Spinal Cord Injury Network January 2003 Newsletter

Spinal Cord Injury Network

Bar to separate page sections, Bar looks like a piece of chain

SCI CONNECTOR January 2003

NETWORK SEEKS PERSONS WITH SCI FOR PEER PROGRAM

SCI Network will offer a peer to peer training for people interested in joining the SCI Network’s Peer Program. The training will be held on Saturday, March 1st, from 12 until 3 PM. People with SCI and related dysfunction, at all levels, are encouraged to attend. The training will consist of a power point presentation and discussion, and will be presented by current peer mentors. The snow date will be the following Saturday, March 8th.

SCI Network has had peer counseling, or peer mentoring, in one form or another for over forty years; this training will do much to make the program more effective. In the Network’s collective experience, support groups for people with SCI have not been successful. (A support group for spouses/significant others is ongoing; call the office at 301-424-8335 or visit our website at www.spinalcordinjury.net for information.)

Our thinking is that people with SCI look for peer support when they are newly injured. As a general rule they then go on with life. Just like many other human beings, they also look for support as issues pop up in life, and leave as the issues are resolved. Both these situations tend to be of short duration, making it difficult to maintain a group for an extended period. Peer mentoring addresses the demonstrated need, and offers the many benefits of shared experience. Please RSVP ASAP for the Peer training on Saturday, March 1st, from 12 until 3 PM, as we have only twelve spaces available. Please call the office at 301-424-8335, or visit our website at www.spinalcordinjury.net for information.

The training is free. All Peers are volunteers. Discussion around reimbursement for meals and miles will take place as part of the training. Renewed, vigorous communication regarding the enhanced availability of peers will begin with local (DC, MD, VA) hospitals, rehabs, skilled nursing facilities, and nursing homes on February 1st. Assuming we have ten peers ready to go March 2nd, we anticipate one or two calls for each peer, per month. Will you be there to take a call?

NETWORK’S EIGHTH ANNUAL HOMELESS DINNER FEEDS 350

by Sara Michael Special to The Gazette Jan. 1, 2003

With cupcake crumbs around her lips and a bowl of ice cream in front of her, 5-year-old Caneia Jefferson flashed a wide smile. Around her, people danced to classic rock from a live band and posed for Polaroids with Santa Claus.

“This is the only Christmas I can show them this year,” Anthony Walker said of his granddaughters Caneia and 3-year-old Nikkia Jefferson. “It means everything in the world to me.”

In the cafeteria of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Wheaton, Walker and nearly 300 area needy and homeless residents gathered Dec. 21 to feast on turkey and mashed potatoes, open presents and celebrate the holidays. For eight years, Good Counsel has hosted the event, sponsored by the Spinal Cord Injury Network of Montgomery County, to bring together county residents who otherwise might not be able to indulge in the festivities of the season.

Donning Santa Claus caps, Good Counsel students cooked and served the guests, who were brought in on Ride On buses from homeless shelters around the county. At Christmas-decorated tables, guests munched pie, sipped coffee and opened presents dolls and lotion for girls and trucks for boys. A small crowd twisted and shook to the jazzy music of local bands Jukebox and Trial by Fire.

“The interaction is tremendously giving and accepting on all parts,” said Stoney Johnstone, bass player for the band, about Saturday’s crowd. Good Counsel students frequently spend time giving back to the community. With a graduation requirement of 100 hours of community service, many students spend time in soup kitchens and shelters throughout the year. The requirement forces the 1,050 students, many who are from affluent backgrounds, to understand issues of social justice and homelessness.

“It’s very important for [the students] to understand there are whole populations who are neighbors to them in Montgomery County and who are poor and need help,” said Don Dalphonse, coordinator of service for the school. “There’s nothing wrong with being upper middle class. The only thing that’s wrong is if you don’t share it.” Angie Debrecht, 16, said the afternoon was a challenge for her. While volunteering to pass out presents and offer coffee and milk to the guests, she met others about her age who were less fortunate, forcing her to reflect on her own life.

“There are other 16-year-olds here. It makes you realize how lucky you are,” said Debrecht, a junior at Good Counsel. “It comes as a shock because I’ve grown up kind of fortunate, and I’ve never seen the other side of it.” Her friend, 16-year-old Helen Dalphonse, said it was important for her and the other students to be exposed to people who are from different backgrounds with different struggles. “We have to keep in mind these people these people are visitors. We have to treat them equally,” she said. Marcie Roth, executive director of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, said the outreach effort also gave the association a chance to allow people with spinal cord injuries to show the community they are not only the receivers of volunteer efforts, but also the givers. The association provides the presents, food and Santa Claus for the event, and the cost averages about $4,000 a year.

\Roth said it was important for the Good Counsel students to interact with their neighbors in wheelchairs, since many students might one day know someone with a spinal cord injury. “We don’t want them to see [a spinal cord injury] as a tragedy,” Roth said. “It’s an important message.” David Burds, a spokesman for the Spinal Cord Injury Network in Montgomery County, said he hopes the afternoon and the students’ other community service efforts throughout the year has a lasting effect on the students.

“You hope they begin to understand about giving back themselves and recognizing that they're awfully lucky and recognize how the other half lives.” Burds said.

Peter J., 38, said he has been homeless for three years and has been battling drug and alcohol addiction. He came to the event from a homeless shelter on Wilkins Avenue in Rockville. “I came here to get some presents and take something to my kids,”

Peter J. said, referring to his 12- and 13-year-old daughters. “I thought it was a good time to get out and stay focused on my treatment.” He said he didn't know what tomorrow would hold for him and wasn't sure where he would be during Christmas, but said Saturday he was enjoying the coffee and company of the afternoon. He described the students as “polite” and “hospitable.” “I think they are very humble and very Christian-like,” he said.

“They can be an example to the community so people can be like them.” In a room aglow with such a diverse crowd, James Whitmore, who volunteered Saturday on behalf of his church in Washington, D.C., wasn't convinced there were too many differences between the groups. He said the students, the physically disabled and the homeless had more in common than many thought, especially during the holidays. “It’s not a generational gap. If you sit down with them, they have similar ideas,” Whitmore said. “People around the world are basically the same.”

SPOUCES SUPPORT GROUP

SCI SPOUSES & PARTNERS SUPPORT GROUP - Meets monthly in area restaurants. Please contact Lynn at lynn.t@starpower.net for additional information. For info about SCI Peer support, click on the comment button below.

Send comments to:SCI Network