When you say, “Yes” to giving three hours of your time, you aren’t just saying yes to service. You’re giving hope. You’re spreading joy. You’re shifting the trajectory of someone’s life. Like real life human lives!

When people think of the impact Pause makes they might immediately think of the families we serve. When we launched 7 years ago, that was the mission. It was the only one we had until we started building relationships with our volunteers and had the opportunity to ask them how the experience of volunteering with our kids changed their life.

Traditions help us feel rooted, connected and safe. Maybe your traditions look like a fun meal every 4th of July, a favorite book around the holidays or an annual get-together every year with friends. Families with extra needs often struggle to find events and opportunities that are accessible to the whole family which can make creating traditions tricky.

Virtual family fun. Two years ago it didn’t exist and now registration hits over 100 people in less than an hour with every virtual family event we offer!

In 2020, Pause needed to recalibrate to an entire virtual platform within a few weeks time. A virtual platform was absolutely necessary to keep supporting families over the past couple of years. It was our only option then, but <insert ALL the fist bumps!> over the past 6-9 months we’ve been able to get back to our roots of being in-person. So, what does that mean for virtual opportunities? Do we still need them? The answer: a resounding YES!

Did you know that 7 years ago Pause started with one part-time staff and one intern? Over the years, Pause has shifted, grown, and expanded to meet the needs of families. One constant has been the continuous support from our student intern team!

When you think of volunteering with Pause you might think of attending Parent’s Day or Night Out on the weekend to spend 3 hours with pretty great kids, running an activity or station at one of our annual family fun events like the Holiday Shoppe or the Easter Eggstravaganza or even virtually hanging out with a buddy and making a friend!

*Cue cheesy infomercial line* But wait! There’s more!

We often get asked, “How do you offer your services free of charge and serve so many families?” and we say, “Grants, donations and volunteers!” Grants are the largest piece of the pie and where Pause got funding to start its program 7 years ago. As promised, once a quarter we will feature a grant funder that helps Pause operate!

One Pause presentation led to one conversation with a school teacher which led to 42 people being impacted by, not just the Pause program, but Pause culture. We see these connections happen often and this week was just another example of the power of community.

Pause Community Engagement Coordinator, Sara Porter, attended a presentation at Butler Tech where she met Jenna McIntosh, an intervention specialist teacher at Madison City Schools. Jenna found Pause intriguing because she hears all the time about the need for rest, connection and understanding from the parents of the students she supports.

We’ve got a B-U-S-Y spring full of programming coming! That means a lot of programming to support special needs families and a lot of exciting opportunities for the community to get involved!

We get it. There are a lot of opportunities and many are posted on social media or printed on a flyer, but the words don’t really explain what the actual experience will be like. The best way to truly see what we do is to stop by our space for a tour! You get to check out where you would volunteer, ask any questions you have and you can even “test” out the zipline to make sure it’s ready for the next group of kids! Tours are available by appointment when it works for you just by emailing questions@pauseforparents.org.

At Pause, we LOVE to brag about our Pause volunteers, because…well they’re rockstars! The dedication, commitment and love they have is truly the heartbeat of our program. Without them, our small staff would not be able to support the 346 kids currently enrolled in Pause.

After looking at trends from the past 6 months, we can confidently share that Pause is in another season of hyper-growth! Just this month alone, 31 families are completing their enrollment to become part of Pause. #Wowza!

Thirty-one families means even more children attending events like Parent’s Night Out, Thrive Night, Family Fun and Unlimited! As we looked at our growth, our team and attendance for events, it just made sense to restructure our event operations to include separate coordinators for both our weekly respite events (Unlimited) and our other monthly events. This means dedicated teams to bring families the high-quality and safe programming they love in more specialized ways.

We wish our Pause families, volunteers and community partners a safe and healthy holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

If you know Pause, you may have heard about Center Pointe somewhere along the way. At Pause’s inception, we linked arms with Center Pointe to provide monthly Parent’s Night Out events to give parents of kiddos with differing needs a break. We used several different host sites, but quickly found that Center Pointe was the most popular with families and volunteers and it was the site best suited to serve the most kids!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! December means we get to host our favorite annual event. This was year 7 for the Pause Holiday Shoppe and over 400 people came together to share in the excitement of the holiday season. We played, we ate and we shopped ‘till we dropped!

Hey Pause fam! Did you know today is Giving Tuesday? You might be thinking “Wait.. Is that even a thing?!” Sure is! Giving Tuesday was started by a New York City nonprofit in 2012 to encourage people to give back to their local communities. In fact, Giving Tuesday has gained so much traction that last year people donated nearly $2.5 billion in the United States. Wow! That’s a lot of impact!

It’s time to introduce you to our very own rockstar Pause Volunteer - Sarah Preda! Sarah has been volunteering with Pause for the past 6 years and has been an Impact Partner with Pause for the last 4, which means we get to see her smiling face once a month! #ThatsALotOfEvents

What happens at Thrive Night stays at Thrive Night. #IfYouKnowYouKnow

It’s a tagline that was created after one of our first Thrive events. It encapsulates the fun and child-like silliness that happens when caregivers are given the space to trade in daily responsibilities and stress for a night created just for them. Our Pause parents resonate with it so much they have started making t-shirts to wear to events!

Do you know Sarah Buffie? If you live in Ohio and have engaged with Pause or engaged in trainings about resilience in some capacity, you most likely have met Sarah and her big heart and personality! #BecauseShesARockstar

We can’t believe it’s November already, but we’re so excited for all the fun that comes with the change of the season including: cuddling up by the fire with hot cocoa, watching our kiddos playing in the snow and continuing on holiday traditions with our families. In Pause world, this time of year means we are in full swing preparing for our annual Holiday Shoppe event! The Pause Holiday Shoppe is an annual event families talk about all year round. #ItsKindOfABigDeal

If you’ve been with us for a while now, you have seen the face of one of our amazing Impact Partners roaming the halls, welcoming our youngest Pause kiddos and sharing good news with parents at our Parent’s Night Out and Parent’s Day Out events.