November Meet & Greet Recap

Did you miss our virtual meet & greet last week? Don't worry - here's a recap of everything we discussed, as well as some of the actions we are taking in response!

For more information, or to join the list, you can always reach us at [email protected].

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Auction Updates

• We surpassed our goals!
• Fingers crossed, next year will be in person.

Agency Updates

• All staff are receiving wage increases!
  • This should allow us to hire more staff, to reduce the overtime load.
• All residents received their booster shots on November 8th. Staff boosters are in progress.

Board Updates

• The board has nearly doubled since the last meet & greet!
• We are creating an advisory board to help with specific projects. More info is coming.
  • Current advisory board members: Cary Burns, John Beswetherick, Lori Carney, Mary Fabrizio, Kathleen Shoemaker, and Sandy Wood. Elizabeth Vesely joined during the meeting!

Community Outreach Updates

• Cheryl has applied for several grants; we are waiting to hear if we will be receiving any funds.
• Please reach out to the legislature/Governor Inslee to encourage extending pandemic assistance funds to agencies like ours.
  • Find your legislator here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/
  • Contact Governor Inslee through his contact form: https://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/contact/send-gov-inslee-e-message
• Upcoming goals:
  • Increased social media presence
  • Fundraising beyond the auction
    • A new Board committee for fundraising has been formed. Contact committee chair McKenna Burns ([email protected]) if you would like to participate.
• Group ideas/projects:
  • Volunteers in the programs to assist staff with resident social activities
  • Nutritionist assistance for resident meals
  • Monthly supply needs/wants lists for guardians and families to assist
    • We are looking at how best to facilitate this!

Holiday Updates

• DDA has confirmed that while residents can have visitors inside the programs, everyone must be masked at all times and no communal dining will be allowed.
  • Family CAN take residents for outings and meals off-site. No quarantine required on return.
• The Board will be caroling and delivering cookies to all the programs on December 8th.
  • A family member has donated funds for the residents to have pizza parties during the caroling celebrations.
• Bayley Construction will have Santa deliver gifts to our residents again.
  • Thank you notes to Bayley from the Board and families would be appreciated!

Q&A

• Some guardians would like more contact with other guardians of residents of the same programs.
  • We are looking into an opt-in contact list and program-specific Facebook groups or other solutions.
• There is a lot of interest in a wish list of large items (like vans, etc.) that guardians could reach out to contacts or fundraise for on behalf of the agency.
• We received questions about recruitment methods – currently, we use Craigslist, Indeed, and school bulletin boards. We are open to other ideas.
  • We are in need of 12 more caregivers and an additional program director for Champion House.

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Reminder! GivingTuesday is November 30th - but you can donate anytime until then. Please consider donating or sharing the link to the DAHLIA Living GivingTuesday site.

#GivingTuesday2021

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