By Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri | Founder & Executive Director
Dear friends,
Janna, one of our Arinj residents, is deaf and we are learning each day what she needs and how we can love her. Thanks to volunteer and speech pathologist, Marinda Kaiser, we now have a strong sense of what is needed (sign language classes for staff and residents, weekly community visits to a center for deaf support and speech therapy to strengthen her communication skills).
While we are still trying to pull together funds for these new programs, we have been able to provide her with a few visits to the “Special Education Complex for Children with Disorders in Hearing”. At the first visit, she was immediately surrounded by about fifteen people. Among this small crowd were a few teachers and students from her past. They held and hugged Janna while she cried. Tears fell onto the cheeks of the teachers and volunteers there at this sweet reunion. We are excited to see how she is changed by being able to regularly communicate with others.
We have the opportunity and gift to love and be loved by our residents. But in moments like this, we blessedly realize that there are sometimes others who loved our residents long before us. And sometimes our role is just to provide a way for these connections to grow and depend and thrive. We are here to facilitate a life that makes sense for our residents, whatever that may look like. But what an honor to listen hard to both the spoken and unspoken needs of our residents and find a way to meet those needs whenever possible, or to find the people who can. We cannot be all things to our residents and we are so grateful today for the kind people who encircle them and love them so well, including so many of you.
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Sincerely Yours,
Natalie Bryant-Rizzieri
Founder & Executive Director
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