 people with disabilities and families across 12 states. You can read more about Community Options here . About The Partnership Working with nonprofit organizations and local betterment initiatives has always been part of the BAI ethos so this was a very easy partnership for us. Our first project was the design and build out of newly acquired office space for select administrative departments and Daily Plan It, Community Options’ integrated employment program. Businesses can lease space from Daily Plan It and receive professional reception and clerical support services, while employees (people with and without disabilities) gain skills in office management. Since then, BAI has completed numerous other offices and day centers, and designed a group home and new Vaseful Flowers. The day centers are a place for facilitated training, skill development, and caregiving. Vaseful Flowers is another employment enterprise for developing retail sales and store management skills. We see the design of these spaces to mean more than capacity, programming, and economy–it’s about accessibility for the end users and enabling their initiatives to ultimately expand on the organization’s mission. We’re proud to be a partner to Community Options and to have completed an outstanding six projects together in the last three years. We look forward to many more opportunities together. See more about our Community Options projects here .

The Eden Autism 5K Fun Run was another great success! We far exceeded last year’s donation amount and received more than $45,000 and counting for the organization. Our founder Mark Berkowsky started volunteering with Eden Autism more than 20 years ago (before they started the Annual 5K). Our philanthropy with Eden Autism remains part of the Berkowsky culture and the Fun Run is something we look forward to participating in every year. Eden Autism is designed to enable individuals of all ages to lead fulfilling and engaged lives in their communities. This is their largest fundraising event every year and this year they received $210,383 from all donors, sponsors, and participants. Funding goes toward initiatives including The Eden School, a 12-month education program for students ages 3 to 21; Eden Adult Services, providing employment training and placement, residential programs, and community integration and recreation; and Eden Outreach which provides early intervention therapy, professional development, curriculum, and consultative services. Thank you to all who participated, donated, and sponsored: Forest Electric Corp. IFSI General Contractor, Corp. Dumar Services, LLC Eii Electric, Inc. Andersen Interior Contracting, Inc. Advanced Coring & Cutting Corp. Brennan Industrial Gerhart Electric Josloff Industries LLC A&A Industrial Piping, Inc. Durrant Construction Fromkin Brothers Guardian Fence Co., Inc. Quick Response Fire Protection S and L Contractors Schneider Electric Signature Safety LLC Source One Furniture EHI Patriot Sawcutting Inc. Rock Brook  Bamco Inc Central Jersey Wrecking Century Electric Chemiclene Commercial Flooring & Interior Concepts Inc. J. Moore & Co Landover Cooling Tower Service, Inc PAR Environmental Corporation Pipe Craft Inc. Sander Mechanical Service Secuni Valley Wide Signs Zack Painting Northstar Contracting Colliers Engineering Leonard Busch & Associates ASI- Advertising Systems, Inc. DPK Consulting, LLC H2O Solutions, Inc. Mechanical Technologies, LLC St. Joseph Trim & Cabinet Unified Door & Hardware AVI-SPL CMI Connell Foley LLP Gouldin & McCarthy JML Landscaping Lakeland Bank Peckar & Abramson Lakeland Bank MarketReach Accordant Co. ANP Commtech Synerfac Thomas Eastman JH Williams Enterprises, Inc. Monroe Orthodontics LLC

Early in 1991, Mark Berkowsky, BAI President and Founder, attended Eden Autism’s (Eden) annual fundraiser gala to see what the organization is all about. After a few years as a gala attendee, steering committee member, and donor, Mark led BAI in providing design and construction services at Eden’s engagement, for project advisement and multiple additions and alterations to their various facilities. This year, the gala theme was ‘Eden Dreams Bossa Nova.’ The event delivered a multicolor-lighted space with live music, silent auction, short video on recent impacts made through the organization, and Bossa Nova dancers. Mark is a Board of Trustee member and participated on the Steering Committee for the event. From a near 35-year relationship with Eden, Mark stated, “the featured video by Tony Stewart greatly illustrated the impact of what we do for those using Eden services and it is so powerful, it brought tears to my eyes.” The video can be seen here. BAI sponsored the event. Attendees included Mark with this wife Nadine, daughter and BAI CEO/CFO, Siri Berkowsky Heinrichs, with her husband Bruce Heinrichs, son and BAI Executive Vice President, Eric Berkowsky with partner Alexandra Schubach, and Vice President of Construction Bill Stoebenau with spouse Maureen. Guests of BAI included Harry Sassaman of Forest Electric, Mike Krall of JMoore, and other major Eden donors that came by way of BAI’s relationship with Eden.  Together, they enjoyed the enchanting evening that raised more than $230,000 to support individuals with autism. Berkowsky was deeply honored to take part in such a memorable evening. About Eden Autism Grounded in the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Eden currently supports more than 200 individuals ranging in age from 12 months to 75 years old, providing early intervention, educational, residential, and employment services. Though much has changed over the near 50 years since their founding, Eden’s goal remains the same—to provide a comprehensive spectrum of services designed to enable individuals with autism to lead fulfilling, productive, and engaged lives in their communities, to the full extent of their abilities. You can read more about Eden Autism here . About The Partnership Eden has engaged BAI for design and construction services at numerous facilities including the total fitout of Schalk’s Crossing Day Center, alterations at Forrestal Center–their k-12 school–and alterations to group homes to be ADA accessible, among many more. Read more about our Eden Autism projects here .

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill Common practice in architecture allows few key personnel to see the journey of a given project. As such, the remaining project team will only see a small picture of their design. At Berkowsky and Associates, Inc. (BAI), the size and celebratory culture of the company builds a more inclusive environment and offers some reprieve from the norm. Even going beyond the project journey, company employees received a gift at year’s end, not only as the traditional holiday ‘thank you,’ but uniquely honoring their work — a 12-month subscription of designer fragrances by Scentbird, a BAI client for both design and construction management.  “Scentbird inspires fragrance lovers to go beyond the ordinary and sample scents that evoke passion, confidence, and the unknown. Our mission is to revolutionize the way we perfume by bringing the ultimate fragrance playground right to your fingertips … offering a digital subscription service that lets members choose from over 500 designer perfumes...” [ scentbird.com ] Scentbird first engaged BAI to fit out a newly leased facility so they could expand their operations; business was and is continuously flourishing. “With our history of designing and building for manufacturing and operations spaces, we were able to learn Scentbird’s processes and apply a program to fit their growth needs—and in doing so, we really got to know about their great product and their mission.” explained Mark Berkowsky, BAI President.  Siri Berkowsky Heinrichs, CEO/CFO, commented “We had just completed the first phase of construction [for Scentbird] in the fall, and the next phase would be starting in the new year. During the holidays, we enjoy giving a gift to our staff to celebrate their hard work. This year we thought it would be fun to ‘marry’ our gift with our new unique client by offering each employee a 12-month gift subscription. We also extended the gift to be transferable to a spouse or whomever our staff elected.” The Selection The gifted subscription works the same way it would for any consumer: the recipient selects their fragrances through the website, or is surprised by Scentbird’s selection, and one fragrance is shipped each month for 12 months. “I like that I get a variety of perfumes so I can share them with my mom if I get a scent I think she’ll like, and there are so many perfumes to choose from.” said Deidre Gocke, LEED AP, BAI Senior Architectural Project Manager, and Project Manager for the Scentbird project. The Unboxing Design personnel from BAI observed Scentbird’s existing facility in order to translate their space needs into the new location, but understanding this from a design perspective could not reveal an unboxing experience. “Perfume is a known fragile item to ship so I expected some bubble wrap, but the branded hard shell casing inside the travel bag was a cool find—I hadn’t seen anything like that before. I was impressed.” said Cristiana Formica, Client Relations Manager, “It’s a well thought-out design for traveling with perfume or cologne.”  The unboxing reveals Scentbird gold accents imprinted on the scent’s travel bag and casing. The fragrance can be used inside or out of its case using a unique packaging. The case itself has a magnetic closure and is easily opened, revealing the filled vial with scent label.  “It's great to see the end product after designing Scentbird’s manufacturing and distribution facility.” stated Ted Yasson, Senior Architectural Designer. About the Project The new Scentbird facility is a build-out of a shell warehouse as a fragrance filling and distribution center with warehousing and offices. Look for pictures at project completion, coming soon!