Thank you, NYSARC Trust Services, for your continued support of recreation activities like this one. Your generous grant made the purchase of laptops and tablets possible. Our sincere thanks for your commitment to enriching the lives of people with developmental disabilities.

Coming together has never been more important! Tina Rodriguez, Site Manager at AHRC’s Bethpage Hubsite, shares how a special Zoom session brought everyone together.

Soosan Happel, one of the day habilitation behaviorists, reached out seeing if we would like to get everyone from the Bethpage Hubsite together via Zoom. I thought this could be a great way for everyone to connect and loved the idea.

I called over to every parent and staff member giving them the information about our upcoming Zoom meeting. Also, Soosan called over to the group homes. Our hubsite has always had such a great team from the people we support to the hardworking staff to the supporting parents to the group homes. We figured why not. Let’s give it a try!

Well, success is an understatement!!! We had over twenty-five people participate and although at times it was hard for everyone to communicate it didn’t matter because we all got to hear and see one another. That seemed to be just enough. We had smiles, laughs and even some tears but in the end we all had each other. It brought joy to everyone to know we are all in this together.

We decided to give it another try next week and going forward until we are back at the hubsite. I received so many calls, texts and emails from the parents stating how much it meant to have everyone connect:

“I think she and all enjoyed seeing each other. GREAT idea!!!”
“It was really so nice, the girls were so happy to see everyone.”
“It made his day; he smiled and talked about how he just got off the computer with his friends.”
“I was so happy to see my friends and staff; I can’t wait until next week.”
“You had to see the smile she had on her face and it was the highlight of her day.”