April, 2022

Catching up with The Next Stop

Because these winter months have kept The Next Stop busier than ever, we are late connecting with you!

First, we were occupied with our annual Family Night where Next Stop members presented a musical performance entitled "Finding Joy at The Next Stop". And also, beyond our regular programming, we have been in the midst of developing an exciting new project.

Read on to learn more about these happenings and more!

Finding Joy at The Next Stop

On the evening of March 4th, families and friends of The Next Stop enjoyed the story of Blue in a performance called "Finding Joy". Blue came to visit The Next Stop feeling blue and was in search of joy. As she went through a Next Stop afternoon, engaged in activities and felt the warm welcome, she began to feel better. Through the joy of friendships, the joy of cooking, the joy of movement and the joy of learning, she realized her mood was lighter and she had a smile on her face.

Our music therapist Miquel Shanine wrote, choreographed and directed this special production. It was a perfect illustration of the effect The Next Stop has on not only our members, volunteers and staff, but anyone who comes to visit!

Members pre-made lasagna and desserts as they do each year. But because the COVID surge was still a threat, rather than dine together, we had a take-out container for each family. What did NOT change was the member-felt pride of success and the family-felt joy.

The white balloons represented JOY. After Blue had "gathered" joy at The Next Stop, she decided she wanted to share it. 250 white balloons later, the audience was enjoying some joy too. (See short video right below.)

New Project, New Equipment

The Next Stop has purchased and been trained on new video production equipment. We are capturing quality video of members preparing a recipe alongside our Program Director Ms. Kathy. While the details of our new project are not ready to share, we CAN say that our members are naturals in this process. Because cooking is a daily occurrence at The Next Stop, no acting is needed! More exciting news to come in months to come.

We want to thank John Flood & James Helms of ESS for all their enthusiastic and reliable support as well as their patience as we learn new skills!

Surprise from Wayne Farms

In January, Wayne Farms surprised The Next Stop with a huge delivery of chicken! Because we cook each day, this will certainly come in handy and help our grocery bill. We are grateful for the relationship with Wayne Farms as they also sponsor the meal served at our annual golf tournament. Thank you Wayne Farms for this incredibly generous gesture!

Wow! This is about half of Wayne Farms' chicken donation and it found its way to a Board member's home freezer for safe keeping. We restock from there as needed.

The first chicken recipe prepared with our new chicken was chicken enchiladas. Since then, we've prepared chicken parmesan, chicken parmesan sliders, buffalo chicken dip and chicken ranch spread. The sky's the limit!

It's Always the Season of Giving

The Next Stop always welcomes the opportunity to participate in a service project. When asked if The Next Stop could serve a local women's shelter by providing the fun filled eggs for an Easter egg hunt, of course everyone was onboard. Our families provided the supplies and our members prepared them. A motivating factor was knowing these eggs will bring smiles to the children at their Easter celebration. Thank you volunteer Ms. Sherry for leading this effort!

It's been great catching up with you! You, our community of support, are appreciated and we want to always keep you abreast of the positive impact you help us make at The Next Stop.

Make a Donation

A direct and compelling headline

The Next Stop Foundation | www.thenextstop.org

404-932-3953