Community Care Extends Its Reach to Help Families
Dealing with crisis situations isn’t just a theoretical part of Monti Clayton and Dion Brown’s job description; it’s a reality...
January 15, 2021
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#GivingTuesdayNow is almost over. Only a few hours left to help our families affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Gifts made today will be matched up to $50,000 thanks to the generosity of a dedicated group of employees at William Blair and its matching gifts program.
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Christmas is such a beautiful time of year, filled with dazzling lights, colorful cookies, and carefully crafted ornaments. At Mercy Home, we have a few decorating traditions of our own. From the annual lighting of our spectacular tree, to our manger scene, to various wreaths hanging throughout the Home – these decorations help our kids feel the magic of the holiday season.
In addition to the decorations shared throughout the Home, each individual program decorates their own space as well. It’s an opportunity for our kids to be creative and participate in the decoration process themselves.
“It can be a lot of firsts for a lot of kids,” said Keli Shllaku, a program manger at Mercy Home. “Some of the traditions that we do here – they were never introduced to before and it’s the first time. And they might feel like, ‘oh I like that. I might want to do that again sometime with my family or in the future.”
For Fernando, a resident of Mercy Home, his favorite part about decorating is the chance to spend time with those in his program.
“I like being together and having fun,” Fernando said. “And just how we express our ideas on the tree; just enjoying it. But just the time together – it doesn’t matter if we have to spend all this money to do all this other stuff.”
Many of us feel the pressure of material goods this time of year, including our kids. They worry about affording gifts for their loved ones, or how many gifts they will receive. That is one of the reasons our traditions are so important. They help alleviate this pressure and shift our kids’ focus to the things that truly matter during the holidays.
One of the ways we make the holiday season special for our kids is by spending a lot of community time together. Some of these activities include decorating cookies, playing board games, watching Christmas movies, drinking hot chocolate, and listening to Christmas music.
“I think it just creates a family feel to it,” Shllaku said. “For some of them, I think it’s hard to see us as family because we’re professionals. But I think times like these when we’re doing things together and we’re having fun – I feel like it does feel like a family, because we are.”
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