On Wednesday, November 27th Kala Penrose visited The Learning Lamp in Johnstown, PA to spend the day with children between the ages of 3-9 to teach them about individuals with disabilities. “I wanted to take the time with children from 3-9 years old and talk to them about disabilities and show them the amazing things people that have different abilities can do.”
Thanks for taking the time to teach youth about such an important topic Kala!
On Thursday, November 21st Kayla and Sam went to Johnstown Christian School to serve. Throughout the day they organized packets, assisted in cleaning classrooms, and ran centers in pre-school.
Thanks for serving ladies!
On Friday, November 22 a group of 7 AUCP staff members helped paint the walls of a shelter at the Women’s Help Center in Johnstown, PA.
Amanda Urban, pictured on the right-hand side in the picture on the left, said “It was nice to brighten the bedrooms up with some paint. Usually when someone is at a shelter, they are at a low point in life and it doesn’t help to be surrounded by solid white walls.”
It was also a great learning opportunity for the volunteers that day. Volunteer Linda Friedhoff, said:
“We had the opportunity to meet with Deb, the Executive Director, and she informed us the center is not only for women, but they also serve men that are in domestic abuse situations. They are working on trying to help out teenagers that are not emancipated that come there for help. They have been actively working with the DA to help the youth involved in human trafficking. She also said that two years ago, they provide shelter for over 18 children on Christmas. Hearing that really makes you count your blessings. It brings a new perspective things and makes me realize how fortunate we really are.”
Thank you all for serving with us!
On November 8th Emily spent the afternoon volunteering for The Toasty Toddlers Program through United Way of Blair County. This program provides warm winter outerwear for children in Blair County. She helped distribute items to families as they stopped by the United Way office. Emily is pictured with Denise Adams, the Director of the Family Resource Center.
Thank you for serving with us, Emily!
Last Friday, Bri and Hollie volunteered at the Johnstown Soup Kitchen – SVDP in downtown Johnstown. We love partnering with other nonprofits that serve in our communities. In some cases we even serve the same individuals! Thanks for serving, Bri and Hollie!
As a part of #PickYourPassionAUCP, Tom and Jocelyn volunteered at Compassion House in Windber on Monday of this week. Both of them really enjoyed being able to serve the community and interact with the staff, other volunteers, and customers throughout the day. Thanks for serving with us!
The month of giving has begun and Gwen was our first staff member to volunteer. She partnered with some people from her church to serve with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank distributing produce to the Johnstown community through Produce to People. See what she has to say about it on the picture above!
Stay up-to-date on AUCP’s month of giving by following #PickYourPassionAUCP on social media.
If you’d like to learn more about the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, visit their website.
Stay tuned!
A few months ago we received a Community Fund application for one of our participants, Joyce Wilbur. Due to Joyce’s lymphedema and knee surgeries, she was having problems with swelling in her legs and was in need of a certain type of compression stockings. Unfortunately, her insurance was unable to pay for them and after reaching out to other community resources, she was still left without the stockings that she needed. That’s when her AUCP AmeriHealth service coordinator submitted an application on her behalf.
Upon reviewing Joyce’s unique situation and seeing that these compression socks were something that she needed for her health and safety, AUCP was able to provide a grant through their Community Fund to pay for the compression stockings. After receiving the stockings, Joyce was very pleased and so grateful. Compression stockings, although a seemingly small need, make a huge difference in her everyday life. She says that they have helped with the swelling of her legs and she is able to walk more with them on. This is great news for Joyce and now she is able to focus more on her everyday needs and health with her coordinator.
If you would like to learn more about AUCP’s Community Fund or would like to review the application process, click here.
Dianne Kylor from Hesston, PA was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2003 which resulted in laryngectomy to remove her voice box. Fortunately, Dianne is now cancer free, however, now she has to use an artificial larynx that she presses against her throat to be able to communicate.
Just like any type of equipment, the larynx wears down after awhile and it needs to be replaced. However, the technology is costly. This left Dianne in a situation where she was using the same Servox Digital larynx for close to five years and her ability to communicate with it was steadily getting worse. Dianne’s husband said that they “pushed through as long as they could” because they just didn’t have the funds to purchase a new one.
This is when her AUCP Service Coordinator, Terri Feather, reached out about the UCP Elsie S. Bellows fund, a national program offering grants to help people buy Assistive Technology equipment. Terri knew that Dianne needed a new artificial larynx to be able to communicate, so she worked with her to submit an application. A few weeks later, the application was approved and we were able to use the grant money to purchase a Servox Digital XL for Dianne.
The UCP Elsie S. Bellows fund is a phenomenal resource to individuals in need of assistive technology. The funds are granted through an application that each UCP affiliate, like AUCP, has access to. If you, or someone you know, is in a situation similar to Dianne, you can contact AUCP today to find out how to submit an application.
