Grateful for all the volunteers who come to us..........

By Leslie Wan 

We have been lucky this semester to have two volunteers who came to us from the University of Technology Dental Hygiene Program. As part of the University of Technology attendance, they have community service hours (40, I believe) to perform along with their program. Thanks to the University of Technology who have included community service as a requisite in their academic program! Your vision in including community service is meaningful in so many ways. We and others are ever grateful for that vision and focus in your program. You understand that students need all kinds of teaching. Your students come expecting to give, and yet receive so much more in return.

ON THAT NOTE.....we are approaching our one year anniversary of the blog. We value our readers and we want to hear what you have to say about it. How do you like it or what would you change,what would you like to know about us, what would you like to see in future blogs, have we had any impact on how you perceive disabilities,  do you share it? . ALL feedback is greatly appreciated because in our world............ if you care, you listen and you learn. 

In my acknowledgement that we always need to check how we are perceived by others, I sat down with our recent volunteers, and asked a few questions on their time spent with is.  I also always feel that if you come to us, you have a voice to use and a story to tell.

Harvel and Cherryl in their Easter Day "Tooth" Finery

Harvel Wedderburn

When asked by his program coordinator where he would like to do his service, he looked at the list and chose us. He felt that it would be a wonderful opportunity to explore working  with children with challenges.  He knew his work as a hygienist would include all kinds of children.This he felt would serve as a great opportunity for him to understand how to approach those who need extra patience and understanding, and  would platform across all kinds of folks including the elderly and rural. He shared with me that he was blessed with a relative that had had challenges, and sadly passed on. During that relative's life he had not had much opportunity to spend time with him, due to distance and accessibility issues.  He felt this would be a wonderful opportunity to pay tribute to that relative.  

I asked him what coming to the Step Centre had meant for him and what he had learned in his time with us. He said he felt being with us was extremely rewarding and a real eye opener.It made him realize how short attention spans can be with children, and more so with children with challenges. He also realized that much of this work requires so much patience and he was in awe of our staff who do this weekly and sooooo kindly. Harvel felt it gave him a better understanding about how to greet young children and expanded his ability to be creative and put children at ease. He realized that reward is as important to our children as it is to any child and that approaching them with a very calm nature would garner the best results. He worked with different  approaches with children like wearing silly whiskers and other diversions, that made them feel as if he was not out to harm them, but understand their feelings. He and his colleague among some of their activities did a skit / program with a big funny mouth and toothbrushes, hats and much fun. He found his time with STEP immensely rewarding professionally and personally. He felt he had made the right choice not only for career enhancement, but for the time he spent with our children re-exploring his heart.

Cherryl  St.  Cyr 

Cherryl came to us from the same program and has been studying here from the lovely island of St Lucia. She acknowledged that she had previously worked on programs with small children, but had never worked with children with challenges as our school does. When it came time to select her community service project, she never hesitated about her choice.  She came to the school not knowing what to expect and worried she would find sadness and institutional-ism. In reality she found the dynamic opposite.  As time moved on with us she realized miracles were happening inside herself, and that these children and this school, had given her an immense gift. So many hours she had spent in pursuit of her degree, slogging through all the requirements, doing homework and responsibilities of acquiring the degree with knowledge and skills to finish and be good at what she had chosen as a career path.  She had found her studies had made her exhausted and self-centered and lacking in joy. Her resolve in her career choice was not affected, but the joy in her life was totally lacking. Study, accomplish, get ready and on to the next task - day in and day out.

What did Cherryl find at STEP. She found herself again!  She found her heart again she says, and with a renewed purpose of what she can bring to help people. This feeling had gotten covered up with all the school work that left her wondering what it was all for in the end. She still had the goal in sight of her dental work, but with an understanding that there were people behind her goal, and that this time had given her an understanding of how to be truly engaged in her job. Cherryl was surprised to find so much spirit and so much joy in our children. We stopped for a moment as she wiped tears of happiness and sincerity from her eyes, (as did this writer ) that came with  the depth of her emotions and the highs of her enthusiasm for STEP.  She went home at night, spoke with her family via phone or skype in St Lucia, and regaled her husband and daughter in the wonderful STEP moments of the day. Her daughter began to ask her about the wonderful things that ________ (insert child's name) had done that day, if that child had been happy, felt better, read well etc. She realized that she had brought her entire family on this journey and they were as enthused about the happiness she had rediscovered in the faces of our children. Cherryl was keen to say that she knows we could use more staff and resources, but she never once felt that our staff did not engage our children. She and Harvel, had days of singing, hours of reading, moments of clarity and a better understanding of how to be more sensitive to children, more observant in reading the signs in their faces, and the ability to understand non-verbal communication better. Cherryl  will return to her native St. Lucia and plans to continue volunteering with children with disabilities, and use it as a bonding time with her daughter.

Harvel and Cherryl we appreciate your time with us, and the feedback you have given us on the school. We acknowledge here that there have been other students from the same program who we have appreciated just as much for their service time to the school. These are but the two I was able to speak with, but others just as wonderful have graced our school from this program and STILL come back to visit us today. Thank you to ALL OF YOU from our past, our present and those to come!

My own journey of volunteerism with STEP Centre began 12 years ago as another means of spending compassionate quality time with my child. I wanted to show her that what you give to others is so much more rewarding than what you get from others, and what she would learn about the world, is

that diversity and the acceptance of same, becomes a celebration as it morphs out into those you touch along the way. She has gone out into the distant world now, but her mother happily remains here with STEP Centre all these wonderful years later.

We have once again changed perceptions by simply allowing folks to share time with our children. Our approach and sense of purpose is right, even if our tangible needs are always abit lacking in resources. We hope these two volunteers and the others will take with them the lesson of patience and perseverance and the will to make a difference in the lives of all kinds of people.  As always I am surprised (yes still surprised) that our children teach people so much by just being who the Lord has made them and shining their special lights on the lives of those they touch.  Every one of us has something to truly give of ourselves if we take the time to see with our heart. It really isn't hard in the end because our children (all special children) can show you that by simply being who they are and greeting you with all the happiness they have to give. 

  

COME VISIT US.............YOU DESERVE YOUR OWN MOMENTS OF REFLECTION THROUGH THE EYES OF OUR CHILDREN. 

Thank you to Wendy Lee of Seven Oaks Wildlife Sanctuary and Judy MacMillan, Renowned artist, for sharing Earth Day Activities with our children. Seven Oaks is the recipient of our "Friday Penny Collection" Funds  

Our children are always taught they have a responsibility to the earth and the world they live in, and we reinforce it through our gardening program, recycling program and up-cycling 

initiatives. 

Judy, Hillary and Wendy with the children's gifts and herbs from our garden

Judy loved our school and said she had the loveliest morning sharing our children and wants to paint with them next. 

Wendy works with the children and they laughed! 

Up-cycling planters made by the children