Lifehouse Lives

A Season of Gratitude

Dear friends of Lifehouse,

Three hundred people with developmental disabilities call Lifehouse home. Many benefit from day services from other agencies throughout the Bay Area.

In the spirit of the holiday, we want to show our gratitude by acknowledging those agencies for the fine programs they provide to Lifehouse residents. Thank you for your collaboration in providing services to individuals with developmental disabilities in our community.

With Gratitude,

Nancy Dow Moody

President & CEO

Recycling with Sophia

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Meet Sophia- She is new to Lifehouse and is on a mission to recycle. As a part of Sophia’s specialized day program she is collecting recycling from the Lifehouse office and houses to raise money. With the proceeds, she and her roommates at Wilson House plan to have pizza parties, dinner outings or other fun activities.

Sofia enjoys recycling every step of the way, from carrying the bags, to going to the bank to cash the checks. This program is truly fulfilling for Sophia because it allows her to be active in the community. Her mission is to encourage everyone to help the environment by recycling.

Do you live in the Lifehouse community? Sophia would like to help you recycle too! She will bring a blue container to your house, and pick up the plastic recycling every other week. Once she has processed the a good amount of recycling recycled items, she will deliver the profits back to you.

Please let Olivia Vain, ovain@lifehouseagaency.org know if you would like to participate. Thank you for helping save the earth.

Life(house) with Julia

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Meet Julia- She is a part of the weekly activity based program, TRIP which supports teens from ages 13 to 22. The program is an opportunity for teens and young adults with developmental disabilities to foster physical, intellectual, and social development skills in a community based setting.  They currently have a weekly bowling meet-up on Thursday’s here in San Rafael.

It’s not hard to spot Julia in a crowd; her bright blue cap is covered in colorful anime buttons that she collects at different Anime Cons from her favorite artists. She readily admits that she is addicted to growing her collection but is very particular in choosing buttons that are true to her. 

Most of the buttons are Anime characters but some are odes to adolescent slang like “I ship it”- according to Urban Dictionary, it means: “when you imagine two people would be good in a relationship together.”   

Although she is an avid gamer girl and a millennial, Julia says that people use their cellphones too much. When she isn’t gaming, Julia likes to draw in her sketchbook that she brings just about everywhere. In the pages of her sketchbook, she has the freedom to illuminate her art around the theme of symmetry. Each shape is precisely outlined and colored in with sharpie, solely defined by the bleeds of the ink into the paper.

For more information or to inquire about activities with TRIP, please contact Mike Sus at msus@lifehouseagency.org.

Life (house) with Teodros

 
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Meet Teodros- He has been a Lifehouse resident for the last six years and currently lives at Laurel House group home. Teodros’ polite temperament and genuine personality makes him delightful to chat with and be around. Like all of our Lifehouse residents in the Independent Living Service (ILS) program, Teodros sets goals for him to live as independently as possible and receives guidance from our expertly trained direct service professionals who help execute his plan to reach them.

Teodros’ current goals are becoming more organized and disciplined in recording and managing his appointments and weekly schedule, budgeting and saving money, and learning kitchen safety and to cook on his own. With sharpening these skills, Teodros hopes to find a job or volunteer position and to be able to move on to an even more independent living situation with less staff support.

In his free time, Teodros enjoys getting out and about in the community. He speaks fondly of spending time with Lifehouse resident Chloe. Together, they venture to the movies and museums. They also share a love for music and dance. You can see them showing off their dance skills at the annual Great Chefs and Wineries resident performance!

Are you interested in art, travel or Sci-fi? Then you and Teodros will get along just fine. He has an extensive and dynamic book collection that can take you on many adventures, from the Amazon rainforest to the fantasy world and chronicles of The Hobbit. His most prized of them all is H.G. Wells’ Time Machine.

Teodros’ enthusiasm for Sci-fi animation and cartoons have led him to take animation classes at Alchemia day program once a week. For the rest of the week, he attends the Autisry Studios program, which is geared towards facilitating learning experiences in education, vocation, and physical fitness. Particularly, this program supports Teodros in taking courses at College of Marin. He completed a math course just this last semester.

At Lifehouse, it is believed that the combined efforts of day and supported living programs can help individuals, such as Teodros, live inspired, purposeful and independent lives.