Sunday, August 28, 2011

August DSA of South Ga meeting recap

Hello everyone!  I am hoping to recap whatever we do/discuss at our monthly meetings for those who are not able to attend the meetings.  If you haven't joined us yet for our meetings, we welcome you with open arms as we fellowship with other parents/caretakers/siblings of those whose lives are touched by someone with Down syndrome.  We meet every 2nd Sat of the month from 10 am- 12 noon.  If a meeting is canceled or a special activity is taking place instead of the meeting, we will give you advance notice as they occur. 

We are gearing up to take a team to Tallahassee, Florida on October 8th, 2011 for the Buddy Walk.  The Buddy Walk was established in 1996 by the NDSS.  This is done to celebrate Down syndrome awareness month in October and to promote acceptance and inclusion of people living with Down syndrome.  We kept the name that we used last year--Title Town Tots and we added Down syndrome Association of South Georgia  to the name so that we could also get our group some exposure to those who do not know we are up and running.  The walk is from 9 am- 12 noon.  You can register your team members here.  Each person can register for a fee of 12.00--a shirt will be given to those who register ahead of time.  You can also refer your family and friends to the site if they would like to donate any funds in honor of your family member.  We would love to see you there! The Buddy Walk will take the place of the October meeting.  

We will also be announcing a special meeting that we hope to have in October.  Tammy Greenway of SOSkids of Valdosta is coordinating a joint meeting/group discussion concerning special needs trusts for our children. (SOSkids is a general support group for parents of a special needs child here in Valdosta.) We will have a lawyer speaking at this group and the kids will be able to play at a local play center here while the parents listen to the discussion.  Date to be announced as soon as all the details are worked out.

We are still looking for some adult volunteers to help watch the kids while we meet on Saturdays.  If you are willing to help out or know someone who would be able to help, please contact us.  We are fortunate to have some students helping us from the local high school too, so if you know of a teenager who is looking for volunteering opportunities, we welcome the chance to talk with them too.  

Next month we will present a technology presentation.  This will be full of great resources for those looking for the best apps for your child, websites to reference and groups to join.  Our next meeting will be September 10th, 2011.  Meeting place to be announced. 

We had a special guest join us at our August meeting, Stephanie Meredith, co-author of the book Diagnosis to Delivery--A pregnant mother's guide to Down syndrome.  You can find a link of her book here.  I actually read this book online months ago as I was looking for rescources we could share as a group for any new moms with a prenatal diagnosis.  It is an excellent book and we recommend this to any expectant parent.  Thank you Stephanie for sharing with our group.  We look forward to you coming to visit again. 

We have many things we are working on as a group.  Please continue to share any feedback you have with us.  We welcome all comments as we look forward to serving our Down syndrome community. 

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