Barbara Bloom gets to hear a lot about animated movies. The special needs teacher at Resica Elementary School said her students can remember details from animated features like "Finding Nemo," "Cinderella" and "Hoot." She also uses them as incentives for hard work and good behavior. So when Norman Adie, the new owner of Foxmoor 7 cinemas, invited special needs students from four area schools to see "Over the Hedge" on Wednesday, the children were ecstatic.

"They love movies," Bloom said. "They've heard all about Over the Hedge."

More than 100 students from special needs programs flooded Foxmoor 7 Cinema for a free showing of the movie 'Over the Hedge' Wednesday morning. From left, Paige Kishbaugh, 9, Nick Tine, 11, Adam Mece, 9, and Zachary Ryan, 10, wait as patiently as they can for the start of the show. (Pocono Record/David Kidwell)

In addition to Resica, students from J.M. Hill, Smithfield, and Pocono Elementary Center were able to enjoy the showing, free of charge, with plenty of popcorn.

 

Special needs students at Resica usually take field trips twice a year, Bloom said. Some students in the audience had never been to a movie theater. Parents are unable to take them because they might be disruptive, Bloom said, and because some don't have enough money. So Wednesday marked a unique occasion.

"Your teachers brought you here because they think you're the most special kids in the world," Schelle'y Cunningham, director of public relations, said before the show.

Adie thanked the students, numbering more than 100, for coming to the theater, and promised that it would not be the only day it would be open to them at no cost. In appreciation, students presented him with drawings of their favorite movie characters.

Adie came up with the idea to sponsor a day for special needs students because he knows Cunningham's son, John, who has a mild form of autism.

"He spent a lot of time around Jack during our grand opening weekend," Cunningham said. "It must have really gotten to him, because he called me and told me to invite all the kids down."

Bloom said the free movie was a good thing for the students, and one of several examples of the community reaching out to Resica Elementary.

"We have a very good community," Bloom said. "The Resica community has been very good to us."

The event is the first of several Adie has planned for the theater in the next few weeks. Today is United Way day at the theater. Adie will donate $2 from each ticket sold to the organization's chapter in Monroe County.

"I have 24 years of public relations experience," Cunningham said, "and I've never had an employer that went this far to help the community."

Adie said he wants to make Foxmoor a community theater, not only for Middle Smithfield but for Monroe County as a whole. A New York-based movie house entrepreneur, Adie leased the theater and adjoining store space in February after years of decline at Foxmoor Village, and renovated it for an opening earlier this month. He hopes to rejuvenate Foxmoor as a community-oriented shopping center.

"This is a community theater," Adie said.

"I'd like to put something back in the community, and this is an ideal gesture."