Take Care
When something unexpected happens in your life, maybe even traumatic or tragic, most people have 7-8 natural supports they can easily call to lean on for support like family, friends, neighbors, sport team parents or people in their faith community. Statistics show that in families who have children with extra needs, those numbers often drop to less than half, leaving them with a very limited number of people in their circle to provide care in times of crisis.
Oftentimes, with 30-40 extra hours per week in care alone for their child with extra needs, they don’t have time to sustain relationships outside of their home. Or maybe they don’t feel comfortable inviting people in their homes - with so much time dedicated to their kids, the laundry or the dishes might pile up rapidly. Babysitters are hard to find. It takes a lot of trust for a parent to leave their child with someone else - that all the energy explaining all the “what if” scenarios makes it seem not worth it. All of which makes creating and sustaining relationships with other people difficult.
As a program that directly provides rest, support, connection and fun to families with extra needs, we take responsibility in giving extra care to our caregivers, kiddos and even volunteers. While we provide opportunities and avenues to support families - the resources in which we are able to give extra care come directly from our CAN DO donors.
Recently, donations to CAN DO have helped to provide:
A stuffy for a child having oral surgery
A Kroger gift card to a family struggling to purchase groceries
A gas card to a family needing to fill their tank
Flowers and a card to a Pause mom who lost her mom
A DoorDash meal to a family in and out of the hospital
Pet toys for a newly assigned therapy dog
Coffee drop off for a mom who spent the night in the ER with her kids
Added respite opportunities for families in crisis
Pause feels so strongly about caring for families that we have created a Pause Care Coordinator position on our team that is currently led by Pause mom, Susan Runnion. Susan shared with us, “It is important to me to encourage families who may be facing the same challenges as me. Caring for families sends the message, ‘We see you, we support you, and please don’t give up.’ Letting families know they are not alone and giving parental support is important and needed to remind families they are resilient. Giving is healing, rewarding, and promotes personal happiness! Letting someone know you care will never go out of style. Meeting the needs of families will turn situations around for the better and create waves of support to promote inspiration, hope, and positive changes in the lives of families like mine.”
Caring for our Pause families is not only our responsibility, but our passion for our community. You, as members of CAN DO, make special needs families feel so loved and supported when they are in the loneliest times of their lives. You directly connect needs with families each week and we are so grateful for your support. To see how you can connect a need this week, keep scrolling!
This is CAN DO. This is COMMUNITY. This is YOUR SUPPORT.
