Shared by Ben's mother, Allison: Our family became involved with Abilities Centre and the Thrive Program about 5 years ago. I must say the program and Centre has been life-changing for our family and more importantly our son, Benjamin (26 year old with Down Syndrome). The program and Centre have become an integral part of Ben's daily routine and he has had more opportunities for a "Normal" life that we could never have provided for him.
During the "Thrive" program, Ben has grown socially and has either made new friends, or strengthened the bonds with peers he has met during sporting events. Benjamin, has been given the opportunity to learn how the Durham transit works, has gone to Loblaws for cooking experiences, the library to learn about 3-D printers, he has learned new sports, self-help skills and relationship skills.
During the summer, Ben is involved with the camp program, Thrive Connection Beyond. The camp has a weekly theme and during the week the games, activities and learning all revolves around the theme.
In addition to the camp and Thrive program, Ben has become part of the "mixed-ability" team, has played rugby and is helping to plan events.
The programs have given Ben a purpose, and then Covid-19 happened. Initially, the programs stopped to ensure the safety of all participants, especially since the participants are often immune-compromised. Ben was devastated, he understood why he wasn't going but that didn't make it any easier for him as he missed his peers, the staff and activities. As a family, we were not sure how to keep Ben active and social, during such a difficult time but then the amazing staff became creative! Initially, the staff conducted, scheduled, daily online meetings with the participants as a group, usually having a drama, library, conversation, and Dance Fit session. Ben was over the moon, just to see the staff and peers during the meeting.
We thought, wow this program is truly helping to make Ben content, but then the staff developed more online programs. The day was then split into three sessions, the first session was along the line of the first meetings, but then the afternoon was developed to have two meetings.
During the first meeting, a staff member, typically Clay and Christian, would have the participants working on a task. Then during the second meeting, the participants were given the opportunity to discuss what he/she learned or did and have a conversation. In addition to running the meetings, Christian and Kelsey would drive around Durham Region, dropping off materials needed for the upcoming weeks tasks to each participant.
Then, when we thought things could not get better, along came camp programming. The at home camp program, Thrive Connection Beyond, once again has themes and runs like the previous weeks, with three online meetings daily. The most exciting part of the camp program, is the PARKING LOT meetings. The parking lots meetings happen twice a week, Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesday, the activity changes according to the camp theme. One week, we made Diversity Dolls, the next week we learned about animals and the farm brought animals for the participants to see and learn about. On Friday, we all do an hour of Dance Fit together.
Recently, I took one of Benjamin's sisters to the parking lot meeting. She was in awe! Rebecca could not believe how energetic and caring the staff were while out teaching and dancing with the participants during 30 degree weather. During these meetings, all the staff come to each car and talk to each person. I have never met such a kind, caring and dedicated group of people. The staff at the Abilities Centre mean the world to our family, and we thank our lucky stars daily that we have become part of the Abilities Centre family. As we left last Friday's session and the staff were all in a line saying goodbye to the participants, I looked over at her and she was holding back tears. She said, she was so happy she had joined us to watch her brother, smile, dance and made to feel important and she is very impressed with the staff.
Our children are often forgotten, and the staff have gone above and beyond to ensure that they are not forgotten. The time and effort put into the programming shows that they all truly know that our children with special needs matter!