by Hannah C., 17
Just like the tiny blue dot that is our world has many working parts, Blue Dot also has many hardworking people who are crucial to the organization’s success. Andrew D’Amico is the brother of Chrissy D’Amico, one of the founders of Blue Dot in New Jersey. As Chrissy was generating her ideas for Blue Dot, Andrew learned about how organizations make a social impact during his time in graduate school for nonprofit management. Andrew has always been searching for ways to make the world a better place.
Aside from volunteering and connecting with Blue Dot, Andrew’s commitment to making a positive impact extends to his work on the sustainability team at Princeton University. When I asked Andrew about his day-to-day responsibilities at Blue Dot, he first mentioned his work with Princeton. His face lights up as he mentions how the University is dedicated to achieving its climate change and recycling goals and his role as citizen director of sustainability.
“We just do all that we can to achieve the university’s goals, and I really enjoy it because, with Blue Dot and Princeton, I’m helping the world socially and environmentally.”
Before studying nonprofit management in college, Andrew has always been passionate about nonprofit work and sustainability, driven by a desire to create a better world. While Andrew was in graduate school, Chrissy was in hospital settings, working with adults with neurodivergent conditions. Once the seeds of the business idea for Blue Dot were planted, they worked together to create the foundation for the organization. Andrew reflects on this time with much appreciation for his sister, describing her enthusiasm for helping others as she brought up “hand-drawn flow charts and business plans” while they worked together in their parent’s kitchen.
“She just started showing me “here is my vision for this” with a mission statement, a vision statement, and over somewhere between one to three years, she and I would have phone conversations, and it went from this seed of an idea to something that would be helpful to so many people.”
So, by the end of that journey, Andrew was able to write their business plan using the education that he got, which helped translate what they had into a business plan. He has been advising her ever since.
His sister isn’t the only reason Andrew was motivated to help with the planning process of Blue Dot. As Andrew describes it, volunteering is his favorite part. It is clear that Andrew loves helping others and witnessing the community that Blue Dot has brought in.
“Getting to interact with the community and the clients just really feels like a family at this point. Everyone from the clients to the parents, the people that volunteer, the family and friends, is like this big supportive community.”
Every year, Blue Dot holds a dance party completely open to the public on the New Jersey Shore boardwalk. While it is formulated to be more structured for their neurodivergent clients, it’s also open to the community to show people that neurodivergent does not mean separation from the world. Volunteering at the events includes everything from selling merch to upholding the organization’s positive and supportive sense to ensure everyone is safe and comfortable.
“I was going to go into environmental work, and I’ve done that in my career with my day job, but working at Blue Dot, it’s just made clear that there’s this whole world of people who really lack easy access to the support that they need in adulthood.”
When high school ends, the special education benefits stop being active, so Blue Dot can step in and bring celebration and joy to this overlooked population, the neurodivergent community. These Blue Dot events bring everyone together in a way that everyone can enjoy and create a completely safe and welcoming space.
Before starting the interview, Andrew explained that he was taking care of his child before logging on to the call. I could see his excitement and love for his first child, which he expressed was something so important to him despite any of the challenges that parenthood might bring.
One particular lesson in parenting especially came to light when I asked him if he had any memorable moments volunteering at Blue Dot that he was comfortable sharing. The organization had hosted a music festival at a farm that volunteered the space. Throughout the night, Andrew got to interact with many people as he worked at the merch stand during the event, but one conversation really stayed with him as he was approached by one of the mothers later in the night. She was curious about what Blue Dot was all about and what the community was like.
Andrew could see the appreciation written on her face as he described how the foundation is dedicated to bringing their clients joy, dignity, and social events that most communities lacked. This mother went on to describe her experience as a mother to her child, who is now an adult with autism, and how there was such a struggle in searching for a supportive and accepting community. It brought to light the struggle that it can be when being a resource in an unsupportive world with an adult with autism.
“This woman had struggled so much to find a service but then came to this supportive and welcoming environment. Just seeing that really brought the words off the page that I helped write for the organization.”
This viewpoint on how impactful Blue Dot really was as a resource greatly affected Andrew’s perspective on parenting as a whole. There are so many difficult journeys to travel when walking the path of parenthood, especially when raising a child in a place that won’t have the crucial understanding and empathy.
“A couple of years ago, when this occurred, we had just had a miscarriage. So with all of this stuff with parenting swirling around in my life and then seeing this parent that would do anything for their child sort of became a representation of a key parenting lesson for me.”
As I listened to Andrew describe why he helped start Blue Dot, how much he enjoys volunteering, his passion for interacting with the community, and his dedication to providing a safe space for his child as a parent, I do not doubt in my mind that his child will grow up having experienced a safe, loving, and supportive household.
Growing up, Andrew went to high school in a very stereotypical suburban town. People weren’t very emotionally open or in touch with their feelings, and towards the end of high school, when he was really struggling, Andrew realized that he had anxiety, depression, and panic disorder. Despite this problem, growing up in a non-emotionally open place left no room for an understanding of what having those mental issues meant. Then, through therapy and developing strong habits in his life, Andrew has learned how to overcome this.
“I’ve learned how to be someone who lives with anxiety and depression, and I’ve gotten over my panic disorder, and it doesn’t define who I am anymore. I have a job, I have a wife, I have a kid, I have a house, I have pets, and so I’m living my life. And while anxiety and depression are like a part of who I am, it is not the main thing that defines my life.”
I am moved by how Andrew describes his experience growing up with mental health struggles. Blue Dot is so crucial to the neurodivergent community because while Andrew did not have neurodivergent conditions, he still needed help learning how to live with this knowledge of himself, which makes it more meaningful when considering the work that Blue Dot is doing.
“Being someone who continued on while the world wasn’t accepting of my mental health struggles, I had to find myself, and now this organization is helping people find themselves and be themselves without being defined by only the challenges they experience.”
So everything that Blue Dot stands for and means to people connects to a quote from Andrew’s favorite novel, Cloud Atlas. He excitedly shows me this quote from his computer screen, written in chalk art by his wife, who he praises for her artistic skills she’s unaware of. This quote is a reminder that community is important, and Andrew has committed so much of his work to building the community of New Jersey into a better place. What I have taken from my interview with Andrew D’Amico is that Blue Dot has a person who has contributed so much good to the world. Blue Dot, working as a singular organization in the middle of a world that needs more empathy, serves as an important reminder:
“Your life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?” – Cloud Atlas
Bridge Ink 