director of Marketing

Ken Garavaglia

Ken Garavaglia has been with KidsPeace since 2000. Working as a Treatment Team Supervisor within our PA Residential Programs and all prior direct care experience with other organizations, has given him very good understanding of what is important for a family and youth to know when exploring the possibility of any services that are in the KidsPeace Continuum of Care. Ken later began to work for the Organizational Development and Training Department to prepare staff for the role in KidsPeace and teach existing staff new skills. Based upon his knowledge of programs and comfortability interacting with groups of people, he transitioned to a role in the Marketing Department as a Customer Relations Liaison. This led to his current role as Director of Marketing. Ken maintains a working territory of Lehigh and Northampton Counties in Pa. He oversees a team that is responsible for marketing our awesome programs and services to the entire United States and beyond.

Which holiday treat could you eat every day in December?  I am going to call an audible on the favorite treat to eat and go with a drink. Eggnog is my choice, and it doesn’t even need to have any alcohol in it (that’s my preferred way) because it is so tasty! It’s basically dessert in a cup that moonlights as a beverage. It’s like your milk got a holiday bonus and decided to party.

The elves have put you in charge of designing a new holiday sweater. What’s on it? My sweater would be impressive. It would have me sitting in an over-the-top EAGLES themed sled being pulled by reindeer representing the other NFL teams who are clearly miserable. There is also a message in the moonlit sky that says, “sleighing the competition all day, Go Birds!”

Impressed with your sweater design, the elves have now tasked you with creating a new holiday board game. What is it called, and how do you win? Holiday Board Game: “Island of Misfit Mayhem” The elves have gone rogue and handed the reins to the misfit toys.

Objective: Help your misfit toy escape the Island of Misfit Toys and find its forever home– but beware! The other toys are sabotaging your journey with glitter bombs, off-key caroling, and emotionally unstable jack-in-the-boxes.

Playable Characters (Choose Your Misfit):

·        Charlie-in-the-Box (he’s still salty about the name thing)
·        Train with Square Wheels
·        Bird That Can’t Fly
·        Cowboy Riding an Ostrich
·        Doll with Existential Dread
·        Spaghetti-Limbed Action Figure

How You Win: Be the first misfit toy to collect 3 Home Tokens and reach the “Adoption Sleigh”- where you’ll be lovingly placed under a tree next to socks and fruitcake.

You’re opening a pop-up holiday-themed restaurant for the month of December. What is it called, and what is the signature dish? Welcome to my Ken’s new restaurant called, “Yule Be Hungry”! I am here to fix that with our delicious menu offering-

·       “Grinchy Greens” – Brussels sprouts with a bad attitude.
·       “Rudolph’s Red-Nose Ravioli” – beet-stuffed pasta that glows.
·       “The Naughty List Nachos” – overloaded with jalapeños and regret.
·       “Snowman Belly Sliders” – three mini burgers stacked like a snowman.

Time travel back to the 6^th grade. You wake up to a snowstorm, causing school to be cancelled for the day. Yippee!! What’s your favorite way to celebrate the snow day? For me it was trying to make some money by shoveling driveways for others. I saw gold in that fresh white blanket covering the earth. After that, it was off to build the biggest snow ramp imaginable to hit with my Yankee Clipper sled and try to get as much air as Santa’s sleigh.

National Customer Relations Liaison

Chris Sylvester

Chris Sylvester has been with KidsPeace since 1992, gaining experience in a variety of roles at the Graham Lake Campus in Maine. In the fall of 2014, Chris moved into his current role as a National Customer Relations Liaison. He oversees the six New England states, New York, and most recently states across the U.S. northern tier extending to the West Coast. Having previous experience as an Admissions Manager, Chris has a good understanding of what is important for a family and youth when exploring the possibility of a residential placement.

Which holiday treat could you eat every day in December? Keeping it simple, gingerbread cookies.

The elves have put you in charge of designing a new holiday sweater. What’s on it? As a lover of watching the squirrels in our yard, I decided to go with the following sweater design, called, “It’s Getting Squirrelly in Here”.

Impressed with your sweater design, the elves have now tasked you with creating a new holiday board game. What is it called, and how do you win? I’m going to assume the elves really like the squirrel-themed sweater, so let’s go with a board game called, ‘Squirrel Sleigh Dash’. The object is simple, as you move around the board using a single die, players get a chance to collect ‘holiday cheer’ points. You do this by landing on ‘gift giving’ spaces in which a player can earn 1-3 holiday cheer points, depending on what the landed space dictates. There are also ‘cheer challenge’ spaces. If landed on, a player would take a cheer challenge card and complete whatever is expected. For example, singing a Christmas carol or naming all the reindeer. If completed successfully, the player would earn holiday cheer points assigned to that specific challenge. There are also “Scrooge” spaces in which a player would lose a holiday cheer point. Things like, ‘you’re sleigh was tangled in the holiday lights’ or, ‘a gift fell off the back of the sleigh’. This game would be for 2-4 players, ending when ALL players make it to the center of the board, which is called the ‘Squirrel’s Nest”. Players then count their respective holiday cheer points, the player with the most holiday cheer wins.

You’re opening a pop-up holiday-themed restaurant for the month of December. What is it called, and what is the signature dish? Going for something I find a little humorous… ‘The Holiday Bites’. A pop-up restaurant consisting of a couple dozen holiday-themed, appetizer-sized dishes (one might say just enough to get a taste… or a bite). The signature dish would be something I am going to make this year, Gingerbread Crusted Baked Brie with a homemade whole cranberry sauce over the top. If this seems like a winner, simply search ‘gingerbread baked brie’ and I believe you’ll find the recipe.

Time travel back to the 6^th grade. You wake up to a snowstorm, causing school to be cancelled for the day. Yippee!! What’s your favorite way to celebrate the snow day? You mean after shoveling our 500-foot driveway? I loved making toboggan runs, complete with twists and turns. I would spend hours shoveling and packing snow, with the big payoff being the first run down the hill.

Regional Customer Relations Liaison

Paul Iannacone

Paul Iannacone has been with KidsPeace since June of 1996. After graduating from Penn State University, he started at KidsPeace in a direct care role in residential treatment. Paul advanced through several positions in direct care, including Mobile Support Staff and Assistant Treatment Team Supervisor. Paul later moved into the Organizational Development & Training Department, as a Trainer and Senior Training and Development Specialist. In 2016, using his vast knowledge of KidsPeace and experience interacting with people, Paul made the transition to his current role as Regional Customer Relations Liaison. His current territory includes central and northeastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey.

Which holiday treat could you eat every day in December? Christmas cookies. Especially the sugar cookie cut-outs.

The elves have put you in charge of designing a new holiday sweater. What’s on it? I’m a fan of the Star Wars-themed sweaters, so probably one of those. Vader in a Santa hat, AT-AT (Imperial walkers) as reindeer. Things like that… Or maybe one with different Christmas cookies on it.

Impressed with your sweater design, the elves have now tasked you with creating a new holiday board game. What is it called, and how do you win? I’m not sure, but it probably involves cookies in some way. We can call it “Hey, Don’t Eat All The Cookies!” and you win by eating all the cookies.

You’re opening a pop-up holiday-themed restaurant for the month of December. What is it called, and what is the signature dish? “Cookieville”. We specialize in cannoli. Oh, and cookies.

Time travel back to the 6^th grade. You wake up to a snowstorm, causing school to be cancelled for the day. Yippee!! What’s your favorite way to celebrate the snow day? In 6^th grade, I’d probably spend all day outside building a snow fort and hanging out in the fort. Afterward I’d come in and have some hot chocolate and cookies. Now? I’d just stay warm inside and eat cookies.

I like cookies…

Regional Customer Relations Liaison

Jason Haller

Jason Haller began his role at KidsPeace in 2014 in the recreation department at our Orchard Hills campus, teaching clients coping skills and helping them to build recreational interests. He moved into a teaching role at our on-campus school and acted as co-facilitator of an experiential education program, “The Epiphany Project”. In summer of 2016, Jason left KidsPeace and took on the role of program coordinator for an international student exchange program (CCI) at Northampton Community College until 2020. He returned to KidsPeace as a part-time teacher later that year, and joined the Customer Relations team in 2021. His territory includes central and southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.

Which holiday treat could you eat every day in December? Little Debbie Christmas Tree brownies

The elves have put you in charge of designing a new holiday sweater. What’s on it? “Santa Comes Alive” in the style of the Peter Frampton album:

Impressed with your sweater design, the elves have now tasked you with creating a new holiday board game. What is it called, and how do you win? A National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation board game, in the style of “Mouse Trap”, where you collect pieces throughout the game board and the winner is whoever can turn on all the decorations first (the house is in the center of the board). But you have to avoid the neighbors, Uncle Eddie, and not let Uncle Lewis light his cigar.

You’re opening a pop-up holiday-themed restaurant for the month of December. What is it called, and what is the signature dish? “July During Christmas” where we sell grill-style hot dogs and hamburgers.

Time travel back to the 6th grade. You wake up to a snowstorm, causing school to be cancelled for the day. Yippee!! What’s your favorite way to celebrate the snow day? Put on the snow gear and go build an igloo.

NC Regional Customer Relations Liaison

Michele Chassner

Michele Chassner has been with KidsPeace since May 2022 as the Regional Customer Relations Liaison. She oversees North Carolina’s Cumberland, Durham, Johnston, and Wake counties, which are serviced by The Hope Center for Youth and Family Crisis. Since graduating from the State University of New York at Cortland with a major in Sociology and a concentration in Psychology, Michele has established an extensive history in the human service field, particularly the not-for-profit sector. With The Hope Center’s services being so important and necessary, Michele will ensure that their light is shone throughout the entire community through fostering public awareness and providing educational information to the public.

Which holiday treat could you eat every day in December? Do not judge, but Cashew Nougat Cookies. Always excited when it’s that time of the year.

The elves have put you in charge of designing a new holiday sweater. What’s on it? I would have mini stockings on my sweater, with little treats in each to give out, and of course, Snoopy and the Peanut gang would be pictured holding the stockings.

Impressed with your sweater design, the elves have now tasked you with creating a new holiday board game. What is it called, and how do you win? “Holiday Hoopla with The Grinch”. The board is shaped as a wreath, and you roll the dice to advance to different spaces that have various challenges, wins and losses. The boardgame incorporates all holidays of the season (Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and New Years). When you land on challenges, you pick a card and follow the instructions. Challenge cards are active and engaging, like charades. If you land on certain spaces, you win gifts or can lose your gifts if the Grinch pays you a visit.

You’re opening a pop-up holiday-themed restaurant for the month of December. What is it called, and what is the signature dish? The restaurant would be “Holidays with Nana” and serves all traditional holiday meals from various parts of the world. The staff would be various, festive holiday characters. The signature dish would be desserts of course, holiday themed pies and cheesecakes!

Time travel back to the 6^th grade. You wake up to a snowstorm, causing school to be cancelled for the day. Yippee!! What’s your favorite way to celebrate the snow day? My fondest memories of snow days were waking up and watching News 12 to see if your school was closed. Always too excited to go back to sleep, I would help my mom shovel (dad was NYPD and typically working) and then we would come in and make hot chocolate. I would watch tv and wait for the kids on the block to go outside to play. Once I saw them, I would hurry and get in my snow gear and play until my fingers and toes hurt.

National Customer Relations Liaison

Andrew Beard

Andrew Beard joined KidsPeace in September 2022 as a National Customer Relations Liaison. He oversees Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Delaware, as well as, the states across the southern tier of the U.S. extending to the West Coast and Hawaii. While attending Shippensburg University, where he received degrees in History and Psychology, Andrew entered into the Human Services Field and has held a myriad of roles ranging from direct care and case management to hospital and provider relations. With this experience, he will interface and educate families and providers regarding the multitude of services KidsPeace offers with a focus on Residential Treatment.

Which holiday treat could you eat every day in December? Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The elves have put you in charge of designing a new holiday sweater. What’s on it? A mischievous elf on the shelf.

Impressed with your sweater design, the elves have now tasked you with creating a new holiday board game. What is it called, and how do you win? Being an animal rescue advocate, you would have to rescue as many animals as possible and find them new homes. It would be called North Pole Rescue.

You’re opening a pop-up holiday-themed restaurant for the month of December. What is it called, and what is the signature dish? Seafood is big in Baltimore, so it would be called Santa’s Seafood, and the signature dish would be crabby melts: lump crab with olde English pub cheese toasted on English muffins. It’s a real dish we make, and it is amazing.

Time travel back to the 6^th grade. You wake up to a snowstorm, causing school to be cancelled for the day. Yippee!! What’s your favorite way to celebrate the snow day? Sledding, sledding and more sledding.