31 for 21: Giving Back

*I've joined a blogging challenge for the month of October: Blog every day in October in honor of National Down Syndrome Awareness Month (Down syndrome is medically defined as Trisomy 21, and there are 31 days in October, hence the name 31 for 21). My posts will not necessarily be about Down syndrome, but I am writing as a person who 1) loves many people w/Down syndrome and other disabilities and 2) desires for others to be able to see what I see: remarkably unique people with much to offer to the world*

Today was a fun day in my room at work.  One thing I love about my company is our strong commitment to be a part of our local community.  We've been around since the 60s, maintain strong ties with lots of other community organizations and with local politicians, and are pretty well known and respected in our little corner of the world.  This week, my room gets to be part of our company being the giver instead of the receiver - we are making dog toys to give to a local animal shelter.  There are some ASU interns helping with various projects right now, and one of them spent several hours in our room today, helping my clients with this endeavor.  I was looking forward to it but not sure how many of my people would like to participate, as they can get pretty stuck in their typical daily routines.  I was so very pleasantly surprised!  We had this whole crowd of people over at the activity table, and they were fast!   They kept going and going, and they were so proud of their work.  One guy just kept beaming and saying, "I've never made dog toys before!"  Another lady, who'd been hard to convince that she would even make 1, kept it up til she had at least 5 in front of her.  Typical routines were pushed to the side, and dog toys were the name of the game. 

I love this!  I am so thankful that we have a community who loves our clients, who loves to throw parties for them and make donations and come do make-overs at our group homes.  But we are capable of so much!  Our company slogan is, "empowering people with diabilities since 1967."  And today, I am pretty positive my people felt empowered.  Feeling loved and cared for is HUGE, and I'm forever grateful for the many people that have poured into our programs with much compassion.  But there's something pretty incredible about watching my clients work so hard to give something back.  I hope this is the beginning of a fantastic trend.