Edition 21 - July 17, 2008

IN THIS ISSUE...

1) VISIONING DAY: MAKING A SPLASH

2) ENGINES OF SUCCESS ROARS DOWN THE TRACK
3) ACES HAS A BALL AND MORE IN MONTREAL
4) REGISTER NOW FOR SEPTEMBER 30 GOLF TOURNEY
5) GREAT GOALS WITH SENS FOUNDATION
6) SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

VISIONING DAY: MAKING A SPLASH
Visioning Day is an important annual tradition at LiveWorkPlay. This year Journeys and SMILE participants and their parents were challenged to come up with priorities for the future and consider difficult choices about how best to allocate the organization's resources. This was about more than theory. With individualized funding the clear trend for the future, families will need to think carefully about their priorities. It will also be important for families to work together and develop new types of partnerships with LiveWorkPlay and other organizations to get the most out of the scarce dollars available.

The topic was serious, but the mood was very upbeat. The parents were especially active, creating a big buzz during an exercise where they allocated a sample family budget to their service priorities. The full report of Visioning Day outcomes is now available in the Members Only section of the LiveWorkPlay website.

New for this year the annual Summer Blast-Off Barbecue Pool Party started up right after Visioning Day, which concluded in the early afternoon.

The weather was gorgeous and the new all-in-a-day format was great! Everyone gathered on the lawn at the Harris household and carried on their conversations from earlier in the day before moving on to have fun in the pool.

There was the usual impressive assortment of pot luck appetizers and desserts, and Mike McBride and Jack Murphy had burgers going on the grill all afternoon.

ENGINES OF SUCCESS ROARS DOWN THE TRACK
The annual Engines of Success Recognition Banquet moved to a new location at the Hampton Inn, providing comfortable surroundings for all 200 guests. Chris Day from CTV Ottawa was the MC of the event.

Dianne Garrels-Munro, President of Community Living Ontario, was the special guest speaker. She also took it upon herself to help raise more than $1500 through the sale of door prize raffle tickets! Professor Barry Wellar, CEO of Wellar Consulting, took to the podium to announce the launch of The On My Own Recognition Award (TOMORA). The TOMORAs offer a $100 bursary to any LiveWorkPlay participant who moves to a home of their own. This year's TOMORAs were backdated to include those who moved out last year, and will now continue as an annual award program.

As always Engines of Success featured people with intellectual disabilities front and centre. This year their contributions came mainly via recorded videos, which they worked on in the weeks and months leading up to the banquet. They did a fantastic job thanking volunteers, community partners, parents, staff members, and others. They in turn (all 57 of them!) were each recognized for their achievements of the year.

Many videos were also utilized to highlight some of the lighter moments of the LiveWorkPlay year, as well as some truly outstanding achievements by individual participants who made challenging life transitions. A special presentation of the "Maybe One Day" LiveWorkPlay public service message (now airing on A-Channel) was given a special showing on the big screen to thunderous applause. And there were more than a few moist eyes in audience for the grand finale slide show!

ACES HAS A BALL AND MORE IN MONTREAL
This is the first year of the new ACES summer program format, which features a combination of trip planning, vocational education at MBNA/Bank of America, and overnight travel! Never before has LiveWorkPlay supported an overnight trip for teens, so there was a lot to think about, but the first group of 10 participants who travelled to Montreal from July 9-11 did themselves and the organization proud!

Working within a budget, the group got to make their own choices about mode of travel and activities. They decided to travel by bus, and their two major expenditures were to spend a day at La Ronde amusement park and to take in a play featured as part of the Just For Laughs festival. Slava's Snowshow included a wild finale that started with a storm of snow (bits of tissue paper) blown into the audience with industrial fans followed by some giant balls and bubbles that bounced all over the theatre. If it sounds a bit wild and strange...it was!

The trip wrapped up with a visit to the Biodome where some special guest lemurs from Madagascar stole the show. The group was very tired but they managed their emotions well as they walked with their backpacks through the streets of Montreal, in and out of the subway, and finally onto the bus for the ride home.

The next group of ACES participants is preparing for their own Montreal trip on July 21, and they've already decided on some different activities. You'll have to wait for the next edition of our blog to find out what they were.

REGISTER NOW FOR SEPTEMEBER 30 GOLF TOURNEY
The Second Annual LiveWorkPlay Golf Tournament at GreyHawk is set for September 30. This year's tournament will be played on the Talon course, which offers some tough risk-reward shotmaking opportunities: ignore the water and bunkers or lay up? Sign up today and make your choice when the time comes!

The volunteer organizers including Paul Sheldon and Pat McFadden are working hard to recruit golfers and sell out this event for the second straight year. Where they really need your help is with recruiting hole sponsors and door prizes. The tournament offers a great opportunity for exposure to a variety of community and business leaders. Contact Keenan at 613-235-9550 x 223 if you have contacts interested in learning more about supporting the event.

GREAT GOALS WITH SENS FOUNDATION

The Ottawa Senators Foundation helps charitable organizations whose programs focus on improving the quality of life for children and youth in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. That's a great fit for LiveWorkPlay and the Journeys program!

The Sens Foundation is contributing $5000 to Journeys for 2007-2008. This will help ensure that Journeys remains affordable and accessible to young people with intellectual disabilities regardless of their financial circumstances.

Journeys is a weekly Friday night community participation program for people with intellectual disabilities in high school. It's a great place to make friends but also opens the door to other opportunities for individuals and their families, including participation in LiveWorkPlay conferences, Family Fun Nights, and special events.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

After reading this blog you may find yourself wondering how it is possible that so much can be happening with a small organization like LiveWorkPlay. It takes a combination of dedicated volunteers, staff, board members, families, and community partners to make it happen. And it also takes money, of which there is simply never enough.

LiveWorkPlay has a very short list of personal donors, but you can help change that! Making a donation has never been easier - it can be done as a single contribution, or better still via a monthly deduction. Just $8.33 per month results in a donation of $100 a year! You can also donate to LiveWorkPlay in the name of another person as a tribute or as a gift. Please visit our donation page to set up your contribution today!

NEW! LiveWorkPlay is now registered as a Cause on Facebook. Click here to show your support for LiveWorkPlay or to make a contribution.

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