Who could have imagined when we said good-bye on March 13, thinking we would be closed for 1-2 weeks, that it would become longer than that? Now, here we are, having been in home-quarantine for two weeks and wondering what is next? While none of us knows what's next, we do know that all of us are following the guidelines for protecting ourselves and others.
That means washing our hands a lot, staying home as much as we can, and keeping a safe social distance from others if we must be out in public, such as for grocery shopping. So, what are some of us doing to pass the time?! We've gotten a few pictures, and are happy to share them here!
Cameron has been in the hot tub!
Here he is with his dad on a sunny afternoon! Looks very relaxing, Cam!
He also spends time taking his dog for a walk. It's important for all of us to be outside getting fresh air and sunshne! 🌞
After a bit of excercise, Cameron enjoyed one of his favorite snacks, French fries!
Over at Sam's house, he spent some time helping his Dad put shelves up in his Mom's closet! Putting your work skills to good use, Sam!
Sam is also listening to stories on the Audible app. He's enjoyed stories about pirates and Ninjas. No surprise, there! We love seeing your focus, Sam!
On Saturday, Sam and his mom made a trip to the post office! We probably don't take little outings like this for granted these days...
Meanwhile, our friends in Newport News, Kacie and Kevin, are lucky to live close to the Mariners' Museum, which means long walks on the Noland Trail! (The museum is closed, of course.)
Theyare trying to keep a safe distance from each other, which is hard, Kacie says. We know it is a challenge, Kacie and Kevin. Just do your best and make sure you keep your hands away from your face and wash them as soon as you can! (Hand sanitizer or wipes are OK, too!) We're glad to see your smiling faces!
Kevin and Kacie knew we would have been excited to see these sunbathing turtles! Thanks for the picture!
Over at Patrick's house, he spent some of his time working a Toy Story puzzle. We see Woody is there for support, too! What a perfect activity for you, Patrick!
And voila! In just a few days, Patrick was done! That looks like it took a lot of patience, Patrick. We are proud of you for sticking with it!
Lisa and Alexis have been on a lot of walks. We have so many nice trails in our area. They probably should try not to touch the signs, though!
There is a basketball net across the street in Nan's neighborhood. Alexis got to shoot a few hoops one day last week when no one else was there.
Drew was happy to receive a card from Carol, Lisa, Nan, and Becky in the mail! Thumbs up to Carol for sending them out to everyone!!
Drew and his dad Andy got out on a pretty Saturday and played corn hole. According to Drew's mom, he's pretty serious about the competition, too. You go, Drew!
Nan got together with Alexis and Haley on St. Patrick's Day and they baked Blarney Stone cookies and made rainbow necklaces out of colored pasta. Very cute!
We were SUPER EXCITED on Thursday when the AoA gang got together on this thing called "Zoom" for a video conference with each other! It was perfectly crazy! Everyone saying "hi" to each other, lots of big smiles, and feeling together again!
Coach Teri got a couple of pictures, and we're so glad she did! Here's Sam checking in with everyone, and even from the back, we can see his big smile at getting to see his friends!
Here is a screen shot of most of the gang. Kate couldn't make it, Drew was being bashful (we see his mom, Donna), and when this picture was taken Annmarie and Becky hadn't yet connected, but they made it later! We also see Lisa, Carol, Nan, Pam, Bette Faye, Liz's mom, Lise, and Cameron's mom, Stacey. How awesome!
Here's another shot we got from Cam's mom that was taken before we all got connected. We're so proud that everyone figured it out, especially Lisa and Carol! HeHe! We will definitely do this again (on Tuesday, in fact), and Lisa and Carol have some ideas to make it a regular thing during our time away from the center.
Those are all the pictures we've gathered so far. Lisa would love to keep getting them so we can post blog updates every now and then. Let's keep the blog going during quarantine!
In the meantime, everyone stay safe! Families, look for an email with information about Zooming on Tuesday. We hope all of our friends can join us again!
Despite the turn of events by Friday, we had a stellar week! From an excellent tour of the Williamsburg Police Department to working in our computer lab with our Rotary volunteer to celebrating our partnership with Eaton AND our 4th anniversary to welcoming a special "chef" to cook for us on Friday...it was a fun week!
😱😱😱 HEADS UP: This may be our longest blog post ever. (And the last one for a bit...) Here come lots of photos from our experiences this week! 👏👏👏
Tuesday
We were excited to see Cameron return on Tuesday morning! We thought he was going to be traveling until next week, but his mom reported that they decided to come home early. It's never the same when one of our friends is absent, but when they're absent for a couple of weeks or more, we really miss them. Welcome back, Cameron! Here, he is working at Carol's table as we wrote thank you notes to Annmarie's mom, Teresa.
Teresa had provided our lunch on Friday, in honor of Annmarie's birthday. It was fried chicken from Publix (we highly recommend!), along with a variety of sides like potato salad and cole slaw. We enjoyed it very much, and we loved seeing Annmarie enjoy her favorite meal. Thank you so much, Teresa, for treating us and for hanging out for a while, too! We loved hearing your stories about Annmarie's birth and early years!
After finishing the thank you cards we boarded the vans to head to the Williamsburg Police Department for a tour.
We were surprised to arrive and find that there was no parking close to the department. Apparently, there was a big training of some kind taking place nearby. We had to park almost 2 blocks over, so we got a great walk in before the tour!
Community Services Officer Aundrea Holiday welcomed us and started the tour in the upstairs area of the station. She told us the department has been in this building a long time, and it gets a "little tight" in there! We were prepared and made sure everyone stayed together. Look at how attentive our guys were! Officer Holiday noticed, too!
Here, Officer Holiday was telling us about the fingerprinting process. She then offered to fingerprint each of us!
Most of our guys stepped up to get their thumbprints made, and then they compared them with each other! Drew's turned out very clearly. The good news? Not one of our guys was apprehended after having their prints checked! 😜
After fingerprinting, we were taken to the Interrogation Room. We listened to Officer Holiday explain how important it is for the police to carefully interview suspects (or victims, in some cases). She pointed out the 2-way mirror and said it's not really used much anymore for other officers to watch the questioning from the other side. Everything is recorded now, so there is always video to watch.
The officer in this picture is Major Brian Carlsen, who joined us on the tour. Here, in the Interrogation Room, he pointed out that the camera which records the questioning process is hidden in what looks like a smoke detector!
The building in which the PD is located is old and small, but they have made good use of their space. There is even a gym and when we peeked in, we saw an investigator who was doing a lot of push-ups!
This is Officer Alicia Buchanon, who also assisted with our tour. She showed us where officers write their reports, and she explained how things work, like the officers' radios and body cameras.
Officer Buchanon also brought her vehicle up for us to check out.
We wanted to see the lights and hear the siren, but we knew it would be loud. The officers gave us notice and then only blared the siren for a few seconds. It was cool!
With Kevin as his "partner," Cameron got in the driver's seat and gave Officer Holiday a high-five to show his approval of the neat gizmos in the car!
Patrick and Annmarie also checked out the inside of the car, and they agreed with Cameron that it was pretty awesome.
Oh, no! What has Laura been up to now? She's in the back of the squad car...but it looks like she's only checking it out. We don't see any handcuffs, thank goodness! 😉
We thought it was interesting that Officer Buchanon's protective vest was worn on the outside of her uniform. She said officers have a choice now, of whether to wear it underneath or on the outside of their uniforms. She said it's much more comfortable on the outside!
Aren't we looking good in our official group picture?! We can't thank Officers Holiday and Buchanon, and Major Carlsen, enough for their hospitality. The tour we received was extremely interesting and we learned a lot! Thank you, Williamsburg Police, for all you do to make Williamsburg a safe community.
We know Spring is coming...and it was warm enough after our tour of the police station to eat outside...but it was very windy. We knew our guys would have a hard time keeping their things from blowing all over the place, so we decided to celebrate National Pack Your Lunch Day back at the center. As usual, everyone understood and we still enjoyed our lunch!
Later, we looked over this flyer that Officer Holiday gave us. It announces a huge community egg hunt event coming up on March 28 (or probably not, in light of the community precautions being taken).
Our last photo of the day is of our guys with their "swag" bags from the police department! The bags were filled with goodies and we were thrilled to receive them. Again, we thank the Williamsburg Police Department for welcoming us and giving us a tour that was well worth our time!
Wednesday
We welcomed Dave from the Rotary to work with us in the computer lab. Today, we worked online with puzzles and reading activities that challenged us. Kate and Sam enjoyed their session with Dave!
Xavier and Kevin also enjoyed working with Dave. They were working on number puzzles.
Everyone loves meatballs so we celebrated Meatball Day, which was Monday. Kacie and Alexis prepped healthier turkey meatballs for us! We thought they tasted great!
We love that nearly every one of our associates likes fresh salad! Laura and Liz put together a delicious one to accompany our turkey meatballs.
Besides working with Dave on math and literacy skills, and preparing a yummy lunch, we also had associates writing appreciation notes for our friends at Eaton. It was a busy morning!
Our yoga instructor, Patti, had another cold, so we turned to online Jaime to lead us through a good stretch.
Wednesday yoga is a favorite part of our routine!
Thursday
Thursday was a day we were looking forward to, as Eaton Corporation was treating us to a luncheon to celebrate our partnership, the Community Engagement Grant we received from them, and the AoA's 4th Anniversary!
The work Eaton needed us to do on Thursday only consisted of assembling PowerSlide Doors, so we switched up our usual routine, and sent Carol, Nan, and Becky over with the door crew, while Lisa remained at AFCC with the others who worked on an important decoration for our room. Then, we all joined together at lunch time for the celebration!
Annmarie, Laura, Abraham, Patrick, Drew, and Kate designed and colored bubble letters so we could decorate our empty wall by the entrance door. This crew usually works on sorting, removing parts from packaging, removing pink adhesive from aluminum plates, and repacking parts into tubs when we go to Eaton. Since James didn't have any of those tasks for us to do today, they were able to work on a special decoration!
Doesn't it look fabulous?!
Meanwhile, Carol took Liz, Cameron, Sam, Devin, Xavier, Alexis, Kacie, and Kevin to Eaton where they met up with Nan and Becky to work on PowerSlide Doors until time for the luncheon. We don't have a picture, but they knocked out a lot of doors in a couple of hours!
When it was time to celebrate, everyone gathered to enjoy a meal of sandwiches, chicken tenders, fruits, and veggies.
We enjoyed socializing with the Eaton employees. Once again, they referred to us as some of the "happiest" workers they know! 💙🧡💙🧡
There were a couple of speeches, too. With Eaton's plant manager, Andy, looking on, our Executive Director Pam expressed The Arc of Greater Williamsburg's appreciation for the remarkable partnership between them and us.
James and Jorie shared very positive sentiments with us. We absolutely love working at Eaton and these two have been instrumental in establishing a work environment that is perfect for the Arc of Abilities' crew!
After lunch, we got to take a tour of Eaton! Wow! The plant had to cease production so we could come through, and that was a big deal. We broke into groups and were given an Eaton "tour guide" to show us the behind the scenes action. Nan's group of Kevin, Xavier, and Kacie had Dean for their guide.
Paul got to show Becky's group around. Devin, Kate, Abraham, and Annmarie were all eyes and ears as Paul showed them where the work we do ends up throughout the plant.
Carol's group of Liz, Cameron, Laura, and Sam posed with their tour guide, Cory, and plant manager Andy.
It was hard to get pictures of everyone since we were divided for the tour and in different buildings at different times, but Lisa's group of Drew, Alexis, and Patrick got to pose with Pam, Jorie, and several Eaton employees.
We got to tour the entire Eaton facility, which consists of 6 huge buildings. It was really fun looking for evidence of the work we do for them!
This is a production area where they work with large sheets of metal. The metal is covered with thick quilts when not being used, as a safety measure, because the edges are sharp.
We spotted the plastic parts that we sort and apply gaskets to on a lot of products!
Here, we spotted light bulbs we had removed from packaging. One of the Eaton employees told us how much time it saves that she doesn't have to unpack them herself. We can believe it, because it even takes a bit of our patience to remove them from the packaging! That's because we're so careful!
The parts in the bin on the left used to be part of a trio that were attached, until we separated them by pulling them apart. Elisa, one of the guides, showed us how a piece of pipe is then applied. Hmm, wonder if we could attach that pipe part?!
In one of the buildings we saw boxes of items we had inventoried back in the summer! We are good at counting.
Laura was "tickled pink" to spot where the aluminum plates end up that she and her "Pink Ladies" (Kate and Annmarie) prepare by removing the sticky pink film on the back of each plate.
Eaton uses their laser printers to etch product information onto the aluminum plates. Jorie said most products have at least two of these plates attached to them.
With Laura still marveling over the aluminum plate discovery, Cameron, Liz, and Cameron were excited to find a completed PowerSlide Door. We assemble the large piece on the top!
Toran, a very enthusiastic Eaton employee, showed us several more examples of where our work is used, and he also had many nice things to say about what we do to help them!
About a year ago, Jorie introduced us to Rascal, a "rescue turtle" they had found wandering around the parking lot, having possibly gotten lost from a nearby pond. We were excited to check in on Rascal, and see how much he had grown!
We even got to see him being fed freeze-dried micro shrimp! (Who knew?!)
The Arc of Abilities is made better by our partnership with Eaton Corporation. The vocational skills our associates are honing each time we work there will serve them for a lifetime. We've been working with them for over 3 years, and as we also celebrate the 4th anniversary of the AoA, we look forward to many more years of working with our friends at Eaton!
Friday
The AoA was the lucky recipient of a 4th anniversary celebration gift from Liz and her family! Look at this beautiful bird bath that was sitting in our garden area when we arrived on Friday. We cannot wait to see our bird friends (and probably squirrels, too) enjoy this gorgeous bath bowl in the weeks to come.
We were all smiles as Liz christened the new bird bath by filling it with fresh water! Thank you to Liz and her family, for thinking of the perfect gift for our group. We are grateful for your thoughtfulness! It's so much fun to watch the birds in this small area, and anything that attracts more of them is most welcome.
*Note: We brought our beautiful new bird bath inside before we left Friday since we may not be back at AFCC for a while.*
It was time again on Friday to prepare the Arc's mailing for April. We usually remind everyone to complete and return their sign up sheets, but not this time. Sadly, Arc events for the month of April have been canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak. There is still some important information in the mailing, so please make sure to read it!
We studied Wisconsin, the 30th state to enter the Union today. As usual, we learned interesting facts, like Wisconsin is home to the country's largest water park, it's America's leading producer of cheese and 2nd leading producer of milk, and has over 15,000 lakes! It's known for being a nature lover's paradise, which makes sense with all those lakes, which include the bordering Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
Look at us getting smarter as we work on our map skills with Becky!
Our dish to celebrate the state of Wisconsin was macaroni and cheese! Alexis's cousin Kelly was coming after working half a day at APEX Physical Therapy and Movement Center (one of our favorite places to visit!) to make her "famous" recipe for us. But she gave us the tasks of cooking the pasta and chicken ahead of time. Sam and Abraham handled the chicken-cooking!
These guys made sure our tables were set. Kelly would be arrivng around 12:15 to prepare the cheese sauce, so lunch would be a little late. We had to be ready!
When Kelly arrived, we had her station set up and she was able to quickly assemble the cheese sauce. It was so easy! Her special recipe doesn't involve baking the mac n cheese, just pouring the cheese sauce over it. Here, she was about to add some delicious and savory Wisconsin white cheddar cheese. You can ask any associate how it turned out and they will tell you it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Which explains why our mac n cheese pictures end here. We were so excited to dig in to that pan of goodness (to which we added broccoli and fruit as sides), we forgot to take any more photos! Thank you Kelly, for providing this super-yummy lunch for us, and for teaching us how easy it was to make the sauce! We always enjoy a visit from you!
After lunch and a bit of Choice Time, we discussed the situation with the coronavirus. We kept it factual and "simple," explaining that we must all do our part to be vigilant in protecting ourselves and those around us during this time of the unknown. We were not expecting that our program would have to close for the time-being, but we seem to understand why.
After our discussion, we made a couple of sweet and pretty "Welcome Back" posters for our custodian, Marvella. She recently suffered a fall and has not been able to work for several weeks. We don't know when we'll see her again, but she was scheduled to return next week. Hopefully, it won't be too long!
We said our goodbyes for now and again reminded everyone to wash hands and avoid crowds as much as possible. They were also encouraged to catch up on chores, read, exercise/get fresh air, and spend quality time with their families. Lisa will send them some links and ideas for keeping busy, too. We hope all of our families and friends will be remain healthy as our community does its part to contain the outbreak.
