Our children’s grief group at Hospice had 7 children in it and two had no hospice connection. We had a young man age 9 whose Mom had died. When he came the first night he held his eyes down would interact when asked things directly but didn’t seem overly anxious to share or participate. By the end of the second night things were being shared by him that you could tell was hard for him and by the fourth night he lit up when we asked if he would like to be our helper when we held the group next summer. We have seen him since and he has told his grandparents that he gets to be our helper next year. In 8 hours he blossomed and then had started talking at home about the death.
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A young woman came to us from Newton where she had just lost her job, her husband had moved out and she had just lost custody of her child as a result of testing positive for methamphetamine. When she first arrived at Clearview Recovery, she wasn’t sure it was worth completing treatment because she felt that every ‘system’ was intent on terminating her parental rights and no one was really willing to help her. After two months of treatment, she regained custody of her son, came off of the Access to Treatment program because she qualified for Medicaid, and then went on to complete two additional months of treatment. At time of discharge, this client had attained part-time employment and low income housing. It was the first time in her life that she was truly independent and responsible.
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Colfax Preschool provides preschool education to three and four year old children in the Colfax, Mingo and surrounding areas that enables students to be more prepared to enter Kindergarten as well as work on social and behavioral skills. Through Colfax's scholarship program, preschool is made available to all families.
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Jack has shown significant progress in the past 6 months at Progress Industries. He has become much more active and involved in many different areas, a lot of which are regarding his health. Due to his disability, Jack has been on formal supports regarding his blood sugar tracking, healthy food choices and exercise. Jack’s is showing huge improvement in blood sugar levels. He is now enthusiastic about exercising and keeping his blood sugars low as well as being out in the community in general.
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“The Aces Teen Club, Teen Leadership and Girl Power have helped me in school by teaching me that everyone is different but should be treated the same and teachers and adults, even if they're not your parents, deserve respect no matter what. They have taught me that in life it is important to always be yourself and be kind and respectful to others even when you aren’t friends with that person. You should always be thankful for the things you are given and never take people or life for granted no matter what kind of situation you are in. I am glad that Desiree has taught us all these things because if she hadn’t I probably wouldn't be the way I am now: Respectful to all adults and treat others the way they should be treated." ~ 8th grade student at Newton Middle School
