July 3, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow speaks with a Mom, parent and recipient of Jill's House, a Christian nonprofit organization that loves and serves families of children, adolescents, and young adults with profound intellectual disabilities through short-term, overnight respite care and holistic family support services. Regularly throughout the year, parents send their kids with intellectual disabilities to our “respite resort” in Vienna, VA, or to one of our camp locations around the country for 24-48 hour stays. The kids get an amazing experience in a safe, fun, loving, and celebratory environment. Meanwhile, their parents get a break. They get to sleep through the night. They get to go on a date. They get to give undivided attention to their other children. Most families take these things for granted. But for Jill’s House families, these are rare and precious gifts—they’re a lifeline. We’ll get a chance to visit with one of the parents who has been helped in a amazing way by Jill’s house – Holly who’s going to talk about her amazing son Jacob – who’s 13 and who Jill's House and made a huge impact with the entire family and especially her son!. Plus, we’ll talk with Gabreille who is a
Marketing specialist for The Good Feet Store, who are not only partners with us here at iHeart – but with Jill's House to put on a special event this July 12th and a huge golf tournament on sept 8th that gabrellie will talk about and how you get get involved.
Marketing specialist for The Good Feet Store, who are not only partners with us here at iHeart – but with Jill's House to put on a special event this July 12th and a huge golf tournament on sept 8th that gabrellie will talk about and how you get get involved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we get a
chance to talk about Jill's House, and as they put it,
is a Christian nonprofit organization that loves and serves families
of children, adolescents, and young adults with profound intellectual disabilities
through short term overnight respite care and holistic family support services.
Regularly throughout the year, parents send their kids with intellectual
(00:25):
disabilities to their respite resort in Vienna, Virginia, or to
one of their complications around the country for twenty four
or forty eight hour stays. The kids get an amazing
experience in a safe, fun, loving and celebratory environment. Meanwhile,
their parents get a break, They get to sleep through
the night, they get to go on a date, they
get to give undivided attention to their other children. Most
families take these things are granted, but for Jill's House families,
(00:47):
these are rare and precious gifts. They're a lifeline. We'll
get a chance to visit with one of those parents
who has been helped in an amazing way by Jill's House.
That's Holly Cerell. She is going to talk about her
amazing son, Jacob, who's thirteen and who's Jill's House has
made a huge impact with the entire family, especially Jacob. Plus,
we'll get a chance to talk with Gabrielle Eckert, marketing
specialists for the Good Feed Store, who are not only
(01:08):
great partners with us here at iHeart about what Jill's
House to put on a special event this July twelfth
and a huge golf tournament on September eighth. Gabrielle will
talk about how you can get involved in both of
those things. Here's my conversation with Holly and Gabrielle as
we talk about Jill's House. I hope you enjoyed the
conversation as much as I did. Good morning, Holly, Good morning. Well,
it's a pleasure to have you aboard and lots to
(01:28):
talk about when it comes to Jill's House because I
know this is near and dear to your heart and
your family, And as our listeners heard, I gave kind
of a bit of a speel about what Jill's House is,
and I know twenty eighteen was a big year for
you and your family and joining Jill's House, so I'd
love to hear the story about it. We're going to
talk about what they've meant to your family, how they've
helped your family, and all the amazing things that they're doing.
(01:50):
But can you kind of give us the origin story
about how the introduction happened to your family and what
did happen.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thank you so much for having me. Well.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
First of all, our son Jacobs almost thirteen years old.
When he was about five, someone at his school, let
me just back up for a second. He has intellectual
and physical complex disabilities. He's nonverbal, so he goes to
a special needs public school. And if you can imagine,
I'm a nurse. My husband's in the medical field, he's
in the military. We live a thousand miles away from
(02:19):
our family, so not having a great support system locally
other than you know, we're grateful for our local church
and that sort of a thing. Nothing really prepares you
for a life of complete caregiving. So when he was
about five years old, a therapist from school, physical therapist said, hey,
have you heard about Jill's House? And I had not,
(02:40):
So I went to their website. I looked into how
I could enroll him, and we got plugged in for
the very first time with an intake counselor from the
Jill's House, and that's how we were introduced.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So in this series, I've talked to so many different
nonprofits about what they do with families and giving resources
that you can have at home sometimes and that extra
help and not only the simple acknowledgment that we're here
for you, but also being able to relate to other
families that are going through what you're going through. And
I do want to talk about that, but let's talk
about Jacob, because I'm sure he's very special. But you
(03:15):
know what was like before and then as you joined
Jill's House and find out what they were doing, what
was the change with him? And then also the family
because I imagine there were a lot of positives that
came out of it.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, thank you for asking.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Well, first of all, we have Jacob has two older sisters.
They have been a life blood to him, great social interaction.
But we have always I've been very active person. You know,
you have a job, you raise your children, and you know,
I think can really truly prepare you for having a
child with complex disability. So that's kind of what our
(03:46):
life was like. Before we were able to travel. We
could go places it wasn't even it was just what
you normally did, right, It was a normal quote unquote
normal life.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So you got a hold of Jill's House, you found
out what they did. I love to hear the experience
because when you dive into something like that, you get
excited about, Ooh, I've got something that could be a
good fit for Jacob. I don't know. I don't know
if he's going to like it. I don't know what's
going to happen. You know, it's a great unknown, right,
You're grateful for the help and people do this incredible
thing of working with kids like him, but you just
(04:17):
don't know. So tell me about the first few meetings,
about what it was like for him, for you, for
the family, the sisters, and how the experience was just
at that start, that origin.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So we were really fortunate our first experience with the
Jill's House happened to be a family retreat.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And what happens when you have a child.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Who may never walk, they may never be able to
eat or do simple daily activities like that.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
We went on this Jill's House family retreat.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Our girls met other siblings that were typical that had
a special need, brother or sister, and.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
They realized Number one, they are not alone.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
We realized we were not alone, and we had no
idea how isolated. I wouldn't say isolated, but you know
in our own little world functioning, and.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
We're like, wow, there's other families like us.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So we were on a Jill's House retreat for about
four days out in nature. They had activities for the
typical siblings and then those that with their special needs
brother or sister, and they had activities for the parents.
I think the highlight of our trip. I know this
may sound something that we take for granted. We were
able to sit down and eat a meal together. They
(05:21):
had a caretaker that would you know, come alongside us,
sit beside Jacob and help him, assist him so that
we could actually sit at a table, at regular table
and eat a meal together. Things that you don't realize
you take for granted when you're not living the life
with a special needs child and it's not you. I
don't want to have a sympathy attitude, but you don't
(05:44):
realize how hard this is. It's hard to ask for help.
And the Jill's House is just such an amazing place.
They love all the kids, the kids feel very, very loved.
At the end of that weekend, it was just so
special to see how happy the typical clings where the families,
the parents had breakout sessions, and you just had that
(06:05):
extra support the whole time, like, Hey, you're not in alone,
You're not alone in this race.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
We're here for you.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
You know you. There's so many questions I want to
ask you about this, but it also conjures up a
couple things that we want as human beings. We want
simple acknowledgment, but we also want to be able to relate.
And I imagine as you got into that real comfortable
atmosphere and you saw what the Jills House people were doing. Wow,
I've got my daughters that are being able to relate
on there. As parent, I'm able to do that. And
(06:32):
then Jacob gets his help as well too, but they're
relating with other families. Must have been cathartic but also
kind of And I don't want to put myself in
your shoes. I would never do that, but just a
just an ex sale that I do have some help
and there are other people that are going through we're
going and this is a very positive experience. Would I
be correct?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Absolutely knowing that you're not alone. It's community.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
It's very healing and life giving, and just to feel.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That love and acceptance.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You don't have to apologize when oh, I'm sorry it
drops some food on the floor. You know, there's no apologizing.
It's just you were loved. It was like a little
heaven for the children. And that is truly what the
Jill's House is all about too. It's a little taste
of heaven here on earth.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I love that. I want to know about the kids
because with Jacob having two older sisters, anybody who's had
older sisters, you know, if you're a younger brother, you
can get beat up pretty good and get tossed around.
With that said, I'm sure they're loving and caring, but
I'd love to hear about their experience as they started
to see Jill's House, of what it was and what
(07:35):
it was doing for Jacob, but also them too, because
once again, you bring up a great point when you
go through whatever you do with the family, if somebody
is sick, or if you have a disabled sibling, or
just something is different than everybody else, nobody really knows that.
In your own little world, you just kind of live
it out and the world kind of circulates around you
and you keep moving forward. But I'd love to hear
(07:56):
how they were feeling after they experienced, you know, what
other families were going through, and to be normal, but
also Jacob being taken care of and having a new
level of acceptance and some cool things. What was the
feedback from the girls.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, they were excited.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
They actually had you know, a little sleepover playdate with
one of the other siblings. And one thing that the
Jills House does is sometimes they'll have typical siblings night.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
They may bring in child therapist something like.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That so they can learn to talk about their loved
one and a really safe environment so they don't feel
like they're alone or they have to stuff those feelings
that hey, this is hard, this might take attention off
of us, but just to bring everybody together, to just
keep a healthy dialogue so that they feel loved and
supported in this journey as well, so everybody is seen
(08:44):
and everyone is.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Heard, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Most importantly, when Jacob got there, well was because I
know you know himmally intimately, and I know the girls
do too. So when he got there, did you notice intrepidation?
Did he dive in and then after he started to
experience the first couple of days of doing events with
Jill's house, what was his reaction? What did you read
off with him?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
So that's an interesting question. So Jacob, I hear this
a lot from parents.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
They drop their kids off of the Jill's house, they
actually don't want to leave. The first time you drop
them off, you're a little nervous because you're used to,
you know, bathing them, dressing them, everything that they're not
able to do for themselves.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
But they get this smile on their face.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Like I said, my son is nonverbal. He's so excited
we went to pick him up. And the best part
is the first you're there, when we do a weekend
stay with him. The first night it's hard to relax.
You feel very wired alert. You always have to be
at their beck and call to help them right.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
To serve their needs.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And the second night it's like, oh now I can
just relax, I can sleep, I can have a break.
But you know that your loved one is being cared for.
So you go pick him up and he is just
nonverbally squealing, smile to smile. I know when we had
a Christmas party this past year and we got to
take a little mini tour the area where they stay,
(10:02):
and it's almost like he had his hands on the
rail being supported and he looked at me like.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Mom, are you coming?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And then he didn't want to leave, like his whole
body language, you know, like he just knows this is
his second place that he just loves. And it's really
encouraging as a parent because you feel so almost guilty
getting a break, like, oh, I'm going to drop him off,
but these kids love.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The Joel's house.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Well, I love that, and I think you've kind of
explained and experienced what a lot of parents do, especially
in this kind of a format where you've done everything
for him and now you're kind of letting him loose
and listen, it doesn't matter if you know there's a
disability or not. You're being a parent. You love your
child and leaving them alone for a day or two
is unnerving at times. But I imagine that after you
(10:48):
saw how he came back, it was like a godsend
about you know, we've found something that has opened up
a new door for us, for him specifically, but for
the girls too.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
That's the other thing is that people don't realize that
the whole family's affected in the wrong way of being
not only a caretaker or being a bigger sister or
a parent in those situations. But when you see something
like Jill's house helping out and expanding what Jacob can
can be able to experience, it must just be a
thrill for everybody.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
It sure is, And can I share one other thing please,
So for in twenty twenty, a lot of us were
not able to go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
A lot of these kids couldn't wear a mask.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
It was very they didn't understand what a mask was
when they're intellectually challenge And so one thing that we
did was the Mom's We started a Mom's Bible study online,
and then we started having retreats maybe once a year
or twice a year.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
There's a mom's.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Retreat, there's a dad's retreat, there's even single parent retreats.
That's even that's so challenging, right, and so you feel
loved and cared for.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You can just spend the weekend with other.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Parents that have the same exact life adventure in a
different way, and it's something to look forward to.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
But it's community.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Knowing you have a friend if you need to text
them or pick up the phone call. You know, I'm
having a hard day to day and just being able
to exhale and relax and know you're.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Not alone all e There's so much more I want
to talk to me, But I want to put a
pin in our conversation because we're going to talk to
Gabrielle from the Good Feed Store. They've got a special
thing coming up on July twelfth at a couple stores
that you can be a part of, and also coming
up the Golf Classic on September eighth, which benefits Jill's House.
So we're going to talk about that with Gabrielle right now. Well, Gabrielle,
(12:31):
I know we've got some very special events coming up,
and one of them is on July twelfth, and then
you've got the Golf Classic on September eighth, which I
know is a big deal. But we're here first to
talk about July twelfth, and I know it's a real
special day. Tell us what's going on.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
So we are doing the Good Feed stores first ever
one hundred percent sales proceed day, So one hundred percent
of sales starting from ten am to seven pm on Saturday,
July twelfth, at our Leesburg and Fairfax will benefit Jill's.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
House and how does it work and how can people
be a part of it.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
This is the first time we've ever done this. We
have done other events that support Jill's House, but this
will be our very first one hundred percent sales proceed
day and we're just looking forward to having a great
day at both of these locations. We will have representatives
from Jill's House there throughout the day, there will be
(13:27):
radio outside, we will have free food, and just trying
to make the day all about giving back to this
local nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Very cool, and of course we've been talking with Holly
about all We're going to rejoin her and talk a
little bit more about Jill's House and all the incredible
things that not always happening with her family, but a
lot of families. If you could, I don't know if
you have specificity, because I know what's happening right away
about which specific stored in cities and times that people
can attend. And I imagine there's something that lives on websites,
social media and we can drive people towards that too
(13:58):
if they want to check it out.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Yes, So we have a Facebook page for both our
Leesburg and Fairfax store, and there are events event pages
up for both of these locations, and I can get
specific about Our Leesburg location is in the Village at
Leesburg the addresses sixteen oh one Village Market Boulevard, and
the Fairfax location is at eleven eight nine three Grand
(14:24):
Commons Avenue. And we're running all day long ten am
seven o'clock pm from store open to store close. Come
on out, come for a free fitting and test walk
and know that every single purchase you make and sale
that is made is going to benefit Jill's House on Standing.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
And I also want to talk to you about the
Golf Classic Conceptember eight that's coming up, and anybody, especially
because I know in radio that puts on a golf tournament,
it is herculean to put these on. It's a big deal.
We're talking about hundreds of people getting the course ready,
of course, all the prizes and all the different things
that go on, and just the masked people that are there.
(15:06):
But I know it's always for a good cause. Once again,
but you've got that coming up as well too, And
can you just hit a little bit about what the
Golf Classic is on September eighth.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
So, the Jill's House Golf Classic is an annual event.
They do this every year in the fall, brings together
corporate partners and community members for a day of golf,
networking and fundraising. So Jill's House their fundraising goal this
year is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and this
(15:36):
is all on behalf of the remarkable families that are
served through Jill's House.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It's a day of golf.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
There's a reception, awards and raffle prizes, and the Good
Feed Store is the event's title sponsor, which we love
to participate in this event. This will be my first
time with the company getting to come out and support
them through this event.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
But I know every year we have a lot of.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Store support from the Good Feed Store at the Golf
Classic well outstanding.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
And how could people find out more about it if
they want to sign up be a part of it,
volunteer or anything like that. How do they go about
doing that?
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Yeah, So, the Jill's House website it's Jillshouse dot org.
They have an events page and you can find the
Golf Classic on that event's page. There's just a drop
down bar at the top and the event registration is
now open so you can register, or you can donate
a raffle or an auction item or give in any
(16:40):
way you feel inclined. But the registration everything is open
and running on their website and you can also keep
track of where they are with their fundraising so.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Far's Stanny, Well, Gabrielle, thank you so much for a
valuable time. We really appreciate good luck on the twelfth,
and then also with the Golf Classic coming up in
early September, we really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Thank you so much. I've enjoyed being here.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Okay, Holly, we're back and we had such a great
conversation with Gabrielle about the events coming up, and I
did want to talk to you more about the indoctrination
of kind of joining Jill's House because you have the
parent's perspective of having Jacob in your life as your son,
maybe not all his needs of being met, and then
this whole new world opens up with Jill's House when
(17:24):
it comes to the criteria about reaching out to them
and then maybe evaluation and then seeing the different events
or things they have. Can you talk from a parent's
perspective if somebody were to reach out to Jill's house,
then might be in a similar arena that you are
with your son Jacob. About when you reach out, what
can they expect? Because I think, once again, you know
you talked about the great and known. I don't know
(17:45):
what's going to happen here. We're going to call out,
We'll see what they have to offer. You've obviously had
a wonderful experience over the last several years. But as
a parent or parents reach out, what can they expect?
What does the process look like?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Thank you for asking that question.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
So basically they'll have a cure like a case court
that will reach out to you.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I know it might sound a little, you know, nervous.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
You're nervous at first, but they will give you a
packet that will you can write down all the needs
that your loved one has, for example, if they are verbal, nonverbal,
if they have a special diet that's sort of a thing.
You'll go through this whole packet. You'll have a medical,
a physical that you'll do and then yeah, they just
they'll spend time with you, they'll get to meet your
(18:25):
loved one, and they'll develop a care plan so they
know in advance how they can best take care of
your your loved one for the weekend or for an overnight.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
And they also have day camps.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
So whatever age category or child in whatever their needs are.
Sometimes they may need a one on one, they may
be able to have two or three people in a
little group. That's kind of what you can expect.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well cool now, depending on what the child is able
to do when it comes to events. And you've alluded
to a couple, but what things have you been a
part of over the last several years, whether it's family
or Jacob on his own that he's been a part of.
There they offer up well.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Like I mentioned before, they have amazing retreats.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
They also have sometimes like once a month, once or
twice a month, they'll have a breakfast.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
For the dads. They'll have every couple of months, we'll
have a mom's get together. We'll go have a DIRV, snacks,
drinks and just hang out in the evening, those kinds
of things. I also enjoy their Christmas party.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
We went to our first Christmas party this past year
and that was really fun to be with families of
all ages, even children that have aged out.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Of the gil's house.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So when they turn eighteen, they're not able to continue
there overnight, but.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
They still have activities and they still include you.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Going forward, so you're never out of the Gil's House
family in the DMV area.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Holly, I know you alluded to it a little bit earlier,
but I love for you to talk about the staff
at Jill's House again, because, once again, I imagine it
was a godsend once you saw the interaction of what
they do and what they offer and obviously they're very
trained at these different things and to do so many
different things with different kinds of children. But you started
to meet the staff and get to know them, what
did they offer up that you were excited about and
(20:06):
what kind of difference did it make, not only with
the family, but specifically with Jacob.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Well, thanks, thank you for asking that question. I would
say they just feel unconditional love.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And when they go there, you.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Know a lot of times when these kids are at school,
they're doing physical occupational therapy, it's they're always having to work.
When they go to the Jill's House, there's a sensory room,
there's a swimming pool, they.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Have a little chapel. It's really fun and so they
they're excited, they're.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
With a friend, they're with a buddy. It's sometimes when
I say it's lonely. These kids are the type of
children that may or may not be invited to birthday
parties or playdates and things like that.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
This is like a big playdate for them for the
whole weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
And that's why it's so special because they are not
only I wouldn't say tolerated, but they are genuinely loved
from the moment they walk into the moment they leave.
And those kids can sense and feel that. You know
that by their response.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
You and I talked at the beginning of our conversation
about being able to relate as a human. I love
just to hear the impact that it's had with you
and other parents as you talk to them and whatever
they're going through when you're going through, and that normalization
of just having a meal, taking it easy, maybe not
talking about everything in the grind you have to do
every day. Can you talk about meeting some of the
(21:23):
other parents and just getting to know them and maybe
even becoming friends with some of them.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Well, I think the one way we've gotten to know
each other is through our weekly zoom meetings. We've also
had retreats. We can go for nature walks. That's probably
one of the more fun things that we've done, or
these get togethers, and over time, just over the last
few years, going to these activities, you get to know
(21:48):
people and you almost developed kind of a unique sense
of humor. It's kind of a way of coping with
all the challenges and stresses because this is truly a marathon,
the sprint, and these loved ones will be with us
for life, so we're learning how to live it out.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
It may look a little different, and we're.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Able to synthesize information, share with one another what's working
for you.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Or do you have a resource for this?
Speaker 3 (22:16):
So a lot of resource sharing knowledge and information has
been a huge takeaway from the Jill's House.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And I imagine just to expand on that a little bit.
When you do have challenges, whether it's you singular in
the family or you hear about other ones, meeting other
parents who can kind of share the great ideas about
this is how we overcame this or this happened, and
this is how we handled it. Once again, being able
to relate and share different stories with families must be
paramount and to the success about what Jill's house is
(22:43):
with the other families.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
It sure is, And I think it's also neat because
you're able to mentor parents who may have children that
are younger than yours. There may be moms or dads
in different season of life, or they've aged out, maybe
they're twenty one and they're not even in the school
system now, so you're learning to walk alongside each other
at different phases and stages.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
It's also been really neat.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
My husband has gotten involved, I would say a little
bit more reluctantly, and I don't know if that's a
guy thing, but I try to encourage other wives or moms,
you know, encourage the dads to attend these opportunities because
once they get there, they have their own style of connecting.
Maybe it's an outdoor soccer game, or I know, my
(23:25):
husband got invited to somebody's birthday party. And again it's
you know, it's hard to get invited to things, even
as a family, because people may not say it out loud,
but I'm sure they're thinking, oh, my goodness, how do
we include this family with their.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Special needs child?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And so it's neat to see other families inviting each
other to events.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So I'm a parent. We have a twenty thy year
old that lives in Brooklyn. She's a filmmaker. And one
of the conversations that we've had many conversations by our
daughter is that when something is going sideways, a mom knows.
And what I want to ask you, with Jacob being nonverbal,
I imagine a mom knows when he's happy and happy
or having challenges. As you've seen the metamorphosis of him
joining Jill's house over the last several years. And when
(24:09):
he comes back or when you see him with other
kids or counselors, how does he express it that he's
either having a good time where you know that he's
in the right space and things are getting better. How
does it work for the family.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Well, I wish he could see him right now. He's
joyful Jacob.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
He just has the biggest smile and you can tell
he's very happy and he's he gets he moves his body.
He's so excited. He might shake his wheelchair. That means
he wants to go and it's really cute. He has
a little gate trainer, so a couple of times he
brought him through the front door and I told my husband,
normally he's clinging on to us, looking at us. When
(24:45):
he sees the Joel's house, he's ready to bolt and
he doesn't.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Fantastic. That must make you just so happy and elated, because,
once again without putting a big deal on it, you know,
people don't realize that, you know, if you have a
disabled child, that there's so much more that goes into it,
and you do what you do as a parent, right,
I mean, we just grind it out and we do it.
So when you see him then happy and coming a
little bit outside his comfort zone, and the happiness and
(25:10):
the excitement, it must be just a thrill for you
and your husband and his older sisters.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yes, it kind of lessens the mom guilt of dropping him.
If we're not just dropping off, we realize we're refreshing
our soul and maybe you know our daughters. We can
go out to eat, we can do we try to
do some an activity that's difficult to do with with Jacob,
knowing that he's.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Having the best time of his life, so we don't
have to see, well, we don't have to worry.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Well with my I told you our daughter's twenty three.
The mom guilt doesn't go away. My wife talks about
it every single days. It's always there. Well, listen, Holly,
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time.
I do want to get some final thoughts and think
of this as a pitch. I know it one time
you didn't know about Jewell's House and now you do intimately,
(25:57):
and it seems like it's really changed now with Jacob's life,
but the family's life. So if you could just kind
of talk to the families out there who maybe don't
know about Jill's House but they're just finding out today
about the process, what it's been like for your family,
and to maybe if there's a good fit, check it out.
So the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Well, thank you. That's a great, great segue. I would
just encourage you to check out their Facebook.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Page, Instagram, go to Jill's House website. There's little short
videos and stories testimonies, and I can attest many of
those stories are all very authentic and real, And I
just encourage you make a phone call or send them
an email. Someone will reach out to you. If not
the next day, within the next week. They're very good
about getting back with you.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Don't be afraid.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
If you know somebody who has an intellectual disability and
or physical disability, maybe autism, something like that, they would
love to serve you.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
It's also I wanted to mention we're in Maryland.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Maryland doesn't have the same waivers as Virginia, but sometimes
Medicaid will help pay.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
For that, or they'll be a waiver that you're on.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
They also do a sliding scale pay because they don't
want to turn anybody away.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And so we're so grateful.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
As a mom, thank you to all the people that
have donated to Jill's house.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
You have no idea such a life, just such an
amazing gift, right, a gift of rest.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
And so I would encourage anybody who would consider donating
or becoming a partner. And I'm saying that from my heart.
Nobody's asked me to say that. To give a monetary donation,
your gift goes very far. They handle the stewardship is amazing,
and these children and these families that are served, it
is life changing. It's a very unique opportunity. It's very
(27:41):
very special that we're even located. I had mentioned this before.
We're a military family, so we live one thousand miles away.
Our family all lives in the state of Kansas, so
we don't have grandma and Grandpa, we don't have anybody here,
so the Jill's House is truly a family to us.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Well, that's really well said, Holly. I know this is
a very thing of you sharing all this, but I
think it's great that you are and I'm so glad
that the family and Jacob has been helped by Jill's
House and then it's expounded all his horizons and the
families too. It's a great story and it's obviously a
testament to what Jill's House does. So thank you for
sharing your personal jury journey with us. Give my best
(28:17):
your entire family, especially Jacob, and I'm just so glad
that things are better for him for you and that
he's being able to do normal things out there like
everybody else. And I think that's so cool. So thank
you so much for joining us on community g DC.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
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Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we get a
chance to talk about Jill's House, and as they put it,
is a Christian nonprofit organization that loves and serves families
of children, adolescents, and young adults with profound intellectual disabilities
through short term overnight respite care and holistic family support services.
Regularly throughout the year, parents send their kids with intellectual
(00:25):
disabilities to their respite resort in Vienna, Virginia, or to
one of their complications around the country for twenty four
or forty eight hour stays. The kids get an amazing
experience in a safe, fun, loving and celebratory environment. Meanwhile,
their parents get a break, They get to sleep through
the night, they get to go on a date, they
get to give undivided attention to their other children. Most
families take these things are granted, but for Jill's House families,
(00:47):
these are rare and precious gifts. They're a lifeline. We'll
get a chance to visit with one of those parents
who has been helped in an amazing way by Jill's House.
That's Holly Cerell. She is going to talk about her
amazing son, Jacob, who's thirteen and who's Jill's House has
made a huge impact with the entire family, especially Jacob. Plus,
we'll get a chance to talk with Gabrielle Eckert, marketing
specialists for the Good Feed Store, who are not only
(01:08):
great partners with us here at iHeart about what Jill's
House to put on a special event this July twelfth
and a huge golf tournament on September eighth. Gabrielle will
talk about how you can get involved in both of
those things. Here's my conversation with Holly and Gabrielle as
we talk about Jill's House. I hope you enjoyed the
conversation as much as I did. Good morning, Holly, Good morning. Well,
it's a pleasure to have you aboard and lots to
(01:28):
talk about when it comes to Jill's House because I
know this is near and dear to your heart and
your family, And as our listeners heard, I gave kind
of a bit of a speel about what Jill's House is,
and I know twenty eighteen was a big year for
you and your family and joining Jill's House, so I'd
love to hear the story about it. We're going to
talk about what they've meant to your family, how they've
helped your family, and all the amazing things that they're doing.
(01:50):
But can you kind of give us the origin story
about how the introduction happened to your family and what
did happen.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thank you so much for having me. Well.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
First of all, our son Jacobs almost thirteen years old.
When he was about five, someone at his school, let
me just back up for a second. He has intellectual
and physical complex disabilities. He's nonverbal, so he goes to
a special needs public school. And if you can imagine,
I'm a nurse. My husband's in the medical field, he's
in the military. We live a thousand miles away from
(02:19):
our family, so not having a great support system locally
other than you know, we're grateful for our local church
and that sort of a thing. Nothing really prepares you
for a life of complete caregiving. So when he was
about five years old, a therapist from school, physical therapist said, hey,
have you heard about Jill's House? And I had not,
(02:40):
So I went to their website. I looked into how
I could enroll him, and we got plugged in for
the very first time with an intake counselor from the
Jill's House, and that's how we were introduced.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So in this series, I've talked to so many different
nonprofits about what they do with families and giving resources
that you can have at home sometimes and that extra
help and not only the simple acknowledgment that we're here
for you, but also being able to relate to other
families that are going through what you're going through. And
I do want to talk about that, but let's talk
about Jacob, because I'm sure he's very special. But you
(03:15):
know what was like before and then as you joined
Jill's House and find out what they were doing, what
was the change with him? And then also the family
because I imagine there were a lot of positives that
came out of it.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, thank you for asking.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Well, first of all, we have Jacob has two older sisters.
They have been a life blood to him, great social interaction.
But we have always I've been very active person. You know,
you have a job, you raise your children, and you know,
I think can really truly prepare you for having a
child with complex disability. So that's kind of what our
(03:46):
life was like. Before we were able to travel. We
could go places it wasn't even it was just what
you normally did, right, It was a normal quote unquote
normal life.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So you got a hold of Jill's House, you found
out what they did. I love to hear the experience
because when you dive into something like that, you get
excited about, Ooh, I've got something that could be a
good fit for Jacob. I don't know. I don't know
if he's going to like it. I don't know what's
going to happen. You know, it's a great unknown, right,
You're grateful for the help and people do this incredible
thing of working with kids like him, but you just
(04:17):
don't know. So tell me about the first few meetings,
about what it was like for him, for you, for
the family, the sisters, and how the experience was just
at that start, that origin.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So we were really fortunate our first experience with the
Jill's House happened to be a family retreat.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And what happens when you have a child.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Who may never walk, they may never be able to
eat or do simple daily activities like that.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
We went on this Jill's House family retreat.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Our girls met other siblings that were typical that had
a special need, brother or sister, and.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
They realized Number one, they are not alone.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
We realized we were not alone, and we had no
idea how isolated. I wouldn't say isolated, but you know
in our own little world functioning, and.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
We're like, wow, there's other families like us.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So we were on a Jill's House retreat for about
four days out in nature. They had activities for the
typical siblings and then those that with their special needs
brother or sister, and they had activities for the parents.
I think the highlight of our trip. I know this
may sound something that we take for granted. We were
able to sit down and eat a meal together. They
(05:21):
had a caretaker that would you know, come alongside us,
sit beside Jacob and help him, assist him so that
we could actually sit at a table, at regular table
and eat a meal together. Things that you don't realize
you take for granted when you're not living the life
with a special needs child and it's not you. I
don't want to have a sympathy attitude, but you don't
(05:44):
realize how hard this is. It's hard to ask for help.
And the Jill's House is just such an amazing place.
They love all the kids, the kids feel very, very loved.
At the end of that weekend, it was just so
special to see how happy the typical clings where the families,
the parents had breakout sessions, and you just had that
(06:05):
extra support the whole time, like, Hey, you're not in alone,
You're not alone in this race.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
We're here for you.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
You know you. There's so many questions I want to
ask you about this, but it also conjures up a
couple things that we want as human beings. We want
simple acknowledgment, but we also want to be able to relate.
And I imagine as you got into that real comfortable
atmosphere and you saw what the Jills House people were doing. Wow,
I've got my daughters that are being able to relate
on there. As parent, I'm able to do that. And
(06:32):
then Jacob gets his help as well too, but they're
relating with other families. Must have been cathartic but also
kind of And I don't want to put myself in
your shoes. I would never do that, but just a
just an ex sale that I do have some help
and there are other people that are going through we're
going and this is a very positive experience. Would I
be correct?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Absolutely knowing that you're not alone. It's community.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
It's very healing and life giving, and just to feel.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That love and acceptance.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You don't have to apologize when oh, I'm sorry it
drops some food on the floor. You know, there's no apologizing.
It's just you were loved. It was like a little
heaven for the children. And that is truly what the
Jill's House is all about too. It's a little taste
of heaven here on earth.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I love that. I want to know about the kids
because with Jacob having two older sisters, anybody who's had
older sisters, you know, if you're a younger brother, you
can get beat up pretty good and get tossed around.
With that said, I'm sure they're loving and caring, but
I'd love to hear about their experience as they started
to see Jill's House, of what it was and what
(07:35):
it was doing for Jacob, but also them too, because
once again, you bring up a great point when you
go through whatever you do with the family, if somebody
is sick, or if you have a disabled sibling, or
just something is different than everybody else, nobody really knows that.
In your own little world, you just kind of live
it out and the world kind of circulates around you
and you keep moving forward. But I'd love to hear
(07:56):
how they were feeling after they experienced, you know, what
other families were going through, and to be normal, but
also Jacob being taken care of and having a new
level of acceptance and some cool things. What was the
feedback from the girls.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, they were excited.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
They actually had you know, a little sleepover playdate with
one of the other siblings. And one thing that the
Jills House does is sometimes they'll have typical siblings night.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
They may bring in child therapist something like.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That so they can learn to talk about their loved
one and a really safe environment so they don't feel
like they're alone or they have to stuff those feelings
that hey, this is hard, this might take attention off
of us, but just to bring everybody together, to just
keep a healthy dialogue so that they feel loved and
supported in this journey as well, so everybody is seen
(08:44):
and everyone is.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Heard, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Most importantly, when Jacob got there, well was because I
know you know himmally intimately, and I know the girls
do too. So when he got there, did you notice intrepidation?
Did he dive in and then after he started to
experience the first couple of days of doing events with
Jill's house, what was his reaction? What did you read
off with him?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
So that's an interesting question. So Jacob, I hear this
a lot from parents.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
They drop their kids off of the Jill's house, they
actually don't want to leave. The first time you drop
them off, you're a little nervous because you're used to,
you know, bathing them, dressing them, everything that they're not
able to do for themselves.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
But they get this smile on their face.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Like I said, my son is nonverbal. He's so excited
we went to pick him up. And the best part
is the first you're there, when we do a weekend
stay with him. The first night it's hard to relax.
You feel very wired alert. You always have to be
at their beck and call to help them right.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
To serve their needs.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And the second night it's like, oh now I can
just relax, I can sleep, I can have a break.
But you know that your loved one is being cared for.
So you go pick him up and he is just
nonverbally squealing, smile to smile. I know when we had
a Christmas party this past year and we got to
take a little mini tour the area where they stay,
(10:02):
and it's almost like he had his hands on the
rail being supported and he looked at me like.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Mom, are you coming?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And then he didn't want to leave, like his whole
body language, you know, like he just knows this is
his second place that he just loves. And it's really
encouraging as a parent because you feel so almost guilty
getting a break, like, oh, I'm going to drop him off,
but these kids love.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The Joel's house.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Well, I love that, and I think you've kind of
explained and experienced what a lot of parents do, especially
in this kind of a format where you've done everything
for him and now you're kind of letting him loose
and listen, it doesn't matter if you know there's a
disability or not. You're being a parent. You love your
child and leaving them alone for a day or two
is unnerving at times. But I imagine that after you
(10:48):
saw how he came back, it was like a godsend
about you know, we've found something that has opened up
a new door for us, for him specifically, but for
the girls too.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
That's the other thing is that people don't realize that
the whole family's affected in the wrong way of being
not only a caretaker or being a bigger sister or
a parent in those situations. But when you see something
like Jill's house helping out and expanding what Jacob can
can be able to experience, it must just be a
thrill for everybody.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
It sure is, And can I share one other thing please,
So for in twenty twenty, a lot of us were
not able to go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
A lot of these kids couldn't wear a mask.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
It was very they didn't understand what a mask was
when they're intellectually challenge And so one thing that we
did was the Mom's We started a Mom's Bible study online,
and then we started having retreats maybe once a year
or twice a year.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
There's a mom's.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Retreat, there's a dad's retreat, there's even single parent retreats.
That's even that's so challenging, right, and so you feel
loved and cared for.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You can just spend the weekend with other.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Parents that have the same exact life adventure in a
different way, and it's something to look forward to.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
But it's community.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Knowing you have a friend if you need to text
them or pick up the phone call. You know, I'm
having a hard day to day and just being able
to exhale and relax and know you're.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Not alone all e There's so much more I want
to talk to me, But I want to put a
pin in our conversation because we're going to talk to
Gabrielle from the Good Feed Store. They've got a special
thing coming up on July twelfth at a couple stores
that you can be a part of, and also coming
up the Golf Classic on September eighth, which benefits Jill's House.
So we're going to talk about that with Gabrielle right now. Well, Gabrielle,
(12:31):
I know we've got some very special events coming up,
and one of them is on July twelfth, and then
you've got the Golf Classic on September eighth, which I
know is a big deal. But we're here first to
talk about July twelfth, and I know it's a real
special day. Tell us what's going on.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
So we are doing the Good Feed stores first ever
one hundred percent sales proceed day, So one hundred percent
of sales starting from ten am to seven pm on Saturday,
July twelfth, at our Leesburg and Fairfax will benefit Jill's.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
House and how does it work and how can people
be a part of it.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
This is the first time we've ever done this. We
have done other events that support Jill's House, but this
will be our very first one hundred percent sales proceed
day and we're just looking forward to having a great
day at both of these locations. We will have representatives
from Jill's House there throughout the day, there will be
(13:27):
radio outside, we will have free food, and just trying
to make the day all about giving back to this
local nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Very cool, and of course we've been talking with Holly
about all We're going to rejoin her and talk a
little bit more about Jill's House and all the incredible
things that not always happening with her family, but a
lot of families. If you could, I don't know if
you have specificity, because I know what's happening right away
about which specific stored in cities and times that people
can attend. And I imagine there's something that lives on websites,
social media and we can drive people towards that too
(13:58):
if they want to check it out.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Yes, So we have a Facebook page for both our
Leesburg and Fairfax store, and there are events event pages
up for both of these locations, and I can get
specific about Our Leesburg location is in the Village at
Leesburg the addresses sixteen oh one Village Market Boulevard, and
the Fairfax location is at eleven eight nine three Grand
(14:24):
Commons Avenue. And we're running all day long ten am
seven o'clock pm from store open to store close. Come
on out, come for a free fitting and test walk
and know that every single purchase you make and sale
that is made is going to benefit Jill's House on Standing.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
And I also want to talk to you about the
Golf Classic Conceptember eight that's coming up, and anybody, especially
because I know in radio that puts on a golf tournament,
it is herculean to put these on. It's a big deal.
We're talking about hundreds of people getting the course ready,
of course, all the prizes and all the different things
that go on, and just the masked people that are there.
(15:06):
But I know it's always for a good cause. Once again,
but you've got that coming up as well too, And
can you just hit a little bit about what the
Golf Classic is on September eighth.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
So, the Jill's House Golf Classic is an annual event.
They do this every year in the fall, brings together
corporate partners and community members for a day of golf,
networking and fundraising. So Jill's House their fundraising goal this
year is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and this
(15:36):
is all on behalf of the remarkable families that are
served through Jill's House.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It's a day of golf.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
There's a reception, awards and raffle prizes, and the Good
Feed Store is the event's title sponsor, which we love
to participate in this event. This will be my first
time with the company getting to come out and support
them through this event.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
But I know every year we have a lot of.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Store support from the Good Feed Store at the Golf
Classic well outstanding.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
And how could people find out more about it if
they want to sign up be a part of it,
volunteer or anything like that. How do they go about
doing that?
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Yeah, So, the Jill's House website it's Jillshouse dot org.
They have an events page and you can find the
Golf Classic on that event's page. There's just a drop
down bar at the top and the event registration is
now open so you can register, or you can donate
a raffle or an auction item or give in any
(16:40):
way you feel inclined. But the registration everything is open
and running on their website and you can also keep
track of where they are with their fundraising so.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Far's Stanny, Well, Gabrielle, thank you so much for a
valuable time. We really appreciate good luck on the twelfth,
and then also with the Golf Classic coming up in
early September, we really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Thank you so much. I've enjoyed being here.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Okay, Holly, we're back and we had such a great
conversation with Gabrielle about the events coming up, and I
did want to talk to you more about the indoctrination
of kind of joining Jill's House because you have the
parent's perspective of having Jacob in your life as your son,
maybe not all his needs of being met, and then
this whole new world opens up with Jill's House when
(17:24):
it comes to the criteria about reaching out to them
and then maybe evaluation and then seeing the different events
or things they have. Can you talk from a parent's
perspective if somebody were to reach out to Jill's house,
then might be in a similar arena that you are
with your son Jacob. About when you reach out, what
can they expect? Because I think, once again, you know
you talked about the great and known. I don't know
(17:45):
what's going to happen here. We're going to call out,
We'll see what they have to offer. You've obviously had
a wonderful experience over the last several years. But as
a parent or parents reach out, what can they expect?
What does the process look like?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Thank you for asking that question.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
So basically they'll have a cure like a case court
that will reach out to you.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I know it might sound a little, you know, nervous.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
You're nervous at first, but they will give you a
packet that will you can write down all the needs
that your loved one has, for example, if they are verbal, nonverbal,
if they have a special diet that's sort of a thing.
You'll go through this whole packet. You'll have a medical,
a physical that you'll do and then yeah, they just
they'll spend time with you, they'll get to meet your
(18:25):
loved one, and they'll develop a care plan so they
know in advance how they can best take care of
your your loved one for the weekend or for an overnight.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
And they also have day camps.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
So whatever age category or child in whatever their needs are.
Sometimes they may need a one on one, they may
be able to have two or three people in a
little group. That's kind of what you can expect.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well cool now, depending on what the child is able
to do when it comes to events. And you've alluded
to a couple, but what things have you been a
part of over the last several years, whether it's family
or Jacob on his own that he's been a part of.
There they offer up well.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Like I mentioned before, they have amazing retreats.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
They also have sometimes like once a month, once or
twice a month, they'll have a breakfast.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
For the dads. They'll have every couple of months, we'll
have a mom's get together. We'll go have a DIRV, snacks,
drinks and just hang out in the evening, those kinds
of things. I also enjoy their Christmas party.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
We went to our first Christmas party this past year
and that was really fun to be with families of
all ages, even children that have aged out.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Of the gil's house.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So when they turn eighteen, they're not able to continue
there overnight, but.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
They still have activities and they still include you.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Going forward, so you're never out of the Gil's House
family in the DMV area.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Holly, I know you alluded to it a little bit earlier,
but I love for you to talk about the staff
at Jill's House again, because, once again, I imagine it
was a godsend once you saw the interaction of what
they do and what they offer and obviously they're very
trained at these different things and to do so many
different things with different kinds of children. But you started
to meet the staff and get to know them, what
did they offer up that you were excited about and
(20:06):
what kind of difference did it make, not only with
the family, but specifically with Jacob.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Well, thanks, thank you for asking that question. I would
say they just feel unconditional love.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And when they go there, you.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Know a lot of times when these kids are at school,
they're doing physical occupational therapy, it's they're always having to work.
When they go to the Jill's House, there's a sensory room,
there's a swimming pool, they.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Have a little chapel. It's really fun and so they
they're excited, they're.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
With a friend, they're with a buddy. It's sometimes when
I say it's lonely. These kids are the type of
children that may or may not be invited to birthday
parties or playdates and things like that.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
This is like a big playdate for them for the
whole weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
And that's why it's so special because they are not
only I wouldn't say tolerated, but they are genuinely loved
from the moment they walk into the moment they leave.
And those kids can sense and feel that. You know
that by their response.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
You and I talked at the beginning of our conversation
about being able to relate as a human. I love
just to hear the impact that it's had with you
and other parents as you talk to them and whatever
they're going through when you're going through, and that normalization
of just having a meal, taking it easy, maybe not
talking about everything in the grind you have to do
every day. Can you talk about meeting some of the
(21:23):
other parents and just getting to know them and maybe
even becoming friends with some of them.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Well, I think the one way we've gotten to know
each other is through our weekly zoom meetings. We've also
had retreats. We can go for nature walks. That's probably
one of the more fun things that we've done, or
these get togethers, and over time, just over the last
few years, going to these activities, you get to know
(21:48):
people and you almost developed kind of a unique sense
of humor. It's kind of a way of coping with
all the challenges and stresses because this is truly a marathon,
the sprint, and these loved ones will be with us
for life, so we're learning how to live it out.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
It may look a little different, and we're.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Able to synthesize information, share with one another what's working
for you.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Or do you have a resource for this?
Speaker 3 (22:16):
So a lot of resource sharing knowledge and information has
been a huge takeaway from the Jill's House.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And I imagine just to expand on that a little bit.
When you do have challenges, whether it's you singular in
the family or you hear about other ones, meeting other
parents who can kind of share the great ideas about
this is how we overcame this or this happened, and
this is how we handled it. Once again, being able
to relate and share different stories with families must be
paramount and to the success about what Jill's house is
(22:43):
with the other families.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
It sure is, And I think it's also neat because
you're able to mentor parents who may have children that
are younger than yours. There may be moms or dads
in different season of life, or they've aged out, maybe
they're twenty one and they're not even in the school
system now, so you're learning to walk alongside each other
at different phases and stages.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
It's also been really neat.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
My husband has gotten involved, I would say a little
bit more reluctantly, and I don't know if that's a
guy thing, but I try to encourage other wives or moms,
you know, encourage the dads to attend these opportunities because
once they get there, they have their own style of connecting.
Maybe it's an outdoor soccer game, or I know, my
(23:25):
husband got invited to somebody's birthday party. And again it's
you know, it's hard to get invited to things, even
as a family, because people may not say it out loud,
but I'm sure they're thinking, oh, my goodness, how do
we include this family with their.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Special needs child?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
And so it's neat to see other families inviting each
other to events.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So I'm a parent. We have a twenty thy year
old that lives in Brooklyn. She's a filmmaker. And one
of the conversations that we've had many conversations by our
daughter is that when something is going sideways, a mom knows.
And what I want to ask you, with Jacob being nonverbal,
I imagine a mom knows when he's happy and happy
or having challenges. As you've seen the metamorphosis of him
joining Jill's house over the last several years. And when
(24:09):
he comes back or when you see him with other
kids or counselors, how does he express it that he's
either having a good time where you know that he's
in the right space and things are getting better. How
does it work for the family.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Well, I wish he could see him right now. He's
joyful Jacob.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
He just has the biggest smile and you can tell
he's very happy and he's he gets he moves his body.
He's so excited. He might shake his wheelchair. That means
he wants to go and it's really cute. He has
a little gate trainer, so a couple of times he
brought him through the front door and I told my husband,
normally he's clinging on to us, looking at us. When
(24:45):
he sees the Joel's house, he's ready to bolt and
he doesn't.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Fantastic. That must make you just so happy and elated, because,
once again without putting a big deal on it, you know,
people don't realize that, you know, if you have a
disabled child, that there's so much more that goes into it,
and you do what you do as a parent, right,
I mean, we just grind it out and we do it.
So when you see him then happy and coming a
little bit outside his comfort zone, and the happiness and
(25:10):
the excitement, it must be just a thrill for you
and your husband and his older sisters.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yes, it kind of lessens the mom guilt of dropping him.
If we're not just dropping off, we realize we're refreshing
our soul and maybe you know our daughters. We can
go out to eat, we can do we try to
do some an activity that's difficult to do with with Jacob,
knowing that he's.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Having the best time of his life, so we don't
have to see, well, we don't have to worry.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Well with my I told you our daughter's twenty three.
The mom guilt doesn't go away. My wife talks about
it every single days. It's always there. Well, listen, Holly,
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time.
I do want to get some final thoughts and think
of this as a pitch. I know it one time
you didn't know about Jewell's House and now you do intimately,
(25:57):
and it seems like it's really changed now with Jacob's life,
but the family's life. So if you could just kind
of talk to the families out there who maybe don't
know about Jill's House but they're just finding out today
about the process, what it's been like for your family,
and to maybe if there's a good fit, check it out.
So the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Well, thank you. That's a great, great segue. I would
just encourage you to check out their Facebook.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Page, Instagram, go to Jill's House website. There's little short
videos and stories testimonies, and I can attest many of
those stories are all very authentic and real, And I
just encourage you make a phone call or send them
an email. Someone will reach out to you. If not
the next day, within the next week. They're very good
about getting back with you.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Don't be afraid.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
If you know somebody who has an intellectual disability and
or physical disability, maybe autism, something like that, they would
love to serve you.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
It's also I wanted to mention we're in Maryland.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Maryland doesn't have the same waivers as Virginia, but sometimes
Medicaid will help pay.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
For that, or they'll be a waiver that you're on.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
They also do a sliding scale pay because they don't
want to turn anybody away.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And so we're so grateful.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
As a mom, thank you to all the people that
have donated to Jill's house.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
You have no idea such a life, just such an
amazing gift, right, a gift of rest.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
And so I would encourage anybody who would consider donating
or becoming a partner. And I'm saying that from my heart.
Nobody's asked me to say that. To give a monetary donation,
your gift goes very far. They handle the stewardship is amazing,
and these children and these families that are served, it
is life changing. It's a very unique opportunity. It's very
(27:41):
very special that we're even located. I had mentioned this before.
We're a military family, so we live one thousand miles away.
Our family all lives in the state of Kansas, so
we don't have grandma and Grandpa, we don't have anybody here,
so the Jill's House is truly a family to us.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Well, that's really well said, Holly. I know this is
a very thing of you sharing all this, but I
think it's great that you are and I'm so glad
that the family and Jacob has been helped by Jill's
House and then it's expounded all his horizons and the
families too. It's a great story and it's obviously a
testament to what Jill's House does. So thank you for
sharing your personal jury journey with us. Give my best
(28:17):
your entire family, especially Jacob, and I'm just so glad
that things are better for him for you and that
he's being able to do normal things out there like
everybody else. And I think that's so cool. So thank
you so much for joining us on community g DC.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
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