Thanks,

Sandra and Matthew

Villagers

What this means is that we will have more tools to make the site more user friendly and to add the forum. If there are any techie people out there (or anyone who wants to learn!)  who would like to help with the maintenance of the site, please let me know!

The next step will be to raise the funds to form a 501 (c)(3) Non-profit so donations can be tax deductible.

Feedback on our site has been overwhelmingly positive and the word is beginning to spread. I have several people who are putting together information on resources to share. I have also been invited to speak to the Special Needs Network Board next month – thank you Becky Barnett for arranging that!

I’m really excited to be sharing the vision for this site with so many of you and I’m looking forward to growing this into a wonderful community. Please feel free to share your ideas and questions on our Contact Us page!

And please check out our new FAQ and stop by the Villagers page to introduce yourself and meet each other!

Thanks,

Sandy and Matthew

Villagers

So if you are sitting out there reading this and have questions, please either comment on this post or send me your questions via the Contact Us page. I’ll keep your identity private if you wish.

Which reminds me – I won’t share anything you don’t want me to share. If you send in a question or information to share and you don’t want your identity shared with the Village then it won’t be shared. I’ll be addressing this in the FAQ as well as our Privacy Policy/Terms of Service (which is coming soon too).

So – send in those questions, ideas, information, resources or whatever else you want to share with the Village.

Hey – that reminds me…I’d love to put faces to our Villagers so let’s add an introduction page – I’ll put it up by tomorrow and start with a picture of me and Matthew!

Sandy and Matthew

Villagers

What do you think? Do we have any Insurance Agents or Attorneys out there with some good advice in this area?

Please share!

“The East Brunswick Office of the Mayor and Office of Emergency Management have developed a new, voluntary, comprehensive registry for residents who need extra assistance during any emergency situation.” You can check out the article here: http://ebs.gmnews.com/news/2009/0514/bulletin_board/061.html

I think it’s a good idea – what do you think?

http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2009/05/15/news/centralcoast/news06.txt

By the way, since I’m quoted in the article – I’m offering autographed copies for $14.95, proceeds will go to Our Special Families Village. Just Kidding – unless of course someone would like to donate!

Which, by the way – you can do by clicking on that donate button to the right over there…the one that says “PayPal Donate” – all of your Credit Card information is private, I never see it. The first $10.00 we get will go to registering our Domain name. Then we’ll save donations until we can get our 501(c)(3) designation.

Sandra and Matthew

Special Families Villagers

I really like Terry Mauro’s Special Needs Children section. It’s a great resource for everything relating to Special Needs kids. You can find it at:  http://specialchildren.about.com/.

You might also check out her newsletter. I like it because I don’t have to check the site all the time. I get all the new stuff sent to me every week. You can sign up at: http://specialchildren.about.com/gi/pages/stay.htm.

Speaking of getting updates, I encourage you to sign up for Village news either via RSS reader or email. The links are to the right…yep over that way, now up a bit…yep, there!

If you aren’t sure how that works, send me a message via the contact page and I’d be happy to help you out! By the way, your information is always kept private – I promise.

Also, if you have resources or questions, please send them to me via the contact page and I’ll post them here. If you don’t want me to use your name in the post, just let me know!

Thanks!

Sandra and Matthew

Special Families Villagers

“Ok, great, but why am I here,” you ask? Because I’ve stalled long enough and it’s time to get moving on this thing. Last night’s Santa Maria Joint Union High School Board meeting convinced me.

You see, I’ve had the idea for this site for years, I’ve even discussed it with some of you, but I’ve never moved forward. But this Village is my dream, my passion and it’s time to do it – for our families.

My original vision was (and still is) to make this site a “Community Center” for families who have members with Special Needs. A “one stop shop” to make finding information and support as easy as clicking your mouse. I envision a site with information, resources, and tools in multimedia formats (text, audio, and video) on everything from Special Needs friendly restaurants to the latest techniques in Language Therapy.

And a site that brings us all together to support each other. Having a bad day? Go to the forums and set down your burden among friends. Have questions on how to get services for your child? Go to the forums and ask the community, your friends who have “been there and done that” and have the inside track.

I haven’t done this, until now, because I let silly little things, like time and money, get in my way. I thought I needed to launch it as that perfect vision. I thought I had to do it alone. Well duh! Isn’t my whole vision here to bring us all together as a community to help each other? So why was I thinking I had to do this on my own? I don’t know, except maybe because…

I also saw it as being a source of income. As this idea took hold in my soul, my brain thought I needed this to be a business. But that never sat well with my heart. But as I develop other projects, that do produce income, I have learned that I can do this, with the help of our Village of Special Families. Yes, there is a place to donate here but I will make a full accounting of how that money is spent and I won’t take a dime for myself. Some of that money will go to forming a 501(c) (3) eventually, some will go to tech stuff, and some will go to research, etc.

So here is what I ask from you – Please be my eyes, ears, and extra hands.

If you know of information that needs to be spread – send it to me via the Contact Us Page and I’ll post it. For example:
Special Olympics events
Teen Club Events
School Board meetings dealing with Special Ed
Seminars for parents of Special Needs kids
Anything that our Village needs to know

If you have services that you would like to promote let me know:
Would you like to develop an online video course for our Village, I can share resources to help you do that. It’s a great marketing tool! We can even discuss asking for a small donation to offset your cost and ours.

Do you have questions or concerns that you would like help with? Send them in and we can help each other. There will also be a forum in addition to the blog but I have to learn how to install it first. (Anyone out there with great tech skills that can help? We’ll pay you with free promotion for your business!)

Shameless Promotion for a Good Cause:
I am in the process of launching my own Internet businesses so I know a lot about this. I am currently working on four online training programs to teach me more. I am developing a training program for Virtual Assistants and I am working with three partners on a membership site. I have worked with entrepreneurs from literally all over the world for over four years who support themselves and their families through sites like this. I know a lot about it and what I don’t know, well I know where to go for help.

I just need you to tell me what you need help with so I can get it on the site and maybe contribute some time, energy and funds to help spread the word. This needs to be a grassroots effort – it needs to be supported by our whole Special Families Village. This is our Village, not my Village.

For a picture of what I want this to grow to, please visit StartUp Nation (www.startupnation.com). There you will see a community for Entrepreneurs that mirrors my vision for Our Special Families Village. There are resources, tools, and information in a variety of formats (text, audio and video) on every topic you could imagine for the budding Entrepreneur.

StartUp Nation is free to its members. It is supported by Affiliate Marketing and advertising which we can definitely do in addition to donations. For example: Let’s say there’s a great book out on helping kids cope with a Special Needs sibling. We post a review with a link via Amazon and make a percentage of the sales. Or maybe an Occupational Therapy Clinic wants to place a banner ad for $25.00 a month.

Ultimately, I want a Village that is as well known internationally as Coke and MacDonald’s. A Global Village with links to Local Villages. A resource that every teacher, every doctor, every service provider knows and when they meet with a new family they say, “Hey do you know about The Special Families Village? Just go to OurSpecialFamiliesVillage.net (or whatever our URL ends up being) for great information. You can even go to the Villages section and find our local Village.”

Do you remember how you felt when you first entered this world of Special Needs services? Wouldn’t it be amazing to immediately walk into a community of people who truly empathize with what you are feeling? Who support and care for you as much as you support and care for your Special Needs Family member? We can give that to each other and we can give that to new families who feel lost and fearful and alone and hopeless.

The best information I receive on resources for Matthew is from other people with a Special Needs Family Member. But at best it is fragmented and I spend hours in frustration searching for information. A search on Google for Speech Therapy yields 9,860,000 results! Great, the information is there but I would spend my next two lifetimes researching it. Our Special Families Village is an opportunity for us to help each other through the maze not only with information but with love.

I hope to see you in the Village and please – help me spread the word!

Sandy

and Matthew too!

For more see this Santa Maria Times Article.

Here are my notes from my little speech to the board during public comments:

• My son Matthew is a sophomore in Ms. Bateman’s class at Righetti.

• Progress beyond my wildest dreams because Mrs. Lewis has been administrating and Ms. Bateman has been teaching.

• The students in these programs are learning reading, writing and arithmetic from an academic curriculum that teaches them self-sufficiency and life skills; giving them a greater chance of success once they leave school.

• They won’t be able to do that without adequate administrative and academic support.

• Clearly the position of Special Ed Coordinator doesn’t cost money, it saves money.

• I have no doubt that there is fat that needs to be cut from the budget, that’s not a new argument but this is like amputating a broken arm instead of putting it in a cast.

• Ms. Bateman is an incredible teacher because she teaches not just her students but all of us to figure it out, not quit and say it can’t be done.

• I’m here as a voter, yes, and certainly as a tax payer, but more importantly I am here as a member of this community. I implore you, don’t quit and say it can’t be done – say, how can we? Do your job and figure it out.

I admit, it was a bit difficult to keep my temper. I lost count of how many times speakers asked the board why there aren’t any budget cuts at the administrative level. The board sat there like so many King Solomans drinking bottled water that my tax dollar bought them. If they would just cut that kind of fat from the budget, how much money could be saved? Maybe they wouldn’t have had to make those staff reductions.