Update from Executive Director, Patty Sly

Dear Families and Friends,

I hope you and your loved ones are well.

I am grateful for our healthcare workers, our first responders, and all of the essential personnel who are working on our behalf under previously unthinkable conditions.  And I am grateful for our staff and all of you for your unwavering role in making P.G. Chambers School such a resilient, vital, and impactful organization. While we continue to work and stay true to our mission, the way we work has changed dramatically.  So here’s a brief update.

In the School Program, our teachers and paraprofessionals continue to do an exceptional job providing inspired, remote e-classes.  And thankfully, the State has now approved the provision of therapy through telehealth e-platforms.  So, staff members in all programs – school, community services, and early intervention – are getting distance therapy underway.  Our technology skills have increased exponentially!

Kids Count Child Care remains closed at the direction of the Governor.  Although you can’t really do child care remotely, our staff is trying.  They are sharing activities and homemade videos to help provide normalcy and fun for our Kids Count children and families.

The development team is creatively working toward our virtual Menus for the Mind event scheduled for Thursday, May 7th.  Please save the date.

Spring recess is upon us. We all are balancing so many altered responsibilities and intense emotions.  I am grateful that many of us will have a break to regroup and recharge.

I recently read The Summer Cottage by Viola Shipman. In it, she reminisces about the rules of her family’s lake house:    Leave your troubles at the door, soak up the sun, nap often, wake up smiling, build a bonfire, go rock hunting, have dinner as a family, eat ice cream, be grateful for each day,…be present for sunset, and shake the sand from your feet, but never shake the memories. We are family.  These are wonderfully warm reminders to connect with one another and enjoy life’s simple pleasures.  I hope you can find the time to do that in the days and weeks ahead.

Take good care of yourselves and your families,

Patty