February Full Circle

Full Circle

Circle Center's E-Newsletter

"Where flowers bloom,

so does hope."

-Lady Bird Johnson

It certainly seems like we have to score one for the Groundhog this year. Winter seems to be lingering on, but we know there are sure signs of spring and hope to be found!

We were celebrated by so many of our friends in the community and we really felt the love on Valentine's Day! While the vaccine distribution has been a source of frustration and confusion, we have some exciting vaccine updates to share as well as some helpful information. These developments, along with some signs of spring and our excitement at celebrating our upcoming 45th Anniversary in May, have provided us with some much needed moments of HOPE.

Spring is usually a season of renewal, and we certainly could all use moments of hope to look forward to, and moments of joy to celebrate now. We look ahead to spring with hopeful anticipation and with continued gratitude for the support and communication that you have all shown us.

While we can hardly believe that we are nearing another anniversary, the one year mark of this pandemic, we are so fortunate to have these moments that stand out. The support of our friends and our community, and the resiliency of our caregivers and families, continues to inspire us. Each day we are together remains a shining beacon of hope and joy!

COVID-19 Vaccine News

Circle Center Vaccination Update

After the frustration many of us in the community have felt over the vaccine rollout and our own efforts to provide timely updates and plans about the ability to provide the vaccination for our participants, staff and caregivers, we have encouraging news to share!

We are very happy to report that our staff was recently approved to be vaccinated as part of the 1a rollout that included essential health care workers. Many of us have received our first round of vaccine and we are so thankful that this will help us to stay healthy and able to continue to serve our participants and families. Thank you to our friends at Bremo Pharmacy for arranging the vaccine appointments for our staff!

We also received word just this week that our current participants and caregivers who are 65+ are eligible to receive the vaccine! We are currently working with Bremo Pharmacy to set up vaccine clinics for our eligible participants and caregivers.

Circle Center's CEO, Heather Turbyne-Pollard, recently received her first vaccine dose from Bremo Pharmacist Tana Kaefer (and if you can't tell that is a big smile under her mask!).

For those of you in the community who are still seeking information about the vaccine, we are committed to continue to bring you news and updates as we receive them. We share with you some recent updates that you may find helpful:

Bremo Pharmacy Extra Dose List

As you have probably heard, on occasion there are extra doses in the vaccine vial, that pharmacies can offer. Our partners at Bremo sent us the following link to share with you. Please click HERE to visit their website to learn more.

VDH Statewide Pre-Registration

Virginia has launched a new statewide vaccine pre-registration system to provide a unified and comprehensive process for people to pre-register for the COVID-19 vaccine. Click HERE to to sign up for a FREE COVID-19 vaccine. All individuals who have previously filled out an interest form or signed up for a waitlist to be vaccinated through their local health district will be automatically imported into the new statewide system.

Sharing the LOVE

Boy did we feel the LOVE this Valentine's Day! We received such an outpouring of support from our friends and community on Valentine's Day.

We received a special delivery from United Way that included letters of support and encouragement from GE employees and their families, for not only our participants, but our caregivers as well!

Henrico County's EngAGE initiative Spread the Love: Valentine's Day Card project shared handmade cards full of sweet messages and notes.

Heartstrings Choir usually visits us for a special in-person Valentine's concert. Since they haven't been able to perform, or even gather together, during the Pandemic they decided to share their love with handmade cards and notes.

The Boys Group from South Anna Elementary School sent heartfelt notes with uplifting messages to share with our participants. Thank you to the daughter of one of our participants, who is a teacher there and arranged for this sweet surprise!

Sigma Zelta Deta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority made a special "Love Basket" delivery of individual treat bags for our participants stuffed full of treats, notes and surprises.

Thank you for sharing all of this LOVE with us. It was especially impactful during such a challenging time and we all enjoyed the heartfelt messages of love, support and encouragement. Thank you for the creativity and time in finding such a special way to connect!

45 years!

Did you know that we have a BIG birthday coming up? We can't imagine a more perfect time to celebrate.

This spring we will be celebrating our 45th Anniversary with a very special week of activities, celebrations, events and surprises!

Mark your calendars for May 17th - 21st, 2021 and stay tuned to make sure you don't miss out on any of the fun!

Granting our Wish-List

Thank you to some generous friends, for their recent donation to Stock our Pantry! Snack items are some of the most requested items on our Wish-List and we appreciate this generous donation!

We also have a great need for certain program supplies. Per our COVID protocol, we do not share any program supplies so we need individual sets for each participant. We also have to regularly replace and provide new supplies, especially our health and wellness items like exercise bands and small hand-weights, as the regular cleaning takes a toll.

Please click HERE to check our our Circle Center Wish List. Thank you for everyone who has continued to support us with wish-list donations!!

A New Day on the NuStep!

We see moments every day that fill us with HOPE and JOY. During the pandemic we have had to make many modifications to our program spaces and we haven't been able to use our dedicated Wellness Room.

We finally found a new space for our NuStep machine, and we all shared the joy and hope along with Joe as he hopped back on again!

Way to go, Joe!

Click the image to see and hear

us reach a 10/10!

The Circle Center Scene!

Happy to have our Multi-Sensory Environment back up and running!

Welcoming two new friends to the Center crew!

Enjoying some of our new potted flowers on a sunny day - sure signs of Spring!