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and it's montly magazine new jersey business [music playing] [music playing] welcome to caucus new jersey i'm steve adubato recently new jersey had the honor of hosting the 2014 usa special olympics games 3,500 athletes competed in 16 sports with the support of thousands. joining me here in the studio to discuss the impact of the 2014 games on new jersey and the larger community we have barry ostrowski president and chief executive officer of barnabas health ralph larossa president and chief operating officer of pseg t.j. nelligan chairman and ceo of the 2014 special olympics usa game and finally nick miceli market president td bank i gotta tell you these games t.j. before we show

some video and we talk about the impact of the games what were the odds against new jersey getting these usa games and describe why the usa games were so significant >>well the usa games are significant and eberybody counts nj out that's why we all got a bunch a of jersey guys here >>exactly >>to stick to together but >>what were the games? >>the games were so inspiring but it took so many people to put em on you know we changed the paradigm to go out and ask corporate america and our communities to be involved. we think we gave great value but then they can speak to that and what they gave us was they shared our vision for the games and so much more they exceeded by far any expectations we had of what corporate america in this community could do to raise the profile for people with intellectual disabilities and their families to know that special olympics is a place that you can go and you can change your life your family's life and your child that has intellectual disablities by just being involved with the special olympics >>but the usa games themselves barry you know two of your organizations the two... one of the founding partners if you will right?

>>yes >>the usa games themselves did you know and t.j. was really he'll go into why they're so significant. did you know barry at first how big these games were? and how hard it was for a community to get them? >>i didn't know at first i came to learn that quickly as i got as i participated and i frankly had no idea what the impact would be on our organization and our 20,000 plus employees >>we're looking at, i can't even believe, a little bit of the special olympics go ahead talk about it >>absolutely spectacular i mean here we are in the healthcare world >>right >>we're in the human service business and we didn't believe or understand what was necessary to appropriately treat those with intellectual disabilities. so for more than a year as we got involved we learned about that it's had an incredible impact on our employees and frankly it's had a great impact on our mission as an organization so as t.j. suggested in terms of what we received as a dividend it was well beyond anything i could have expected

>>for example? >>well we have established we'll be announcing at statewide shortly we've established a pilot program at our facilities to treat families and patients with intellectual disabilities and one of the things that we didn't understand at the time was this great healthcare system of ours nationally still has barriers to those with intellectual disabilities so all of the great healthcare services to which we all have access on a moment's notice is very different for those with intellectual disabilities so we've begun to take down those barriers we've begun to put together a special program where an ambassador from our facility will deal with those with these special needs now that's something we probably should have developed years ago. but we didn't know that those obstacles existed. so... >>a product of the games? >>absolutely a product of the games. a product of our involvement in helping to develop the games with t.j. and his leadership. so this was not just let's but some tickets let's have some volunteers and lets celebrate a great

olympiad, we spent months understanding the champions who were going to comete the families who support those champions we began to analyze and evaluate the healthcare services they needed so this was an educational experience that i tell you touched the very mission and soul of our organization >>put some numbers on this before i go to the rest of you 120 million dollars in revenue was brought in. how many 4,000 gold silver and bronze medals were awarded 3,500 athletes from across the country participated now ralph your friend and colleague barry ostrowski talks about the impact 52 corporate sponsors td was involved... you guys were involved again at a certain level life changing for you? >>yeah i mean for me personally i've been involved with special needs children for quite some time my sister in law has taught in the bergen county school system and special needs for a long time

and my daughter has volunteered for the last four years which special needs children on every sunday where she teaches kids tennis and she didn't know tennis but she really taught the kids how to interact and so when i saw her interact with friends that she had who happened to be >>how old is she? >>my daughter is 18, she's just starting in school in the university of indiana and you know i saw her interact with those kids in a way that she felt in a way that they felt towards her yeah it was definitely life changing >>from a corporate perspective mean full disclosure i say this all the time the 3 organizations are very supportive, td, pseg, and barnabas health are huge supporters of public broadcasting you know but and we're proud and pleased that you do that but the committment to special olympics is really special why this committment and why at this level? >>well a couple things. first of all you can't say no to t.j. >>[laughter] >>[laughter] >>t.j.'s someone who knows what he's... >>he's a pretty good salesman yeah go ahead >>but you know as barry said his... it gets right back to the

corporate culture of pseg his from a healthcare stanpoint, ours from an economic development new jersey standpoint being proud. we had the superbowl here a few months back >>that's right >>then we bring the special olympics here and we get to show the pride of new jersey and we get to bring some economic development to the state you talked to some of the numbers and how we brought some money in but then our employees got to volunteer and you know when you start to see that and the volunteer you know basically their thought processes they go hrough this... it was just great to see you know everybody stepped up they spent their own time spent some company time but they spent a lot of their own time as well >>you couldn't go into a td bank without seeing the sign as you walked in without the wristband for special olympics talk about it nick. >>that was a special point for us you know it's more than as the rest of our guests have said it's mroe than just a corporate event. for us it's 365 days you're right you're working to our stores we raise over a million dollars a year selling these special olympic bracelets and we sell them to our customers to our

fans to our friends to our employees and it doesn't just stop there. we than adopt special olympic athletes and their families. in each one of our stores so we have 1,300 stores from maine to florida each one of them is adopting at least one athlete and their family and they become part of the community of that store they come to the team building meetings they come to our staff meetings they then become part of the fabric of who we are they tell their story to our customers 's part of the culture it's part of who we are >>you know t.j. you've been with us so many times but we started talking about the new jersey piece of this the special olympics in new jersey right? first for people who haven't seen you with us in the past, tell folks the personal connection you have with sean who i have know for i guess six years or so now your son. talk about sean talk about the new jersey piece and then talk about this huge leap from special olympics in new jersey to the usa games. >>well i got involved really through a fraternity brother

of mine he happened to be on the special olympics new jersey board i had lunch with him in new york city and he told me about this organization after i told him the situation with sean. and as barry said when... >>for those who don't know sean tell people how terriffic he is >>well sean is now 24 years old >>[laughter] >>you know there comes a day when you don't see the disabilities anymore you just realize we went down a different road it's not a better road it's not a worse road you meet different people and you get involved in things like this i wouldn't be sitting here with these guys who helped us to bring i think the most inspirational event in the history of the state here to new jersey. but we did it because you know it's a lifelong new jersey thing when you're here people don't understand that when they're from out of state. but this changed sean's fe. it changed his family's life and >>how so? >>well i think that he got the opportunities that everybody else gets to participate in sports to meet friends to fit in the community to have a job at a restaurtant with a buddy of his from special olympics, all thise things wouldn't happen if not for building the confidence he walks around now and

he just walks up to everybody barry you know i thought he ran barnabas south when we were raising the flags over at barnabas south >>[laughter] >>i mean he's like the mayor >>yes he is >>he's looks like he's running for office when he walks around and it's a proud moment when you start to see what he can accomplish and not the things he couldn't do in the past. it doesn't happen in one day. it happens over a long period of time. >t.j. i'm sorry for interrupting we just happened to see each other on sunday and a mutual riend invited us to... it was an event that your son sean was at and it was about meeting these people and it was a sales ent but it wasn't... sean didn't organize it but within two minutes you realize he looked like he was organizing the event and telling people what to do but the reason i'm saying this is when you see sean and what he's accomplished and the way he is with other people do you often say to yourself do you want that for other kids? >>well that was one of the main missions of the games and what all these companies helped us to do was to tell this story. there's 4 million seans around the country that are

>>4 million? put that in perspective >>participating in the special olympics. well there's 4 million participating in 170 countries there's probably 50 million or more who should be participating. in new jersey we have 24,000 athletes and there's probably 100 - 200 thousand that should participate but we don't have the money and the budget to go out and spend the money telling the story of special olympics so these games gave us the opportunity through all of our corporate relationships to raise the profile and tell the stories. you know we had 5,700 articles written throughout the country about the games. over 12 million dollars of free media from billboards airplanes flying along the jersey shore thanks to barnabas health everything that every one of these companies has done in their stores you know and td bank has that billboard and the pop in their stores that's another touch point to reach a family >>that's right >>that's going into the bank or they go into the shoprite shoprite had 70 products with our logo, so this became a big sporting event not a big special olympics event you

know my background is the final four and selling that for many many years well >>yeah sports marketing >>during the final four season you walk through the supermarket you see the logos on all the sponsors... well this year we saw the special olympics logo in a supermarket on 70 of their products in the shoprite stores. >>you know beyond the sporting side and tj has been very successful on the sports marketing side, and committed a lot of that expertise to the special olympics. and that know how, particularly when it comes to fundraising but i'm surious about this i'm gonna ask you guys this... for your people because i know... ralph talked about this a little bit, barry i know your organization very well in terms of the culture what do you believe it did for your people because a large amount of money we should make it clear money went into this cash, contribution, but then the people part of it what do you think it did for your people, your employees how many employees did barnabas health has? >>we have over 20,000 we had over 1,200 volunteers from among that employment group d i'll tell you i've been saying his since we began... i've never

seen anything galvanize the spirit of our employees like participation in the special olympics. >>what did they do? >>it was unbelievable >>describe what they really did >>so the planning of it was terriffic we had committes and we met and we talked about how we were gonna interact with the games and we recruited the volunteers and then of course our volunteers did everything from staffing particular venues to bestowing medals to frankly volunteering for any need that the games had. the spirit was palpable you know our folks work in an interesting industry. and daily tried to give of themselves to help patients all people in healthcare do that and here was an opportunity to break free of the conventional giving of time and spirit and extend it to a new group of people and they loved it and we loved it. you know, my colleagues have mentioned something and i think it was very important for these games, being a new jersey company and frankly most if not 90 percent of our

employees are new jersey residents we always have this self-esteem issue, next to ny or pennsylvania or philadelphia i love the idea that the world and the country was focused on new jersey >>for these usa games >>for these usa games and i had the opportunity to speak to the executive directors of the special olympic organizations from throughout the country and in meeting with these folks and the parents and the like, people enjoyed coming to new jersey, to the extent that i must say i think were surprised that they would enjoy coming to new jersey we need to do more of that >>absolutely >>i mean we had the superbowl here and i always was upset that there was more talk about new york city >>right >>in relation to the superbowl in new jersey. here was an opportunity to showcase new jersey on a platform that was highly generous to the people who needed this attention >>and there were multiple locations let's be clear >>yeah and well the... you know certainly the venues for the

games were in multiple locations and then they were evening events and people worked throughout new jersey it was terriffic. >>t.j. and his team did a great job moving it up and down the state and because of that our employees were up and down the state. >>yeah talk about your employees >>they were all... they were able to just participate in every one of those events but you i just... barry's right on here. this is about new jersey, this is about showcasing our state, and for a company like ours to be part of that is fantastic, i remember when t.j. asked me to talk to the the selection committee >>[laughter] >>and so we met... >>what does that mean? the selection committee? >>well there was a committee that actually >>oh the folks who had to decide...? >>decide... as it also... yeah can i say the other teams? >>it was us and the guys from boston >>i know he kept saying us and the guys from boston when this was happening i remember >>[laughter] >>i would love to hear this >>we were at the golf course and it was just coming down to t.j. and a few other of our iends he was like... it's us and the guys from boston >>[laughter] >>it was like a yankee boston thing he'll appreciate this >>there was a little bit of that >>and he was like >>oh we had 100 corporate leaders at the prudential center the showcase we large >>yes [laughter] i remember this >>numbers of people but the great story was... ralph told bob gobrecht the president of special olympics north america

when are you going to boston? he says i'm going wednesday are you taking the amtrak up? he goes i am >>[laughter] >>he goes i control the electric you're never getting on >>[laughter] >>[laughter] >>he said why do these guys from jersey play boardwalk so much it's unbelievable >>[laughter] >>[laughter] >>ralph i don't know if you wanted that to be out on pbs but it's out already so what >>that was probably okay >>was other than that other than the amtrak pitch what was the pitch? [laughter] >>well you know the pitch was we're not what you see on t.v. and we're not the way we're protrayed and we were able to and i think you know at the end of the day we were actually able to show that to everyone and it went off so smooth i mean that day we had traffic that the opening ceremonies we had some traffic the police departments came through they opened up the roads for everybody we made sure it was a saturday in the summer >>yup >>there was people coming up and down the turnpike and he parkway... we... none of that stopped us from providing a good games for the participants and really it was just a showcase of what new jersey's all about >>big volunteerism on your end? >>yeah you know our employees did again everything the same as barry did and it just brought the pride out because you know we're sort

of behind the scenes you get at up a little bit the lights go out the houses are cold but you know this was an oppotunity for us to showcase some of the other things we can bring to the table >>going back to the last point i think my favorite part was when we took bob on that boat trip around manhattan >>this is the guy from the section committee >>and so we said okay we're gonna get on this boat and we're gonna take a tour around manhattan and we're not coming back until you say yes >>[laughter] >>[laughter] >>guys hold on wait a minute >>[laughter] his is not... barry i don't know if this is good for... >>[laughter] >>we are seen... >>that's new jersey warmth >>well hold on >>that's our charisma >>we are seen in multiple states this area, i don't know if this is good... >>[laughter] >but what i am i doing with this with my hands all of a sudden? [laughter] >>[laughter] >>[laughter] >>and then that stuff happens >>yeah go ahead >>that was great >>so you're around new york island... manhattan island >>we took a trip around manhattan, we took on a boat trip and we said we're not coming back unless they asked us >>in the harbor go ahead >>in the harbor nah it was... >>treacherous waters >>treacherous waters it was raining out it was.. >>and you're pitching the guy and you're saying jersey is the best >>jersey is the best place >>and he understood? >>he did >>did you make him an offer? >>no no >>[laughter] >>[laughter] >>not very good >>the rest of it we should have talked about >>t.j. really quick give me the locations

>>uh we were mainly in mercer county area but the mercer county park >>tcnj >>tcnj, princeton university college of new jersey, ryder opening ceremonies were at the prudential center the devils gave us the arena for for free >>what was that like the opening ceremony? >>it was tremendous i mean we had 20,000 people in there >>20,000? >>the athletes their families and all these partners were there >>where did they come from? the athletes? give perspective we're showing video but we >>they're coming from all 50 states around the country >>all 50 states? >>all 50 states we had over 3,500 athletes but one of the really cool things that happened during the week leading up to the games was in tribute to our athletes we had the empire state building lit in our colors on sunday night the opening >>look at that there it is right there the picture so wait new york was involved? >>we had the honor of ringing the nasdaq closing bell with athletes from connecticut in new york and new jersey >>there you guys are... so new york payed tribute to us >>exactly >>that's right >>and to the games and i think it shows you that once everybody understood how big these games were the empire state building said we e to do this, this is a big deal >>but nj got the attention >>and i think to the athletes

so the athletes said wow this is pretty cool that we're being put on a pedestal and treating like true champions like they were >>let's talk about how we move forward. now the games happened the economic benefit is there, a lot of attention t.j. just scratched the surface i mean cause this is our friends and partners over at fox did a great jon they were big promoting this >>yeah we had over 12 million dollars of free media they ran our 30 second promotionals by 5,000 times and they did over 100 profiles of athletes around the country in their 30 owned t.v. markets >>and i would be remiss if i did not mention the fact that our colleagues and partners over at njtv every night >>every night >>did a story on the news and we're very proud of that fact as well because they were media partners as well as were we and so the other piece is this. i keep asking myself okay great success, you guys got them to come in big corporate support what happens now to the new jersey... there's a new jersey team there's a special olympics team right? what happens to that team? >>well our goal is that over the next couple of years that

the profile was raised to tell the story of how special olympics can transform lives that families that need help that want to see their child become what sean is today versus what he was 15 years ago >>right >>hot place, and have a place to go and is supported by everybody in the state and we hope there's thousands and thousands of families that are positively effected by this and that wouldn't have happened without all of the corporate support from these gentlemen here and others that aren't here today it was really amazing effort of everybody in the state that stepped up and over 10,000 volunteers that ran the venues and managed the venues and took care of the athletes so it was really amazing >>so barry is that when you talked before about the initiative you started the ambassador initiative at barnabas health. is that your way, the organization's way of saying we're not done? >>well we're clearly not done o that's one of the ways i think our employees will stay active with special olympics for many years to come and we're working on now, we have an audacious goal though

related to this as i mentioned earlier we came to learn that these barriers of treatment for those with intellectual disabilities exist turns out that the medical school curriculum does not teach anything about that why? i don't know but clearly this is a group of people that need to have medical education change so we have started an organization within our organization a group to study how the medical school curriculum, we are teaching institutions, how that curriculum can be altered and modified in order to train new clinicians who will have sensitivity to those with intellectual disability the audacious goal is why not make new jersey the destination for healthcare and healthcare education for those with intellectual disabilities we have the science we do research all these secrets that people don't know about in terms of new jersey let's expand it to be the place where

people and families internationally and otherwise come to have healthcare that is designed for those with intellectual disabilities not something we can do overnight for sure but all of this i see as an extension of our involvement with the special olympics 2014 games and that will be in my view for us that would be a durable legacy to our involvement in the games >>and also takes advantage of the unique position that barnabas health has in the healthcare community >>well the you know we are late to this as a corporation my colleagues here manage and run organizations that have long been committment to the community needs they're really role models in how you have to give back to the community. we're now starting to get big enough we're certainly inclined in that regard so to me to be able to make that kind of contribution in our field, i think that's the ind of thing we'd like to attain so this is gonna be for us a very important initiative going forward over a number

of years with other partners >>sure >>to try to develop new jersey as the focal point for training and offering services to those with intellectual disabilities >>what else can we do? to keep it going? >>so i think you know we've talked a lot about new jersey we joked a little bit about new jersey but what we really can do and really do for t.j. for his legacy and the work that he's done here is to continue to talk about what happened here in new jersey with some of our colleagues outside of the state so we're all in industries and businesses where we interact with in our case utilities and >>sure >>other states, we'll tell the story, we'll advocate for the story and we'll make sure that the special olympics as t.j. very well said is a sporting event and it's as recognized as a sporting event and we will continue to educate our partners >>is there, sorry for interrupting is there more corporate support that could in fact be brought in because of the energy that was that happened in connection with the usa games? could you play off that and parlay that? and bring it in more support?

ot just in nj but in the region? >>no absolutely i think you can take this model and replicate it in any other state >>and you believe that? >>yeah well i guess our next step is again that advocacy it's about taking what we have internally our 20,000 employees from maine to florida and going out into the communities and talking about what we're doing examples, >>real quick >>somerset patriots right where we have special olympic night now where we go into special olympic night we have athletes that throw out the first pitch they sing take me out to the ballpark at the 7th inning stretch they... they'll sign autographs for fans this is how we... it gives them great moments of magic for their families and themselves but it also starts breaking down those barriers within the community and letting people accept our kids >>listen i want to thank all of ou for joining us t.j. thank you for bringing us together as we end... there's an official song we're about to play right >>there is >>official song of the special olympics that might tell us... >>michael delguidice recorded he's the big shot band which is billy joel tribute band and it's >>right tell it right now it speaks for itself >>called heart of a champion

>>what's it called? hearts of champion? it's beautiful stuff >>heart of a champion >>check it out >>heart of a champion mark of a winner courage to reach another mile this is my moment i've got all that i need cause there's a heart of a champion in me >>the preceding program has been a production of the caucus educational corporation celebrating over 25 years of broadcast excellence and thirteen for wnet njtv and whyy funding for this edition of caucus new jersey has been provided by new jersey council of county colleges united water qualcare inc actavis in cooperation with the american medicine chest challenge new jersey manufacturers

the russell berrie foundation and by community education centers transportation provided by air brook limousine serving the metropolitan new york new jersey area caucus new jersey has been produced in partnership with tristar studios >>new jersey manufacturers insurance company offers policies that can protect against auto accidents fires windstorms floods and many other serious and urgent situations tips on what to do before during and after you're confronted with the unexpected are on the emergency preparedness section of njm.com new jersey manufacturers helping the garden state prepare for the unexpected for nearly a century closed captioning provided by aciem studios www.aciemstudios.com

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> sreenivasan: debris and bodies from the wreckage of the air asia jetliner have been found in the java sea, revealing the grim fate of those on board flight 8501. but still many questions remain about what went wrong and why. good evening, i'm hari sreenivasan. gwen ifill and judy woodruff are away. also ahead this tuesday. as the u.s. prepares to restore diplomatic relations with cuba, the two countries remain at odds about what new freedoms will mean for the cuban people. >> one of the things we want to do is see how far we can really encourage cubans to take control of their own destiny. whether that is goito