The Arc of Tippecanoe County

We are ready to do our next activity bag pick up!! Thanks to everyone who made our pick up this week such a success and for those of you who participated in the WLFI interview!!

Our second bag will be a Garden Bag- it will contain soil, sunflower seeds and directions for starting your own sunflowers to plant outside this summer. Thanks to a few great donors- this bag will be free to all Arc Members who RSVP to rsvp@arcoftippecanoe.org by Wednesday, May 13th. Remember when you RSVP you will get an email response from us within 24 to 36 hours. If you do not get an email confirming your rsvp- your email did not go through.

Before you pick up your bag, you will need to find a pot to plant your flowers in. This could be a recycled coffee can, veggie can, a 2 litter bottle with the top half cut off…what every you have at home. You can decorate your pot with paint, stickers and/or markers. We will include instructions on plant care with the bag.

Pick up of the bags will be at the Tippecanoe Mall at 2:00 on Monday, May 18th. Location at the mall still to be determined. Remember we will still be social distancing so no walk up pickups will be allowed.

We also have left over activity and craft bags for those who would rather have one of those bags.

Please let me know if you have any questions!! I have also attached our Tippy Arc Covid-19 Program changes that talk about how we are going forward safely with a return to regular programming. We are also looking for donors and ideas for our next Activity Bags. Let us know if you would like to help or have a great idea.

Take care!!
Milissa

Covid-19 Program Changes

May 4, 2020
Tippy Arc Covid-19 Programming Changes

Hi All!!

In order to continue to keep our Arc Community engaged during the Covid-19 Crisis and new Social Distancing policies, we have developed the following programs:

1. Activity Bag distribution- The Arc will distribute art/activity bags twice per month at the Tippecanoe County Mall. We will post an invitation for each bag and members will be required to RSVP to rsvp@arcoftippecanoe.com to reserve their bag. Members or representatives must have private transportation to the mall…we cannot do walk up pick ups due to covid-restrictions. Volunteers will sign you in and place a bag in your trunk with no contact.
2. Facebook Groups for Caregivers and Arc Friends group- allow you to join from our Facebook page and have contact with other members in a closed group safe environment. Go to our Facebook page and click the groups tab to join.
3. Text Buddies/Pen Pals- We will match Arc members interested in having weekly contact via phone, email, text or letters with another Arc Member. Contact us at director@arcoftippecanoe.org for more information.

Depending on state and local guidelines, we plan to return with Aktion Club in June and Adult Recreation/Arc on the Go in July. Watch for more information because this could change as our main goal is to keep everyone safe!

We are looking for donations to support our activity bags so we can continue to provide them free and frequently to everyone who wants one. You can contact me at director@arcoftippecanoe.org if you are interested in helping or have ideas. We are always looking for Volunteers and great ideas!

Please take care of yourself- wash your hands frequently, stay home if you are sick and as much as you can during this crisis- so we can be together again. I am here is you need to talk- 765-476-3277.

Take Care!!

Milissa O’Hern, Executive Director

Thank you so much for your patience as we worked through shipping delays and an update from the Governor before we could proceed with our Activity/Art Bag pick up. It has been a challenging process.

I am pleased to announce the Tippecanoe Mall has given us permission to do bag pick ups in their HH Gregg Parking lot- which faces State Road 38 by Wendy’s. We will have volunteers checking people off the list and another volunteer who will put bags in your trunk or backseat. PLEASE DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR CAR!! We also cannot take walk up pick ups due to Social Distancing Rules. We will start at 2:00 pm and be there until 2:30 or when all the people who rsvp’d for a bag pick it up.

The Mall has asked us to not block the Dicks Sporting Goods parking lot or the City Bus Access. Please maintain one line. If this goes well tomorrow, the Mall will allow us to do these bag pick ups twice a month!!

The RSVP for bag number two will start next Monday.

We also have the following ways to continue to be social while staying safe-
1. Pen Pal group- so far we have had two members sign up to be Pen Pals- or text Buddies/call buddies- they basically talk weekly. We have plenty of space for more folks.
2. Arc Friends Group- Facebook group for members to communicate with each other in a private settings. This group has 59 members. Just click the groups tab on our Facebook Page.
3. Caregiver Support Group- Facebook group for parents/caretakers of our members. This group is up to 39 members.
4. I have also been sharing community resources on our Facebook page to keep you updated on the various community projects. I hope to get these to our website as well.
5. We are also working on a online Resource Fair. We will feature agencies that signed up for our Resource Fair on social media and the website. This event was postponed due to Covid-19.

Based on the information I have from our Tippecanoe County Health Department as of today, we should be able to resume small groups like Aktion Club in June and Adult Recreation/Arc on the Go in July. Get ready to party in July and August we have LOTS of time to make up for.

Please let me know if you can think of other ways The Tippy Arc can help you as we weather this crisis. I am working from home and am available to talk/text or email. I miss you all!!

Take good care of yourselves. As the Bon Jovi says “We are half way there”

HI All! We are running into a shipping problem with Amazon to get some of our supplies. We will post when we have everything we need to the first bag. Our last estimate was a May 15th shipment. We are also working on a second bag for early June. Watch for more information. Take care and stay safe!!

Hi All,

I hope you are safe and well at home. I know this has been a hard time for everyone.

Since we cannot get together until the end of June, our team has been working to come up with ideas to keep us entertained and remind us we are all in this together.

1. We are making activity and art bags that we will distribute next week at a location to be determined. We have Kathy Smith and her grandkids who will make these bags up for us. We need to know how many people would be interested in getting a bag. The bags will be free and if this is popular we will do this a couple of times a month until we can have group events. The bags are FREE. All you need to do is send an email to rsvp@arcoftippecanoe.org with the name of the arc member who would like a bag and if they want an activity or art bag by noon on Thursday so I can place our order. We will not be able to do late rsvp’s. You must be able to pick up the bags.

2. We have started a pen pal group where we will match people together to call, text and check in with each other during the quarantine. I have one person signed up and we need a match for her. Email me at director@arcoftippecanoe.org for more information.

3. We have two groups on our Facebook page- One for Caregivers and one for Arc Members- these groups can share information and communicate in a closed group setting. If you go to our Facebook page and click the group tabs you can request to be added to the group. We have done a group video chart in the Arc Friends group and will do other chats in the future. Thank you to our newest Board Member Katie Ceglio for setting up our video chat.

4. Watch for live videos on our Facebook page. We have had the Smiths making rice crispy treats, the Vickreys doing science experiments and the Roys making playdough from California.

Let us know if we can do anything else to help during this challenging time. We will all be back to normal and dancing the night away before we know it. Until then, we are all in this together.

Take care!!

Milissa