Dana and The Future

from the director
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Dear Imagine friends and family,

Spring greetings to all of you. The air carries the fresh scent of hope, the sky swirls with slate red clouds of challenge and the way ahead looks rough and steep. Perfect Imagine weather if you ask me.

The most important thing to report is that our sister, Dana Hackett, passed away in March after a rich, full life and a long, gentle decline. While her time on Earth is through, her work continues. See below for an obituary.

Imagine will begin to re-open our office for regular office hours. During the pandemic, there has been a burden on our direct care staff that small errands like picking up masks or paperwork needed to be scheduled in advance. We will begin this month to have someone at the office every weekday from noon to three.

As of today, everyone we serve over the age of 16 has full vaccinated immunity to COVID-19. Because of the new variants and the fact that cases have stopped falling, and because as far as we know, even vaccinated people may still spread the virus, it is too early to relax. 

But we have changed our COVID protocol to allow visits between individuals we serve when supported by vaccinated employees, to make travel a little bit easier for clients and staff who have been vaccinated and generally to rebalance risks between the virus and mental health. We still require masking for employees on duty and at this moment, still require a KN95, N95 or surgical mask. Our new protocol is available here. Following available science, the next version of our protocol may be freer but may also tighten back up. 

If you have not been vaccinated and would like to be, this is a good resource for anywhere in the United States. Be warned, though, Vaccine Finder will help you find locations with available appointments but it can still take a little work to get that appointment. As we make the best choices we can between the risk of another outbreak and the activities that make life more enjoyable, we have more freedom to offer more freedom to the vaccinated.

The Human Race has been cancelled for 2021. Imagine’s fundraising committee is setting up something new in its place- The Imagine Nation Wander June 19. More information to come.

And speaking of fundraising, we finally know how we did in our holiday fundraising campaign, and we’re blushing. You all gave $28,700 to Imagine’s general fund and 20,600 to our ACORN fund. That means we raised nearly $50,000 in the campaign which almost doubles our previous record. It also means that our ACORN fund is now an endowment.

Imagine has been fundraising for a long time, but we really saw the impact this year of your generosity. As we needed to take steps this year to protect ourselves from the pandemic we relied on our reserves made of past fundraising until other supports became available. We often had to choose between risks, but we never had to choose less safety in order to save money and that’s thanks to you.

Imagine has been holding monthly telemeetings with family members and conservators of people we serve. The next is planned for April 28th at 4 PM. This is an opportunity to discuss topics on your mind and ask questions, but, for the recent several meetings it has primarily been a conversation about the pandemic. If you would like to participate, you are welcome. Let Lili know and she’ll see you get the information you need to connect.

In our Human Resources column this week, a note of rosy caution.

More on person-centered approaches to leaving the pandemic behind. 

As ever, if you have any questions, feedback or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can write me here. I look forward to hearing from you.

Gratefully yours,
Doug


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