Securing the future for people with disabilities
|
|
Summary
Our goal is to ensure safe and secure futures for people with disabilities by developing Networks of Support, planning for the future and addressing the challenge of their isolation and loneliness.
 read updates from the field
How Donors Like You Helped
Thanks to donors like you, a total of $2,565 was raised for this project.
|
Received $2,565 from 22 donations from people like:
|
More Information About this Project
Project Needs and Beneficiaries
For the first time in history people with differing abilities are out-living their parents. In the next decade close to 6 million families in North America will be caring for their aging relatives with a disability. Social isolation and loneliness is the biggest challenge experienced by people with disabilities. PLAN works with individuals and their families to reduce this isolation and loneliness by building social networks of support and family-to-family connections.
Activities
A Network of Support is a group that offers support and companionship to each other, inclusive of a disabled person.
Warm Bear family-to-family connection reaches children and families, providing support, resources and a cuddly bear for the child.
Funding Information
Total Funding Received to Date: $2,565
Funding Information
This project is now in implementation and no longer available for funding.
Received funds will be used to accomplish concrete objectives as
indicated in the project's "Activities" section. Updates will be posted under the
"Progress Report" tab as they become available.
Donors' contributions and pledges to this project totaled $2,565. The original project funding goal was $35,000.
Additional Documentation
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
Resources
Why this Project is Important
Potential Long Term Impact
Social networks and connection are for life. The impacts are the feeling of belonging, someone to talk to, shared laughter, activities and life adventures. Strong relationships lead to healthier individuals, families and communities.
Project Message
It’s never too early to begin planning for the future.
- Arthur Mudry, PLAN Lifetime Member and parent
When this Project was Updated
Last Updated
This project was last updated on August 27, 2007.
Date Added to GlobalGiving
This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on August 10, 2006.
Latest Update from the Field
The Story of David Cohen
By Sandra Shields - , August 27, 2007 10:14 AM
We would like to share with you the story of David Cohen, someone who was helped by his PLAN network of support. Thanks to your support we have helped many people and hope to help more. Thank you for your generosity.
David's Story
Garland Cohen was in her eighties when she and her son David joined PLAN. She had been pushing the future to the back of her mind for a long time, hoping for a miracle. Garland wasn't afraid of dying; she was afraid of leaving David alone. David had an apartment in the basement of the house where he and his mother had lived for 20 years. While he knew many people in the community, none of them knew one another. Garland's health was failing and she feared that David was growing increasingly isolated and might slip through the cracks. With the help of PLAN, Garland set up a trust and started a network for David. Soon after, she was diagnosed with cancer. David's network provided the support she needed to die at home. After she passed away, the network helped David move into an apartment of his own.
In the years since Garland's death, David said that the network gave him a sense of security about living in the community, and that he didn't feel alone. Over time, the network helped him tackle issues like employment, using computers, and going back to school. "They're very wonderful people," he said of his friends, and they said the same about him. John Meyer, an early network member and advisor to Garland in setting up the trust for David more than 12 years ago, observed that if Garland could see how David had thrived, "She'd be tickled pink."
It was in October 2005, at the age of 61, that David was diagnosed with brain cancer. His friends rallied round and weeks later, on a December evening, he joined more than 75 friends at a Christmas party held to celebrate his extraordinary life. David’s dedicated patronage of the musical arts was evident among the guests. Canada's first lady of opera, Judith Forst, related how, for decades, David had been coming back stage to compliment her. "When David loves something," she said, "it isn't 50 percent, it's 100 percent." Linda Lee Thomas, lead pianist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, said, "A concert of the VSO is not complete without David Cohen. He comes backstage and always has that wonderful hand extended and shares his generous thanks."
David inherited his mother's passion for peace and social justice, and his letter writing for Amnesty International is legendary. During civic elections, David volunteered for COPE and later Vision Vancouver, and rarely missed a local political meeting. At the party, Vancouver mayoral candidate Jim Green–out of the country at the time–sent a letter
recalling how David's presentation on a panel about the opera, Of Mice and Men, moved a listening tenor to tears.
Others spoke of David's kindness and his generous spirit. Lyle Lexier, a member of David's network, said, "David Cohen has been my friend for 15 years. We talk about opera and human rights and the release of political prisoners and how to end capital punishment." Longtime friend Owen Underhill disclosed, "I don't think I've ever felt so affirmed in my life as when David left me a message about my work as a composer, a conductor, a father, and a friend." Network member Barrie Vickers spoke for everyone in the room when he said, "It is a wonderful gift you have given us David, and we'll live out the joy that you've given to us." When David took the microphone, he said, "Thank you for your beautiful words." Then the whole room joined in a rousing verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing. A long line formed at David's side, and for the next hour he graciously greeted friend after friend.
David passed away peacefully on January 27, 2006 and a memorial service was held a few days later. His friends found it fitting that David’s life came to an end on Mozart’s birthday amid musical tributes to his beloved composer. A few days later, Bramwell Tovey, conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, dedicated a performance of Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music to David and in March, a documentary about David aired on CBC-TV’s The National. PLAN staff continues to miss the daily phone calls that kept them up to date on current events and local performing arts schedules. As one of the people on David’s network said, “He had a good life and a good ending. Really, what more could anyone ask for?”
View David and his network's picture below.
Attachments:
Comment on this update
|
 Subscribe to "Updates from the Field" by E-Mail
|
Canada
Health
