Hello! We hope you and yours are keeping well.
With first vaccinations a reality for many of us, we look forward to a slow return to normalcy, hopefully, over the summer! We certainly know we are more than ready to ‘step back out’ of our homes as soon as we can safely do so!!
Though our core members have received their first vaccinations, they continue to stay at home for the most part. We have been experimenting with activities for small groups, from the same household, at the Gathering Place for a few hours to help provide a change of space. Other members are taking part in Sol Express and other online offerings. Participants in both Sol Express and Trying It on For Size (TIFS) continue to meet virtually from their homes.
Over the winter, the addition of a day program assistant at each home to facilitate activities has been so appreciated by assistants living and working in the homes. This has also been a wonderful boost for core members! Who knew Aidanna would become a seamstress and our homes would be nurturing their own seeds for their gardens?
These times have been challenging for everyone and we have undergone significant transitions in our homes. We need your support as we welcome and train new assistants. Your help will provide relief and support for our dedicated assistant team as they continue to support the core members and participants in our programs.
The offer of respite accommodation outside the homes for live-in assistants on days off has been a huge blessing. Deliveries of meals and the ability to order in take-out meals has provided variety and allowed much needed gaps in meal preparation, a big on-going daily task for homes where core members and assistants live together.
As we wait to begin to step back out of our homes, as rules allow, your support will help to provide meals, support meaningful activities and maintain our day program staffing, which will continue to be important for some time to come as programs remain closed or are being phased back in slowly.
Some ways you can help are:
- $50 will provide an ice cream treat on a day at the beach
- $100 will provide a burger lunch for a group at a local park
- $250 will provide a backyard pizza dinner for all four homes
- $400 will provide a few days away for a live-in assistant at a local suite hotel
- $500 will provide day programming for a home for a week
- $2,000 will support our day program staffing in all four homes for a week
Please join us!