Remember all that growth we talked about a couple of weeks ago? Guess what! We’re still growing! Since January 1st we’ve officially increased family enrollment by 51%, adding 323 caregivers and kiddos! This year our families have been growing faster than we can keep up and now it’s time to grow our staff! That’s right! Pause is hiring!

Looking to join a dynamic team of people who value thriving families, authentic relationships, meaningful experiences and strategic innovation? Then Pause is for you!

We asked our staff to share more about Pause from their perspective!

Preparing our kids for new places and experiences involves a lot of planning, attention to detail and a wide range of questions. Some of the most common questions that families with extra needs have when visiting a new place are:

“What is the typical crowd level? Is there typically a wait time?”

“Are there a lot of places to hide, escape or get lost? How many exits? Is the outdoor area gated?”

“Is there a lot of walking? Is it wheelchair or stroller accessible?”

“What’s the typical noise level? Are they able to accommodate differing sensory needs?”

“Are we allowed to bring our own food? If not, what oils/ingredients are in the food provided?”

“What’s the cost? Are we allowed to leave and come back free of charge if we need a sensory break?”

Has anyone else had a moment out in public recently, where you’re thinking to yourself, “Wow there’s more people here than I remember?” As our team traveled to Atlanta in late April we heard about the increase in population there and we definitely have seen it in our program as well! Pause is in a season of extreme hypergrowth and we are welcoming record numbers of new families to the Pause family!

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes in a nonprofit? There are many moving parts to be sure we serve our families and community in the best way possible!

Nonprofits like Pause have a Board of Directors to help guide, protect and lead the program forward. Last year, when Pause launched out to nonprofit status we assembled an Executive Board to help drive the mission and vision of Pause and we are excited to start introducing you to our members!

Do you have plans this summer? Want to try something new? We’ve got you covered! Come volunteer with Unlimited three times this summer and get a free t-shirt as our way of saying thank you!

Over the past seven years, Pause has welcomed in hundreds of volunteers representing different clubs, organizations, businesses and schools - Miami University, University of Cincinnati, Mason High School, NSSLHA, Girl Scout Troops, and First Financial Bank to name a few! People volunteer with us for a variety of reasons. Some might be looking for service hours, others might be looking for more experience with kiddos to further their profession or even just a fun way to make an impact on their community. No matter the reason why volunteers choose to give back to Pause, we’ve found the most impactful volunteer experiences happen when volunteers bring their friends or even their families to volunteer with us!

Let’s talk about family traditions. You might have some long lasting traditions around the holidays or at different times of the year. Some families might go for a yearly vacation to their favorite beach. Other families might go caroling together every holiday season.

Pause families come to annual events like the Holiday Shoppe during the holidays, the Easter Eggstravaganza in the spring, and Fun at the Farm to mark the end of school! These events have become staples in the lives of our families giving them a consistent chance for family fun and giving the kiddos an experience to look forward to every year!

If you’re a caregiver, parent, teacher, coach or play a role in the life of a young person in some capacity, you know that friendship among kiddos is important. Starting from a young age, friendships help increase our sense of belonging and purpose, boost our happiness, reduce our stress and even improve our self-worth!

Those words almost sound cliché and vague. What does it mean to practice self-care? And how does that actually show up in my day to day life?

Those are some of the same questions we’ve continuously received from our Pause moms throughout the years. We decided to dig a little deeper to understand the why behind the difficulties of self-care. We learned the biggest factor was time - something most of us can relate to. For others it was feeling unworthy of self-care or not having the space to make self-care a priority.

Our Family Journey Map assessment is given to families when they enroll to capture all the real life, tangible and supportive ways we can walk alongside a family. We ask if they need support in some of the following ways:

Finding respite options that meet their needs.

Finding resources/tools to ensure their child is safe from bullying or isolation in school.

Helping their child with special needs find opportunities to have fun with others.

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.