Recognizing Julian Giovarelli

At our annual appreciation dinner for the members of the Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy boards, we recognized the dedicated service of Julian Giovarelli.

Julian has selflessly served as the Sara’s Garden Treasurer for the past 11 years. The time, talents and effort he has poured into this organization is beyond imagination and we could not be more grateful for him.

Julian is stepping down from his duties as Treasurer this year but will remain an active member of the Sara’s Garden board. Thank you Julian!

Summer Intervention Programs

Sara’s Garden will once again be offering summer interventions programs for children with disabilities. This year’s group camp will begin on Monday, June 4th and run five days a week for four weeks. Come experience a summer camp program like no other and meet families from all across the country.

Our group-based summer interventions schedule delivers inclusive programs that provide opportunities and interventions for individuals with a variety of conditions and disabilities. We serve clients with (but not limited to): ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), CDKL5, Cerebral Palsy (CP), Down Syndrome, Near Drowning, Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD), Spina Bifida and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Our caring and experienced staff of licensed therapists, conductors, and paraprofessionals create intensive therapy-based programs designed to enhance your child’s developmental skills. This approach not only helps your child to work towards increased independence, it also keeps the regression of skills that typically occurs over the summer months at bay.

Our programs provide education, fun, intervention, and socialization, in a safe, accepting and understanding environment while creating new opportunities for development for individuals with disabilities.

This month-long program is designed to expand each child’s fine motor, gross motor and/or communication skills. As well as improving behaviors, increasing eye contact, socialization, self-care and/or emotional skills. Based on the needs of the child, time may be spent on ABA programs, academics, relationship building, conductive education, sensory activities, special activities of swimming, music, arts and crafts, outdoor projects and physical activities. This group-based program is designed for children ages 3 through 18.

Our July programs will once again feature individualized interventions designed to target each child’s specific goals and is tailored to the needs of each child and family. We work with families to determine what their goals are for their child to focus on.

We openly welcome any interested families regardless of diagnosis, or the absence of a diagnosis. If you have questions or would like any additional information regarding our summer camp program, please contact Val at 419-335-7272 or via email at valn@sarasgarden.org. Be sure to ask us about our sponsorship fundraising program!

Volunteer Opportunities Available

Over the years, the name “Sara’s Garden” has often caused confusion regarding who we are and what we really do… the Yellow Pages continues to list us in their Lawn and Garden section and people still call us about purchasing flowers and seeds.

While we are most certainly not a garden center, one thing is true… over the years, our amazing staff and volunteers have had the privilege of working with the clients we serve by “pouring” into them all of their time and talents. They have experienced the joy and satisfaction of watching these clients “bloom” in their independence and abilities. They are indeed “gardeners” of a sort!

Today, volunteers continue to play an essential role to our organization all year long in helping our staff “plant” specialized, comprehensive client services that “harvest” life-changing results!

Volunteer opportunities at Sara’s Garden are not for adults or retirees alone. We are able to provide valuable service experiences for young adults and teens as well. Community service for teens is often a requirement for graduating high school and it’s a great way for students to build their resumes and skill sets. More importantly, volunteer work for high school students can often be a life-changing experience that allows teens to expand their horizons, provide vocational direction, and foster meaningful relationships.

Whether you choose to support Sara’s Garden financially by making a gift online, or sharing your time and talent through our volunteer opportunities, we are so grateful for your involvement in our work to support the amazing clients, students and families we serve. Individual volunteer opportunities include the following:

Participating in before and after school programs
Reading books and stories to students
Preparing classroom resource materials and instructional games
Playing games with students at recess
Fundraising event support

In addition to the many individual volunteer opportunities there are also group volunteer projects available as well.

If you wish to volunteer for Sara’s Garden and contribute to our mission, please don’t hesitate to contact us to learn how your talents could be used to help our students and clients “grow“.

Expanded Summer Programming

Sara’s Garden is offering a full slate of summer programming services to meet the individual needs of our clients.

This year’s summer skills camp will begin on Monday, June 5th and run five days a week for four weeks. Come experience a summer camp program like no other and meet families from all across the country. This group-based summer skills camp delivers inclusive programs that provide opportunities and interventions for individuals with a variety of conditions and disabilities. We serve clients with (but not limited to): ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), CDKL5, Cerebral Palsy (CP), Down Syndrome, Near Drowning, Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD), Spina Bifida and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Our caring and experienced staff of licensed therapists, conductors and paraprofessionals create intensive therapy-based programs designed to enhance your child’s developmental skills. This approach not only helps your child to work towards increased independence, it also keeps the regression of skills that typically occurs over the summer months at bay.

Our goal is to also serve the parents, caregivers and families that bring their children to Sara’s Garden for summer skills camp. We will be holding weekly workshops focused on assisting, equipping and empowering parents and caregivers. Below is a list of the topics we are planning to cover:

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) ~ Myths and Misconceptions
Taking CE & OT Home ~ Importance of Consistent In-Home Practice
Funding & Grants ~ Connecting Families to Valuable Resources
Understanding Applied Behavior Analysis ~ Intro to ABA

Programming in July and August will focus on individualized, one-on-one interventions and functional, skills-based mini-camps. These mini-camps will focus on a variety of topics and skills that are crucial to the children and families we serve.

Vocational Training
Social Skills
Life Skills
Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Handwriting

Our programs provide education, fun, intervention and socialization in a safe, accepting and understanding environment while creating new opportunities for development for individuals with disabilities. Programs are tailored to the needs of each child and family. We work with the families to determine what their goals are for their child to focus on.

We openly welcome any interested families regardless of diagnosis, or the absence of a diagnosis. If you have questions or would like any addition information regarding our summer programs, please contact Val at 419-335-7272 or via email at valn@sarasgarden.org. Be sure to ask us about our sponsorship fundraising program!

Summer Camp 2017

A Summer Camp Like No Other! June 5 – 30, 2017

Sara’s Garden is once again offering a summer camp for children with disabilities. This year’s camp will begin on Monday, June 5th and run five days a week for four weeks. Come experience a summer camp program like no other and meet families from all across the country.

Our group-based summer camp delivers inclusive programs that provide opportunities and interventions for individuals with a variety of conditions and disabilities. We serve clients with (but not limited to): ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), CDKL5, Cerebral Palsy (CP), Down Syndrome, Near Drowning, Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD), Spina Bifida and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Our caring and experienced staff of licensed therapists, conductors and paraprofessionals create intensive therapy-based programs designed to enhance your child’s developmental skills. This approach not only helps your child to work towards increased independence, it also keeps the regression of skills that typically occurs over the summer months at bay.

Our programs provide education, fun, intervention, socialization, and respite in a safe, accepting and understanding environment while creating new opportunities for development for individuals with disabilities.

This month-long camp experience is tailored to the needs of each child and family. We work with the families to determine what their goals are for their child to focus on. Based on the needs of the child, time may be spent on ABA programs, academics, relationship building, conductive education, sensory activities, special activities of swimming, music, arts and crafts, outdoor science projects and physical activities. Some families desire for their child to expand their fine motor, gross motor and/or communication skills. Others long for programming focused on improving behaviors, increased eye contact, socialization, self-care and/or emotional skills.

Our goal is to also serve the parents, caregivers and families that bring their children to Sara’s Garden for summer camp. We will be holding weekly workshops focused on assisting, equipping and empowering parents and caregivers.

We openly welcome any interested families regardless of diagnosis, or the absence of a diagnosis. If you have questions or would like any addition information regarding our summer camp program, please contact Val at 419-335-7272 or via email at valn@sarasgarden.org. Be sure to ask us about our sponsorship fundraising program!

Playground Bricks Still Available

Did you miss out on purchasing an engraved brick? Were you not aware that you could purchase one until it was too late?

Don’t worry. You’re not alone. We continue to receive comments from people who are disappointed that they did not get the opportunity to purchase a brick for the playground patio.

We have great news… it’s not too late! We will be selling brick indefinitely as we have a very large area for them to go.

For a tax-deductible donation, we will personalize your limited edition section of the patio. This program offers you the chance to honor family, friends, mentors, sports teams, clubs, organizations or businesses by purchasing a personalized brick paver.

“Buy a Brick” Donor Levels

$50.00 – 4″ x 8″ engraved brick space with 1-3 lines of text.
$75.00 – 8″ x 8″ engraved brick space with 1-6 lines of text.
$100.00 – 12″ x 12″ engraved brick space with 1-8 lines of text.

Inscriptions are in UPPERCASE lettering and are centered on the brick. You can have up to 18 characters per line engraved, including spaces, periods, commas, quotations, etc.

You can also customize your brick with decorative clip art and logo graphics for only $15.00 more. We can also engrave your own clip art or logo for the same price. Simply upload a black & white high resolution logo where specified when you place your order.

ORDER ONLINE

You may suggest placement of the graphics on our order sheet under the comments section. Sometimes however it is not possible to accommodate the suggested placement in the layout. In these cases the final design will be left up to our engravers.

Make a lasting memory while supporting the playground project and investing in student’s lives, one step at a time. Help support the students at New Horizons Academy and countless families from across Northwest Ohio that will benefit from this inclusive, handicap accessible playground.

If you would like additional information or need help placing your order, please call or email Matt Rychener at 419-335-7272 ext. 1001.

Thank You for the Caps!

We are so thankful for the support we received throughout our “Bench for Caps” collection process. When the project started we were trying to collect 200 lbs. of plastic bottle caps in hopes of creating a single bench for our new playground. Never did we dream that we would end up collecting over 3,000 lbs. of caps! Thank you all so much!

We plan on loading all of the caps up in the upcoming weeks and hauling them down to Evansville, Indiana to Green Tree Plastics where they will be turned in for not only benches, but picnic tables and trash cans as well.

We are now done collecting caps for the project. We will let everyone know if this is something that we need to do again for other areas at the school… but for now, we’re going to take a well deserved break from the cap collection business.

Year End Thanks; New Year’s Hope

We can hardly believe it! Another year has come and gone right before our very eyes. We stand at the forefront of 2016, yet somehow feel like it was just yesterday that we were opening our doors for the very first time. We feel so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to serve so many amazing clients and families. Since our inception, we have been blessed beyond measure with overwhelming donor generosity and community support that has allowed us to continue this mission.

2015 was an extremely busy year for Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy, and perhaps why we feel the year flew by so quickly. We’ve achieved new goals and faced new challenges, all while experiencing one of the most rewarding and fulfilling years in our history. We know none of this would be possible without the unending grace from our heavenly Father and the generous support from our donors, dedicated service from our staff and selfless sacrifice from our volunteers. We owe you all a warm and sincere thank you!

We are honored that so many of you have trusted Sara’s Garden with your gifts and donations! We know that many of you have made sacrifices this year in order to to continue supporting Sara’s Garden and for that we are so thankful. We consider you our partner in providing hope and changing lives. Please know that every single dollar that you contribute to Sara’s Garden is valued. It is our mission to use your gifts wisely to serve families and clients from across the country. Despite the economic challenges facing our country and its economy you have been faithful and have blessed Sara’s Garden and its mission. We appreciate you more than words can express!

Because of your generous support, we are in a position to do something that we’ve been looking forward to for a very long time… Beginning January, 1 2016, we will be lowering our rates for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy treatments from $110 per hour to $100 per hour. We want these treatments to be as affordable as possible. Our hope is that this reduction in rates will help to ease the financial stress on families raising money for these life changing treatments.

On behalf of the entire team here at Sara’s Garden, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who has helped make 2015 such a memorable year for us. Thank you for trusting in our ministry. We treasure your partnership. You are instrumental in providing hope, help and healing to families from across the country!

From our family to yours, Thank You!

Matt Rychener CEO/Executive Director

“A Bench for Caps” Project Update

KEEP ‘EM COMING… BUT KEEP ‘EM CLEAN!

Your support of our “A Bench for Caps” project has been overwhelming!

As we explained in last quarter’s newsletter, our local Girl Scouts have partnered with Green Tree Plastics in collecting bottle caps and lids to be recycled and transformed into benches for our playground here at Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy.

This is an exciting program wherein bottle caps are transformed into 100% recycled park benches that will last a lifetime. This is the most-perfect-real-life example of sustainability and it happens quite naturally as the kids can’t wait to share the story of their bench.

When we first started this project, our goal was to collect 200 lbs. of bottle caps in order to create one 4′ long bench. With your help, we have collected almost 1,000 lbs. of bottle caps to date!

Simply AMAGING!

We are going to continue collecting caps until March 1 and try and create as many benches as possible for families to enjoy when they come to the playground.

Until then, you can continue to collect your caps and lids and bring them to Sara’s Garden. We have collection bins in the lobbies of both the school and hyperbaric center. The Girl Scouts will do the rest. It’s that simple.

With that being said, the Girl Scouts have asked that we reiterate exactly what is (AND ISN’T) acceptable to collect.

Caps MUST BE plastic. ABSOLUTELY NO METAL pop tabs or can lids. We are getting a lot of sharp metal lids turned in which can not be used.
Caps MUST BE clean and free from food and trash debris. We are getting a lot of caps turned in that are still full of food and condiment residue. Green Tree will only accept clean lids and caps free of all debris.
Caps CAN NOT be from soap or lotion bottles. We have received a tremendous amount of lotion and soap pump bottles. These are no able to be recycled.

It is taking the Girl Scouts a lot of time to sort some of the bags that are being turned in and we want to make sure they are safe and be conscious of their time and efforts.

Examples of caps and lids that are unacceptable:

If we turn in any caps and lids such as the ones shown above they will not be accepted by Green Tree Plastics and the entire bag will be thrown out. Below is a complete list of what can and can’t be collected.

Acceptable caps and lids:

Medicine bottle caps
Detergent caps
Deodorant caps
Flip-top caps (ketchup and mustard tops)
Mayonnaise jar lids
Ice cream bucket lids
Coffee can lids
Drink bottle caps
Hair spray caps
Spout caps (mustard caps)
Cream cheese container lids
Butter container lids
Milk jug caps
Toothpaste tube caps
Ointment tube caps
Cottage cheese container lids
Peanut butter jar lids
Cool Whip container lids

Not acceptable caps and lids:

Metal caps/lids of any kind
Trigger sprays
Fast food drink lids
Soap pumps
Lotion pumps

Below is a list of the past golf outing sponsors that we would like to honor. Thank you for your support!

Sara’s Garden Adds Speech-Language Pathology

Sara’s Garden is excited to announce that we are once again broadening our clinical service offerings to include Speech-Language Pathology (Speech Therapy)! In expanding our provision of services, Sara’s Garden has recently welcomed Michelle Nagle, M.Ed. CCC/SLP to our team of specialists to complement and enhance our program of intervention services.

What is Speech-Language Pathology? Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults of all ages.

Speech disorders occur when a person has difficulty producing speech sounds correctly or fluently (e.g., stuttering is a form of disfluency) or has problems with his or her voice or resonance.
Language disorders occur when a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings (expressive language). Language disorders may be spoken or written and may involve the form (phonology, morphology, syntax), content (semantics), and/or use (pragmatics) of language in functional and socially appropriate ways.
Social communication disorders occur when a person has trouble with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. These disorders may include problems (a) communicating for social purposes (e.g., greeting, commenting, asking questions), (b) talking in different ways to suit the listener and setting, and (c) following rules for conversation and story-telling. All individuals with autism spectrum disorder have social communication problems. Social communication disorders are also found individuals with other conditions, such as traumatic brain injury.
Cognitive-communication disorders include problems organizing thoughts, paying attention, remembering, planning, and/or problem-solving. These disorders usually happen as a result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or dementia, although they can be congenital.
Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are feeding and swallowing difficulties, which may follow an illness, surgery, stroke, or injury.

Many conditions, including cerebral palsy, autism, hearing loss, developmental delays, may cause difficulty with speech and language development. Some children may not understand language. Some children may understand language but be unable to communicate effectively due to difficulty with speech. Sometimes children experience challenges in other areas of communication, such as hand gestures and facial expressions.

Speech therapy is a clinical program aimed at improving speech and language skills and oral motor abilities. Children who are able to talk may work on making their speech clearer, or on building their language skills by learning new words, learning to speak in sentences, or improving their listening skills. Children who cannot talk may learn sign language, or how to use special equipment such as a computer that speaks for them. Children who talk but have challenges with more discreet communication issues such as facial expression or gestural language use, may work on these areas of communication.

Sara’s Garden is committed to providing the highest quality speech, language, and communication services in a meaningful and fun learning environment. We are dedicated to working collaboratively with family members to ensure their loved ones learn and progress to their full communicative potential.

We believe that early intervention is crucial to the development of communication skills and that every client should be viewed individually and treated uniquely according to their learning style and communication needs. Family support is crucial to a child’s learning and parents should be involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of their child’s needs and progress. Our goal is to collaborate with families to better serve the needs of you and/or your child. At Sara’s Garden, we offer an individualized approach to assessing a client’s functional capacity and customizing interventions to achieve family-centered goals. This is achieved through supporting a person to learn new skills, modifying a task or activity and/or making changes to one’s environment, to enhance their level of functioning and safety and achieve even greater independence.

For further information on Speech-Language Pathology (Speech Therapy) services at Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy please contact Dave Burkholder at 419.335.7272 or via email at davidb@sarasgarden.org.