Maybe you joined in the barbeque of the summer at Grapes & Ale, tantalized your taste buds at Cleveland’s Finest Hors D ’Oeuvres, or ran for the Wayside during the Labor of Love Run. Perhaps you stood with us as we honored some of the Northeast Ohio’s finest at the Starlight Guardian Humanitarian Awards, “Donated Your Ride to Our Lady of the Wayside”, or gave just recently to our Annual Appeal. This year, your involvement made all the difference in creating life-changing opportunities for the children and adults with developmental disabilities the Wayside supports. On behalf of the 750 individuals we are privileged to serve, our staff and Board, thank you for your generosity and kindness. Happiest of holidays from Our Lady of the Wayside!
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It's most wonderful time of the year, a time to think of others and give back to those in need. You have the opportunity to help individuals with developmental disabilities acheive their dreams this season in a couple of ways.
~Contribute to our 2016 Annual Appeal and fill everyday with meaning, help provide someone a home and make life accessible. ~Shop on Amazon Smile, designate Our Lady of the Wayside as your charity of choice and Amazon will donate back a portion your eligible purchases. ~Donate your ride to the Wayside for a tax deduction! Our unique car donation program cuts out the middle man, we sell the vehicles on our lot with the proceeds going directly towards our programs and services. ~Join us for Cleveland's Finest Hors d'Oeuvre Contest on February 16th at the Terrace Club. This is the culinary event of the year and tickets are on sale now-they make great gifts! ~Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and share our story. Thank you for helping us provide life enhancing opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities this Holiday Season! It's been a whirlwind of activity at Our Lady of the Wayside this fall. The entire agency got together for the Harvest Dance at Tom's Country Place for dancing, food and fun. The Q Spirit Squad stopped by to show us their acrobatic moves, take pictures and signing autographs. Then the Wayside monthly dance got everyone out on the dance floor again.
The Pathways Program got into the fall spirit with pumpkin patch visits, making pumpkin cookies, Halloween decorations and trick or treating to the Administrative Offices. Our partner, The Cleveland Indians, treated several of our homes to a lovely Thanksgiving meal the Sunday before the holiday. Not only was the food and view of the ballpark fantastic but Josh Tomlin made a special appearance along with Slider and the all of the hot dogs! We had a blast and can't wait for Spring Baseball! Over Thanksgiving many of our homes celebrated with each or with family and good food and good times was had by all. We are so thankful for everyone who has supported the agency this year and are looking forward to the Holidays! As Thanksgiving approaches we want to express our gratitude to those who help us create opportunities each and every day for individuals with developmental disabilities.
First we would like to thank our amazing employees! Each member of The Wayside team plays a vital role in helping each individual we are privileged to serve achieve their dreams. Whether its helping with daily tasks, driving to school or work, planning activities, maintaining our homes, hiring new team members, helping individuals access services or providing nursing care our team works together to create opportunities for the individuals we serve. We would also like to thank our wonderful supporters and sponsors (too many to even list!) for all that they do for the agency. They sponsor our events, share our story with the community and support our programs. We are blessed to live in such an exceptional community that supports and encourages children and adults with disabilities to live life to the fullest! And last but not least, we would like to thank YOU! By supporting us with a financial donation, attending our events, donating you ride and partnering with us you have provided life changing opportunities. Thank you! We wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving! We are grateful for the many wonderful organizations and businesses that partner with us to help create opportunities for the individuals we are privileged to serve. It's been an incredible year for three of those partners: the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavs and The Monsters who are all having a banner year, to say the least! Not only have they been amazing to watch but they have made our city proud! The Cavs delivered the city of Cleveland a hard fought Championship and we are excited for another winning 2016-2017 season! Our consumers enjoyed being able to attend games last season and our Pathways Program even got a behind the scenes tour of The Q! The Monsters blew the competition out of the water last season and won the Calder Cup with their amazing hockey skills. Our consumers had a blast watching them on the ice this past season and getting visits from the Monsters Hockey Girls! The Indians have been a longtime supporter and have provided a myriad opportunities for our consumers over the years with tickets to games and special events like Dream Day. For the individuals in our homes and programs being able to attend a ballgame or meet a player is a dream come true and one they will never forget. The smiles on their faces tell the story and we are truly grateful for our partnership with the Indians. We couldn't be more excited to #RallyTogether and cheer them on in the 2016 World Series! Go Tribe! Sometimes it’s just staggering. Every day we get to come to work and help a lot of truly incredible people. Every day we work to help better … help faster … help more than the day before. And every day we reach out to individuals and companies throughout Northeast Ohio by telling them Wayside’s story and they respond with nothing short of greatness. Yes, their contributions of resources - financial and otherwise - are vitally important to advancing the agency’s mission. But here’s where the greatness comes in: so much of the time, when they hear what we’re working to accomplish, there’s this moment – this look in their eye – that lets us know they’re ready to be part of the opportunities Wayside is creating for children and adults with developmental disabilities. When that happens, it’s a feeling like no other because anything is possible. So here we are, telling our story – which means greatness is just around the corner. Thank you for all you do for Our Lady of the Wayside! Terry Davis President & CEO You may be familiar with our Residential Program which offers comprehensive, tailored support and services to children and adults with developmental disabilities in 75 neighborhood homes throughout Northeast Ohio, but did you know we also offer the same services in our Respite Program? This important program provides individuals with disabilities from the community a safe place during times of crisis or temporary situations. Consumers in the Respite Program receive the same level of high quality care and services that are provided to every Wayside home. We operate two Respite homes, one in Cuyahoga County and one in Lorain County. Reasons for accessing the program are varied: individuals may access the program when family members need to travel for work or other situations, are ill or when support services are required on a temporary basis. Individuals who are part of the Respite Program have full access to all of Wayside's array of services and programs such as: Transportation, Health and Nursing and social activities and outings. Individuals come to the Respite Program through referrals from the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities and we work with the Board to find permanent housing solutions for the consumers in the program. For more information on Wayside's Respite Program please call 440-934-6007. We all have things we need to do and things we love to do: work, movies, doctor appointments, concerts, shopping, visits with family and friends- and transportation gets us there. To individuals with disabilities, transportation is not an amenity or choice, it is a necessity. One that Wayside is proud to provide to more individuals through our partnership with the Geauga County Board of Developmental Disabilities/The Metzenbaum Center. Our Transportation program provides vital accessible transportation services in Geauga and five other counties in Northeast Ohio. This partnership allows individuals in Geauga County to connect with The Wayside's Transportation program, giving them more choice and access to get where they need to go each and every day. The Wayside's Transportation Program provides dedicated, handicapped accessible vehicles at each of of our 75 homes and Pathways Programs. In 2015 the program logged over 1.5 million miles. By partnering with the GCBDD, opportunities are created for community inclusion and social interaction allowing each person the ability to get where they need to go safely and pursue their goals. Learn more about our forward-thinking transportation program at http://www.thewayside.org/transportation-program/. The newest site of our Pathways Day Program is now open! As our first location in Lake County we are excited to expand this program to serve more individuals with developmental disabilities. The new location in Mentor will provide community integration for participants through a variety of activities and programs.
The Pathways Program was established in 2011 in Westlake, Ohio, Pathways was designed for consumers who flourish in environment that provides more dedicated supervision and assistance than traditional day program or workshop settings. Participants enjoy activities and on-site learning like; cooking classes, crafts, music, personal care and gardening. In addition to on-site option, frequent outings into the community for learning, social interaction and fun are available each day. Recent Pathways outings include: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Chagrin Valley Riders, blueberry picking, Huntington beach, the library, Cain Park Art Fest, Canal Nature Center, and the Women's Space Museum. Once-a-Month evening activities have also started at our Pathways Locations, participants have the option of a crafts, bingo or movie night. Learn more about the innovative Pathways Program at www.thewayside.org. Summer has just flown by here at The Wayside! Our consumers and Pathways participants have been taking full advantage of the warm weather and have been going full speed all season. Trips to the zoo, The Wilds, Cosmic Bowling, Wizard World, cruising on the Goodtime III, the Metroparks, Crusher's and Indian's games, Adaptive Jazzersize, picnics and local festivals are just a few of the places Pathways and our homes have visited over the past few months.
The Wayside is happy to be able to provide not only residential, transportation and day programming services, but also opportunities to learn, socialize and thrive in the community through unique experiences and activities. Now that Summer is winding down everyone is gearing up for a busy fall with Wayside dances, pumpkin picking, bingo, movie nights, apple picking and Halloween festivities. Our newest Pathways location in Mentor, will also be opening this September. The new location will provide learning, activities and community integration for 50 more individuals. The Mentor location will be the fourth Pathways site and the first in Lake County. Our Starlight Luncheon, happening on August 30th, will raise funds for this new location and scholarships for four individuals to attend this innovative program. We are so grateful to our friends and community partners for helping us create these opportunities. To learn more about we create opportunities visit www.thewayside.org. |
AuthorPosts from The Wayside family highlighting our programs and services, events, and other happenings at Our Lady of the Wayside. Archives
April 2017
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