Thank You, Longmont Knights!

Last Saturday, the Knights of Columbus Longmont Councils 1313 and 14898 presented a check for $925 to Imagine!'s Dayspring department. The Knights raised the funds through their annual Tootsie Roll Drive. Pictured from the left are: Matt Eldred, Executive Director of TLC Learning Center (which also received $925), James W. Rawlings, Jr., Grand Knight of Council 1313, and Julie Hartman, Director of Dayspring.

Congratulations, Out & About

Congratulations to Imagine!’s Out & About department for meeting the goal of their crowdfunding campaign supporting their Centre Stage program. The goal of the campaign was $1,500, and they brought in $1,625 through the online part of the campaign, not to mention more than $500 more through cash donations the night of the program's big performance!

Thank you to everyone who donated to support this vital program!

 

Raise Funds for Imagine! When You Shop on Amazon!

Here’s a super easy way to bring in money to Imagine! every time you shop online at Amazon through the AmazonSmile program. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Imagine! (listed under our legal name as the Developmental Disabilities Center). AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. The Imagine! Foundation has already set up its account and received our first check for $10!

Just sign in to this link when you want to shop at Amazon and start earning money for Imagine!: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/84-0526620 

Once you have signed in, a percentage of all of your future purchases will automatically go to Imagine! unless you change your designation.

And from now through 3/31/2014, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate an extra $5 for each customer who makes an eligible purchase at smile.amazon.com in support of Imagine! (request Developmental Disabilities Center at this website or just sign in to the link above). This is in addition to the regular donation of 0.5% of the purchase price. Up to $1,000,000 extra will be donated to eligible charities as a result of this promotion. 

The Foundation thanks employee and Leadership Development Group member Anna Knott for discovering and alerting us to this easy fundraising opportunity!

Table Donation Makes Socializing Easier at Imagine!’s SmartHome

Check out this cool new table in Imagine!’s Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome. This was donated by Dr. Jeff Kupfer, who works for Imagine! Behavioral Health Services. The table has been placed in the game playing area of the house. Previously, there was a coffee table there, which was less convenient due to its lack of height. Now all residents, including those who use wheelchairs, have a comfortable table on which to play games and for arts and crafts projects. Lana likes the beauty of the table and is excited to use it with game volunteers on Sundays and craft times on Mondays.

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of generous donors to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Cash Donations

Silver ($2,500-$4,999)
Dick & Linda Livingston

Bronze ($1,000-$2,499)
Ball Corporation – Partial match to gift from Sandy and Sally Bracken
Merrill Lynch – Partial payment for Silver Sponsorship of the Imagine! Celebration

Associate ($500-$750)
Ball Corporation – Match to gift from Gene Shaw

Supporter ($250-$499) 
LPL Financial – Matching Gift

Friend ($1-$249)
Anonymous – Support for Out & About’s Center Stage Program 
Helen Bosley
Karin Johnson – Support for Out & About’s Center Stage Program
MGM & United Artists Services Company – Residuals for Billy Montgomery’s role in Rain Man
Daniel & Sandra Stevens

In-Kind Donations

 In-Kind Friend ($1-$249)
Snow Goose Companies – Coffee maker, coffee grinder, and service cart
Sterling-Rice Group – Two desks

As always, we thank all of our generous donors.

Next Step Group Home Construction Update

Here are the latest construction photos from Imagine!'s Next Step Group Home in Broomfield.

Site signage is up

Laundry room plumbing to serve two sets of stackable wash/dryer combos

HVAC duct work

Sprinkler rough-in & electrical in the common area

More electrical work

Plumbing rough-in ½ bath

More sprinkler rough-in

The crawl space is filling up with HVAC duct work

Students Today, Leaders Forever Volunteer At Imagine!

Imagine! was so fortunate today to have some volunteers from a University of Minnesota chapter of Students Today, Leaders Forever to help out with spreading mulch at Imagine!’s two office buildings. The students are on their spring break, and are traveling around the country in a bus on a “Pay It Forward Tour,” engaging in volunteer activities wherever they find them. What a cool thing to do! We’re delighted to be beneficiaries of some their good deeds. Thanks so much (or mulch!).

Thank You Thursday!

This week’s roundup of generous donors to the Imagine! Foundation includes:

Cash Donations 

Silver ($2,500-$4,999) 
Motorola Solutions Foundation (Match to donation by Mark Zentner for Gold Sponsorship of Imagine! Celebration)
Wells Fargo – Second half of Gold Sponsorship of Imagine! Celebration

Bronze ($1,000-$2,499)
Dale Charles – Table at Imagine! Celebration
Chevron Humankind Matching Gift Program (Match to donation by Paul Diede)
Enterprise Holdings Foundation – Grant for Out & About’s After School Program
Knights of Columbus – Boulder Council – For Dayspring (Proceeds from Tootsie Roll Sales)
Knights of Columbus – Lafayette Council – For Dayspring (Proceeds from Tootsie Roll Sales)

Associate ($500-$750)
Anonymous – Donations to Out & About’s Centre Stage Program at the event
Boulder Area Alumnae Panhellenic (Santa’s House Project) – For Dayspring
Covidien Charitable Gift Fund – a VIP Grant Donation on behalf of Ashley Limoges
Front Range Community College – ½ Table at Imagine! Celebration
Jerry & Julia Rudy – Donation to the Imagine! Celebration
Kelby & Beth Zorgdrager

Supporter ($250-$499)
Knights of Columbus – St. Louis Council (Louisville) – For Dayspring (Proceeds from Tootsie Roll Sales)
Microsoft Matching Gifts Program – For Flood Relief (Match to donations by Thomas Oliver and 2 anonymous donors)
Daniel & Sandra Stevens

Friend ($1-$249)
Anonymous
Kent Arnold
AXA Foundation (Match to gift by Mark Duffy)
Kent Brown & Barbara Jo Kammer
In Memory of Paul Castaneda
  From Jay and Mary Balzer
Gale Chidlaw
Carolyn Coolbaugh
Louis Faust III
Jay & Debra Flora
Ken Hackbarth
Eleanor King
Joy Linfield
Barbara Oviatt
Bob & Allie Richardson – For CORE/Labor Source
Sarah (Skippy) Rollins
Ann Shaffer
R. Alan Rudy
Thelma Whitaker

In-Kind Donations

In-Kind Associate ($500-$999)
Mateo – Three course dinner for six people with wine pairings (prize for Heads or Tails at Imagine! Celebration)

In-Kind Supporter ($250-$499)
Brian & Judy Bundy – Couch with pullout bed and two office chairs for Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome
Don Sullivan & Paige Lawrence – Balloons, inflation, and display items for Imagine! Celebration

In-Kind Friend ($1-$249)
A17 Elevator Inspections – Discount on annual elevator inspection at Imagine!'s Dixon building

As always, we thank all of our generous donors. 

Foundation Director Susan LaHoda Announces Retirement

Please read the following notice from Susan LaHoda, Executive Director of the Imagine! Foundation:

It is with mixed emotions that I announce my retirement as Executive Director of the Imagine!
Foundation effective August 1 of this year. It has been a wonderful 14 years, and I have enjoyed tremendously meeting and working with the dedicated and generous Imagine! Foundation board members and donors, as well as the amazing Imagine! organization, board, clients, and staff. But I am looking forward to time to do some travel and hiking while I am able.

I feel very confident leaving now with Walt Pounds at the helm as Imagine! Foundation Board President for another year. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have been able to end my career with Imagine! and to have had such a rewarding experience. I would particularly like to thank each board member with whom I have worked over the years for his/her kindness, commitment, and support. It has meant a great deal to those we serve and to me. But this is not good-bye, as I have several months ahead before I leave and much still to accomplish!

Editor’s note: if we were to post all of Susan’s accomplishments during her time with the Imagine! Foundation, this blog post would never end. Suffice it to say that many, many families and individuals served by Imagine! are thriving today as a direct result of her hard work and dedication. And she has done it all with a quiet dignity, grace, and humor. She will be greatly missed. Thank you Susan, for all you have done (and will continue to do).

Thank You, Enterprise!

 

Mary LaChance, center, accepts a check for $1,000 from the Enterprise Holdings Foundation for Imagine!’s Out & About After School Program from John Stanford, right, of Enterprise Fleet Management in Fort Collins. Jerry Gooding, left, Imagine!’s Vehicle Coordinator, initiated the grant process with Stanford, and then the process was completed by the Imagine! Foundation. Galgoczi said that the grant is significant because it will cover a full month’s costs for the After School Program.

Next Step Group Home Construction Update

Here are the latest photos showing construction progress at Imagine!’s Next Step Group Home in Broomfield. 

Wiring and plumbing work is underway, as well as rigid exterior insulation, siding, and roofing work.

Support The Theater, Imagine! Style

Imagine!’s Out & About Centre Stage Program's crowdfunding campaign is two thirds of the way toward its goal! Won't you help them get all the way there?


Can’t see the video? Click here. 

Click here to donate, and learn more below!

Imagine!’s Out & About Catalog Program offers a variety of classes and one-time events for older teens and adults with developmental disabilities in a community setting.

 Out & About’s Centre Stage activity began four years ago and has become a favorite in our community. Centre Stage works this way: class participants get the opportunity to learn the basics of theater. Each activity focuses on integral aspects of theater production, including acting, singing, dancing, choreography, set and costume design, and lighting. Throughout this class, participants work together to create an original and unique stage production. At the end of the class, the group performs its show before a live audience.

Why We Need Your Help:

Over the past few years, the number of participants in the Catalog Program and Centre Stage has increased, but our budget has remained the same. We hope to continue to offer Centre Stage to everyone who would like to enroll. Our intention is to run Centre Stage as an authentic, professional production as much as possible and we need your assistance in order to keep up with the rising costs of this popular activity.

Costs include:

• Performance facility rental 
• Costumes 
• Props 
• Set Designs 
• Facilitation/Director Fees 

All donations will go directly to the Out & About Catalog program, which puts on the Centre Stage production each year.

Please help us continue to provide the opportunity for our participants and their families.

Thank You, Federal Transit Administration

 

Today, we’d like to offer our thanks to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for pledging funding to underwrite the purchase a new wheelchair-accessible van for the transportation of residents of Imagine!’s Next Step Group Home and to cover a portion of personnel costs associated with driving the van.

Imagine!’s Next Step Group Home in Broomfield, a new facility specifically for aging individuals with I/DD is designed to easily accommodate technology options from Imagine!’s SmartHomes. The Next Step Group Home will serve as a home base for meeting the multiple and varied needs of six low-income individuals with developmental disabilities who are seniors or experiencing the early onset of aging-related conditions that often accompany these disabilities. This specialized care will allow the clients to live in a neighborhood setting while avoiding the more costly nursing home alternative.

The Next Step Group Home will add to the community’s supply of affordable housing units and will be designated affordable for a minimum of 40 years. It will be specially designed and equipped to address the needs of individuals with special needs – featuring, for example, a wheelchair-accessible entrance route; doors, passageways, and bathrooms wide enough to permit individuals using wheelchairs to move about easily; light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other environmental controls in accessible locations; bathroom grab bars; and barrier-free lifts to assist residents with limited mobility in moving between wheelchairs, beds, and showers while protecting staff members from injury.

In addition to the purchase of the van, the pledged FTA funding will support transporting the residents to and from appointments with doctors, dentists, and physical therapists; day habilitation programs; churches; recreation centers; and retail stores.

Thank you, FTA, for your support of Imagine! and the people we serve.

Spread The Word To End The Word

Today is Spread The Word to End the Word Day.

  

It is time we Spread the Word to End the Word and build awareness for society to stop and think about its’ use of the R-word. Most people don’t think of this word as hate speech, but that’s exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families, and their friends. The R-word is just as cruel and offensive as any other slur.

Make your pledge to choose respectful people first language at www.R-word.org.