Program areas at Q&a Foundation
Our community program funds improvements to community facilities and provides operational funds to better serve children with disabilities. This program came into play in 2022 with the project, "rejuvenate badger park". Local businesses and residents of peshtigo, wi donated to have the local park rebuilt to better accommodate children with disabilities.
The confidence program. The purpose of this program is to offer experiences that build confidence in children with disabilities. This year we offered one confidence event, a "family sail & paddle evening" on tuesday, august 16th, 2022 where families were partnered with a trained sailor to take them out on their own individual sailboat together. They helped instill confidence, communication and involvement for the child the entire event. We hope that these experiences will carry over into their everyday routine to help them feel more a part of society as they continue to grow up. Many of our joy events also cross-over into fostering confidence as well.
The joy program. The purpose of this program is to bring joy to children with disabilities and their families through free events. At each event we will encourage the feeling of joy by offering things such as fun activities to accommodate all abilities, food and drinks, social interaction all while providing a safe and welcoming environment for everyone in attendance. We will advertise each upcoming event on our website (www.qandafoundation.org), in local newspapers/magazines, on our social media pages and have our partnered nonprofits advertise our events to reach as many families as we can (sybil hopp, hand n' hand, dsaw, cp center, ymca, lovin' the skin i'm in, and aspiro). Currently, we open sign up prior to these events on our website on a first-come basis for up to approximately 100 families. To host each event for free, we have collected donations from local individuals and businesses. Many local businesses have expressed their eagerness to work with and support our Foundation through yearly funding. We also host an annual golf outing to raise awareness of our mission and additional donations. The 2nd annual outing was held on september 10th, 2022 at ledgeview golf course, 3149 dickinson rd., de pere, wi 54115. We raised over $15,000 to support future programming. Volunteers from the community and board/committee members have willingly offered their time to help bring these events to life. Other joy events held this year included: "one year anniversary party" on thursday, february 17th, 2022 at buzz social bowling alley. "family movie night" on sunday, march 27th, 2022 at de pere cinema. "mini golf & music" on july 12th, 2022 at duck creek golf center. "fall fest," on october 19th, 2022 at berryland - pumpkins. Lastly, the holiday party at green bay botanical gardens on december 22nd, 2022.
The inclusion program. The purpose of this program is to provide children with disabilities the opportunity to experience community events at no cost. It is meant to promote inclusion by getting these children out into the community either through a direct experience or through a hosted inclusion event. Applications are open year round for families to apply for direct experiences and recipients will be selected by our board. The child must have a disability to be eligible. Activities will be funded by public donations, the proceeds from fundraisers, and selling logo inscribed apparel, stickers and jewelry. These products will be available to purchase on our website and at all our events. We hosted four inclusion events this year. Our first was a social event at the dough shoppe on tuesday, may 24th where over 6 families joined to visit and eat cookie dough together in the sunshine. One at the new zoo on june 23rd and welcomed over 10 families to meet animals up close, walk the zoo, and learn about caring for zoo animals! Our third was sunday july 24th, where families were invited to attend the green bay rockers baseball game at a discounted price - we partnered with hand n' hand of green bay to offer this discounted opportunity to our families. Our 4th was at kidz town in green bay on saturday, october 1st and we partnered with dsdw to bring more families together!