April 2020
The Central Region has had a good month in March even though half of it was spent at home!
At our regional work team meeting in March we had a presentation by Jillian Berube about making DREAM BOARDS, and she shared her hopes and dreams using her own board. Deb Pierce has worked on emergency preparedness so she helped us discuss the Covid 19 virus and how to keep healthy, including safe travel and taking public transportation. Deb also sends cards to those in the group who are sick or have had surgery. We wish at least three members to get well soon…we miss you! Justin Bernard also presented about voting. It was a great meeting!
Several people attended The Arc of Mass and MDDC Day at the State House. Honorees were Rep Michlewicz and Sen Patrick O’Connor. Justin reports that :”The event was good with about 400 people. Also got a chance to meet with my local legislators/aides. Jillian and her mom were there too with about 6 from Center of Hope. Great keynote speaker.” And we love the take home flyer with tips for successful advocacy!
We plan to hold TWO regional meetings in April by zoom call: Tuesday, April 14th and Tuesday, April 28 from 1-3 PM. Click on this link to join the meeting: https://zoom.us/j/988205111
We will let you know when we are offering more call ins too, so stay tuned! THE GREAT NEWS is that we will be joined by some members who haven’t had rides to the meetings…now you can call into the meeting!!! We are learning so much about how to be creative and stay connected!
We want to thank all of our staff and supporters for helping us stay connected through this tough time!
Our OVW Mass Rights for Change grant project team has met a lot during the month. We are working on plans to improve access to needed services for survivors of sexual assault. Our Central Awareness and Action team held two trainings in March and we cannot wait to get out and do more! The team even had an interview with Fox 25 about how abuse is a big issue and how important our training is!
So what is ahead for Central? We can’t wait for spring flowers to appear and to be able to get out with our friends once again!!! We look forward to having a meet and greet to welcome new members who join us for our phone meetings…. including self-advocates from the THRIVE self-advocacy group and others we have met. We are working on an online presentation for Quinsigamond Community College students! We also look forward to getting out to host tables at events like ADA 29 in Worcester and to join the REDD Group and transportation meetings as soon as we can. Meanwhile, we are excited to connect with local self-advocacy groups and host zoom calls to keep self-advocates near and far in Central Mass connected!
Spring has finally arrived……Happy Spring everyone!