Canada
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We are a couple who have just recently established a daycare/social club for early and mid-dementia. We need assistance with our different therapeutic programs, such as music, exercise, art, and cognitive rehab. We are mostly incorporating the Montessori philosophy and methods in the delivery of our programs. The daycare at this stage will be small in scale, providing a homelike environment. It is run as a non-profit society. The maximum number of attendees will be 8 and the program will initially run twice a week for 5 hours a day with the possibility of expanding it if there is sufficient demand. We are providing a nutritious lunch each day for the participants. Our volunteers will be oriented to the philosophy and design of our program and will assist us in its implementation.
We are also exploring starting a forest school for 3-5 year olds. We have had workawayers for the last five years and have made friends with many of them. We enjoy meeting people from different cultures and like to share with them our Canadian way of life. Our 109-year-old brick home is located on a half acre where we grow some vegetables and herbs and have a good number of fruit trees. Clayburn Village is a very small rural community in between Abbotsford and Mission in British Columbia.
My imagined profile of a candidate to help us with our project would include some of these attributes and skills.
Creative in the arts, such as music, crafts, painting, dance, storytelling, sculpture, and theater.
Enjoys or is willing to cook plant based and/or vegetarian.
Kind, caring, patient and compassionate.
Can work well as part of a team.
Enjoys gardening, working with their hands.
Can help implement cognitive therapy (including use of ipad, virtual reality programs) and exercise, yoga, mindfulness sessions.
Has a calm, positive demeanor.
A little about us. We are a couple who are retired from our previous careers in Montessori Education and in nursing. We are both mostly relaxed, calm, happy people, but also very concerned about the environmental disintegration of our earth and climate change. We are not materialistic but greatly value relationships. Ramsey values a spiritual life as a significant part of life balance, while Leslie is a creative person who has a special place in her heart for children. Both of us are warm-hearted and love music. I like building with wood, reading and taking the dog for a walk. Leslie loves gardening, making stained glass windows and painting. We both like to play games, have deep conversations and watch movies and laugh for no particular reason.
Gardening
Building
Elderly Companion
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Other
Help in the house
Animal care
Art project
Help with Computers / internet
We like to go to different cultural events in our community which helpers can share in. We can share with them the knowledge of the area and go on short trips with them. We often will be eating together and will have plenty of time for discussions, games and other shared activities.
We will need help in running different therapeutic programs, for example in art, music, exercise and cognitive rehabilitation. Our volunteers will be part of a team. Ideally, there would be a minimum of three people for eight attendees. You would never work alone in the daycare. We would also need help in preparing meals and household chores when time permits. Volunteers would have oversight in their work.
We also need help in the garden, building a workshop extension or putting together a new workshop. We have a dog, a golden retriever who really likes long walks or runs.
English
We will either have a large room in our house with two queen sized beds and a full bathroom with jetted tub or a Garden Cottage, which is completely self-contained, except for a washer, dryer, and stove. The Garden Cottage has two sleeping lofts and a main bedroom. The access to the lofts are through the main bedroom, so people who wish for privacy will not have it completely. There is a curtain around the main loft area and the bed of the main bedroom, so there is privacy in that respect. Both accommodations have cable, netflix and wifi.
We are located close to the Fraser River. Vancouver is an hour car or train ride away, and there are numerous hiking trails and lakes in the area. We also have great mountain biking trails. Bikes are available for workawayers. We are also a ten-minute drive to the Pacific Northwest of the United States with many interesting sites and landscapes.
We have adopted a plant based diet so we will mostly prepare dinners without animal products, however, there will be eggs and dairy products for vegetarians when they prepare meals for themselves. We ask that our workawayers do not smoke, do drugs or drink excessive alcohol while on our property.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Two
maximum 20 hours per week, six hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the rest distributed as you like.
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(5.0)
