Caring, Compassion, and Critical Support During Crisis

Good Morning Friends,  The first week of May was jammed pack. Volunteers for MABVI went grocery shopping, the Ivy Street School reached out to parents with valuable resources, Team With A Vision used a COVID-19 focused "Giving Tuesday" to fundraise a record amount, and MAB Adult Disability Services was featured on WCVB Channel 5's PRIME TIME newscast in a very special honor to MAB's Maxo Joseph.

FOOD IS LOVE:  Mass. Restaurants Sending Love Through Meals

Channel 5 Profiles Food is Love Initiative Channel 5's anchor and 5 FOR GOOD reporter Erika Tarantal showcased MAB's Food is Love. This special initiative honors the life of Maxo Joseph and the work of our dedicated direct care staff. Local restauranteurs are cooking and MAB's board of directors are serving meals for the staff at our 20 group homes . You can see it here . Thank you to Garrett Harker from Branch Line and Eastern Standard, Joanne Chang from Myers and Chang, and Andy Husbands from Smoke Shop BBQ.

Volunteers Stepping up To Fill a Critical Need The Shelter in Place is a challenge for our MABVI consumers who are having a tough time grocery shopping. A local husband and wife are thanking a MABVI volunteer who is going above and beyond to make sure their cupboards are full. Laura Buso is happy to help out and safely delivered the food feeling so grateful to meet a new neighbor during these days of isolation, MABVI has created a new “tele-friend” to help provide virtual companionship for those isolated at home during the COVID-19 crisis . If you are a consumer interested in this program, call us toll-free at (888) 613-2777. If you are interested in becoming a “tele-friend” volunteer, contact visit our sign-up page here .

Ivy Street Resources for Students and Parents The Ivy Street School website has a COVID-19 Resources page packed with helpful tools and tips for students and families who are staying safe at home. For the students there are tools for coping with stress and boredom with everything from mediation tips to links to free virtual museum tours. For the parents there are useful resources supporting learning from home, maintaining good hygiene and finding leisure activities and more. There are also helpful resources offering support groups and workshops for families who are caring for children with behavioral and mental health needs. You can find them all on Ivy Street’s COVID-19 Resources

#GivingTuesday Inspires Fundraisers for MAB Tuesday, May 5, was #GivingTuesdayNOW, a day set aside to challenge people around the world to support nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to thank everyone for helping us to raise awareness and over $8,000 for MAB's Emergency Response Fund . Giving Tuesday inspired several of our Team With A Vision, Boston Marathon runners to create their own fundraisers. Rebecca Trachel is one of those fundraisers. Rebecca will be running the Boston Marathon to support MABVI this fall and decided to use her training as a way to give back. She decided to run 50 miles on Mother's Day to raise awareness and funds specifically for the MAB COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Rebecca said "I am really excited to go the distance for MAB and Team With A Vision." Thank you, Rebecca, and to everyone who has gone the distance with contributions to our fund or donations of masks, food, their time, and more for the individuals with disabilities and those who are caring for them. Together, we are a stronger community and together we will get t hrough this.

Barbara Salisbury CEO MAB Community Services P.S. I encourage you to visit our Coronavirus (Covid-19) updates pages on our 3 websites for helpful resources and details on what each individual program is doing .

DONATE TO OUR EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND TODAY

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