New leaf Link - reflections of 2019

Christine Bell | Jan 22, 2020

Wow, what a year 2019 was for New Leaf Link! In January, NeLL was the grateful recipient of a United Way KFLA Grant to implement an Adapted Diabetes Awareness, Prevention & Management Program. This grant provided funding for a project facilitator, instructors and one support person to add a third day of programming (Tuesday) to provide access to health promotion skills around awareness, prevention and management of Type 2 Diabetes. In addition, the Township of South Frontenac contributed funds to allow us to run our first ever summer program. Now NeLL offers 3 days of high-quality programming throughout the year in Arts, Music and Healthy Living and allows disabled participants from South Frontenac to participate in a diverse range of activities, including health, fitness, nutrition, adaptive technology and community participation, including outings to local venues.

The Sydenham Lions Club contributed to our project by delivering a talk about Diabetes. Our program instructors in 2019 included Sensei Marty Tucker from the Sydenham Academy of Martial Arts − our participants did a karate demo and grading at our July Open House. Sara McHattie from the YMCA led Adapted Fitness classes. Deb Donaldson, a certified diabetes educator, dance teacher and fitness and nutrition specialist visited monthly to lead us in dance and diabetes education activities, and Ryan Donoven developed a NeLL soap with our NeLL colours and scents chosen by our participants. Linda Alford, our Adapted Technology Instructor, helped our participants learn about diabetes through various websites and completed six resource books that have been shared with our participants. NeLL parents Tom Jack and Cara Lacelle did presentations on raising backyard chickens and managing diabetes medications. MPP Randy Hillier attended our July Open House and continues to support and promote our program through his website. In August, we visited Bill Welychka at the Global News Morning Show to talk about our program and shared a video of Michael Timmerman’s achievements shooting hoops.

Shen Xiao Bing from Long Road Ecological Farm taught us how to prepare Chinese dumplings from fresh farm ingredients in honour of the Chinese Spring Festival. The KFLA Food Ambassadors visited twice in May and November giving food demonstrations that contributed to NeLL’s Diabetes Project. Our project facilitator and cooking instructor Chris Boal’s Healthy Eating cooking demonstrations were fantastic! The St. John’s Ambulance Therapy Dogs showed us how dogs can offer stress relief. We also had a visit from OPP Community Services Officer Curtis Dick to inform us about on-line safety, and we visited Happy tails Farm Sanctuary in June.

NeLL is most grateful to 3rd party fundraiser Greg Simpson and the Irwin Family for planning and hosting 2 sold-out dances at the Sydenham Legion and golf tournaments in support of NeLL programs. And, not only did NeLL participate in the Sydenham Santa Claus parade, our own Michael Brown led the Kingston Police Pipe and Drum band in the Kingston Santa Claus parade.

We are extremely grateful to our donors, without whose support we could not possibly survive. This includes small community organizations and individuals who understand that there are province-wide gaps in services for adults with disabilities, especially in rural areas. Without our program, disabled adults throughout South Frontenac would be isolated from their friends and would be required to travel great distances to access community supports.

As we enter 2020, NeLL continues to operate without government funding. We have built a strong, resourceful and sustainable rural organization that is unique to our community. In the past year, we have increased our number of participants, our fundraising capabilities, our program resources and our community profile. We invite the community to visit us at our Open Houses, volunteer their time with us and support our fundraising efforts, including our spring and fall Grocery Store fundraisers in Sydenham and Verona.

When you see NeLL out in the local community, please say hello. We love our community and want you to know how important New Leaf Link is to our participants. We truly appreciate your support!