The Worst Thing

If You Agree - TYPE SEANER

Happy Father's Day

Decrease in Natural Supports Are A Concern

When I was looking for some facts to share with you I came across this information that was quite shocking at the website State of the States:  From this graph you can see that we have increased the number of God’s Special individuals 322% however, the amount of family support has decreased 51%. 

Without family support individuals struggle getting involved in the community.  This is where our Foundation wants to help!!!

Older Adults with Developmental Disabilities (https://www.caregiver.org/caregiver-statistics-demographics)

·       There are an estimated 641,000 adults aged 60+ with cognitive and other disabilities (e.g., cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury).

• This number is projected to double to 1,242,794 by 2030, coinciding with the aging population of baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964. [Heller, T. (2011). Strength for Caring: Older Adults with Developmental Disabilities and Their Aging Family Caregivers.]

·       Families are still the primary caregivers for adults with developmental disabilities and are themselves aging. About 76% of individuals with developmental disabilities reside at home.

• In 25% of these homes, the family caregiver is over 60 years of age.
• The average age of the care recipient with a developmental disability is age 38. [Heller, T. (2011). Strength for Caring: Older Adults with Developmental Disabilities and Their Aging Family Caregivers.]

Our First Gala

So we knew that we had to raise money before we could start our mission; Again Brother Jacob came to the rescue and we started trying to organize our first large fundraiser that we called a Gala.

We scheduled it for Sean’s birthday and were blessed that Willow Creek Baptist Church donated their church for us to hold the event.  I need to say that Kara Strabala was our blessing from God.  She took on the getting items for the silent auction and hit it out of the ballpark.  We had over 50 baskets for the gala!!

I did not handle this well, I was missing Sean more than anyone can imagine and we were holding the Gala where we held our meal on the day of Sean’s funeral.  I had 3 times when I ran to the bathroom and bawled my eyes out, but again Kara was there to hold my hand, get me tissues and help me stand up when all I wanted to do was crawl into a ball and cry.  And everyone else picked up my slack to create a successful event.  

In Fact, the Gala was a huge success, beyond our expectations and gave us the ability to send 4 people to IRBC Church camp; start working on the S.M.I.L.E. program and start toward getting our Foundation name and logo trademarked!

Thank you to all of the volunteers for being there and picking up my slack - I can never thank you enough!