GARDEN CENTER FAMILY

MARCH IS DEVELOPMENTAL

DISABILITY AWARENESS MONTH!

In 1987, President Reagan proclaimed March as Developmental Disability Awareness month. Since then, each year during the month of March, Garden Center and other organizations that support people with intellectual disabilities across the country, work to raise awareness about the ways people with and without disabilities work together to create strong communities.

This March, help us spread the word by sharing our Awareness Month social media posts and the posts we share from our partners with your social media network using the hashtag #DDawareness2023.

FOLLOW US TO OUR NEW FACEBOOK PAGES!

A few months ago we shared with you that our Facebook pages had been compromised. Although we are still able to post to those pages, we lost the full administrative access we need to effectively manage both the Garden Center and Second Chance Thrift Shoppe Facebook accounts. As we have been unable to resolve this issue with Facebook, we have created new pages for Second Chance and Garden Center. Starting mid to late March we will no longer post to our original Facebook pages.

Please join us in the move to our new Facebook homes by liking and following both of the new pages.

Hope to see you around our new spaces soon!

Garden

Second Chance Thrift Shoppe page link: www.facebook.com/gcsSecondChanceThrift

Tending Our Garden

If you have supported Garden Center by participating in the AmazonSmile program, you likely received an email recently explaining that Amazon is retiring the Smile donation program. Although we are sad to see AmazonSmile go, there is still a way you can support Garden Center Services when you shop.

For every new user who joins now through Mar. 31st and makes a purchase, GCS will get an extra $5 donation!

iGive works with over 2300 of the most popular stores you shop online. Just go to igive.com and register. Each time you shop online at stores like Walmart, Kohls, Crate & Barrel, PetCo., Best Buy, etc., those stores will donate a percentage of your purchase to GCS at no cost to you! Shopping iGive even SAVES YOU MONEY! Watch iGive for coupons from all your favorite stores.

Visit www.iGive.com/GardenCenter to get started.

Garden Center’s commitment to advancing lives of connection, contribution, and meaning for those we serve is more fully realized because of the support of our many dedicated volunteers. In honor of them, and in recognition that April is National Volunteer Month, we’d like to introduce you to two of the people who help Garden Center fulfill our commitment to excellent services for the people we serve every day.

SECOND CHANCE THRIFT SHOPPE VOLUNTEER - DOROTHY BALLIS

Dorothy, whose daughter Stacey, attends Garden Center programs, joined the team at Second Chance as soon as it opened this past June. She loved to visit the store when it was in Lemont, but said this location has made it possible for her to volunteer and she couldn’t be happier. Dorothy’s typical time at the thrift includes going through donations as they come in, and sorting clothes by size and season to get them ready to put out on the floor. Dorothy said she loves everything she does at the Thrift, but especially loves all the great friends she has made. When asked what advice she would give to someone who was thinking about joining the volunteer team, Dorothy said, “Definitely do it! If you’ve got the time and want to have fun, it’s a great way to meet people. It gets me out of the house. There is always work to get done at home, this is a fun diversion.”

COMMUNITY DAY SERVICES VOLUNTEER - SISTER MARIA ZEIMEN

Sister Maria helped establish L’Arche Chicago, part of an international organization that supports individuals with disabilities, in 2000. She has a deep love for this community and has volunteered with Garden Center for more than ten years (and has served on the Garden Center Board of Directors since 2020). Sister Maria prefers to spend time with the people she serves one-on-one, so she can completely focus on each individual and their unique interests. She enjoys weekly sing-a-longs with Robbie, works on reading with Nancy, collects stickers with Veronica, and spends time just chatting with Krista and Jeremiah. Her calm, joyful spirit is a welcome addition and a comfort to all who spend time with her. When asked what she would tell someone thinking about volunteering in the Community Day Services Program, Sister Maria said, “I would tell them after they do it a while, they’ll just look forward to that day; to be with people who are so engaged in their interests that they make you interested in those things too.”

Join Sister Maria and Dorothy to make a difference not only in the lives of the people we support, but in your own too! For more information, contact Michele Hula, Director of Recruitment and Retention by phone at 773-941-4151 Ext. 212 or by email at mhula@GardenCenterServices.org.