Are you getting ready to do your holiday shopping on Amazon.com? Did you know Merica House can receive 4% of your Amazon purchase price with no increase in cost to you? Just begin your Amazon shopping here at theapd.org . Click the red text, “Before you shop Amazon, click here.” That takes you directly to the Amazon site for shopping. All of your Amazon purchases will then be tagged for a 4% contribution to Merica House. Thank you for your support. Happy holidays.
This year’s, Eat for a Cause, fund raiser was a success again. For the third time, Pistone’s Restaurant in Falls Church, VA has hosted this delicious fund raiser. This year, Telly Bonaduce, the owner, donated 20% of the proceeds for the night to the Alliance for the Physically Disabled. Friends and families of the APD and Merica House enjoy a delicious meal and at the same time much needed money is raised for the work of the APD.
Kathy Shields, V.Pres of the Alliance for the Physically Disabled accepts a check from Telly Bonaduce, owner of Pistone’s Restaurant in Falls Church, VA for the successful Eat for a Cause fundraiser on Oct 11, 2017. A total of $400 was raised to benefit Merica House.
Merica House got a face-lift when the Lowe’s Heroes spent a day painting. Jeremy Beasley offered to organize Lowe’s employees to refresh Merica House on April 20th. Cathy Parr and Kathy Shields chose the paint colors and in one day these special friends painted all but three rooms (they had recently been redone).
Lowe’s Heroes began this volunteer program more than 10 years ago. Employees team together, adopt a volunteer project with a local nonprofit organization, and make a difference.
Jeremy and his Lowe’s Heroes made a beautiful difference to Merica House for its residents!
Click on the picture to see the Paint Party album.
The Alliance for the Physically Disabled is pleased to partner with Pistone’s Restaurant for 
this enjoyable fundraiser.
On Wednesday, April 13, friends and family of the Alliance for the Physically Disabled enjoyed eating dinner at Pistone’s Restaurant.
Pistone’s donated 10% of their proceeds that night to the APD. Along with donations from individuals, $470 were raised that night.
A great big, “Thank you!” to Pistone’s for their generosity and making this an evening to remember!
An unnamed donor has committed to match on a 1:1 basis, $10,000 toward our Thanksgiving goal of $20,000!
THE APDis a qualified 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
In the years since his ordination, Father Matthew DeForest has developed into an engaging and dynamic priest with a gift for delivering inspirational homilies. DeForest’s words vary from week to week, but the essence of his message remains consistent. “People of hope,” he tells the congregation, “must live differently.”
One way in which Father Matthew lives differently is in the work he undertakes to nurture his own unique “pots of gold.” In the fall of 2011, DeForest took interest in a gentleman named Sean Wawrzaszek, a 45-year-old resident in a private condominium known as Merica House. As with other residents of Merica House, Wawrzaszek was afflicted with cerebral palsy. Wawrzaszek’s disability prevented him from manipulating his fingers or articulating words; he depended on a touch-sensitive computer linked to a speech synthesizer to convey his thoughts. With Wawrzaszek’s lack of manual dexterity, forming sentences on the computer was a formidable task. Wawrzaszek had to repeatedly cursor through characters and words projected on his monitor to transform his thoughts into meaningful expressions. The process did not lend itself to quick conversations. A routine exchange could take several minutes. …
On May 10, 2014, Jeanie Hume and Debbie Pena, long time volunteers at Merica House, took to their culinary skills and hosted an English Tea Party for our residents and their family and friends.
Jeanie, who has lived in England for several years, and Debbie wore white laced aprons and fabulous hats. They served chicken salad tea sandwiches, cucumber cream cheese sandwiches, scones, quiches and fabulous desserts. The tea was brewed from tea leaves and served in the finest china.
We laughed and enjoyed each other’s company in a most fashionable way while feasting on a wonderful array of trays of delicious treats.
We thank them for hosting a beautiful afternoon for our residents and their friends.
Cerebral palsy is a lifelong disorder. There is no cure. The disorder does not affect expected length of life. Many adults are able to live in the community, either independently or with different levels of help. The goal of treatment is to help the person be as independent as possible.
In most cases, a child with cerebral palsy can attend regular schools. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, orthopedic help, or other treatments may be helpful in maintaining the person’s level of functioning. Surgery may be needed in some cases.
We thank our friends, family and the Sydney Hale Company for making our 2013 holiday fund raiser a success. We raised $300!
This was our third year partnering with this family owned and locally based Virginia company. Meghan Cook, the owner of the Sydney Hale Company, is a dear friend to Merica House. Thank you again for your continued support to our residents. We wish you a healthy new year.
The Barnes and Noble gift wrapping of customer purchases on December 18th went off without a hitch. Merica House volunteered to wrap purchases of Barnes and Noble customers for donations with B&N providing all the gift wrap, scissors, and tape. There were two volunteers for each three hour shift. Traffic was slow at times and busier at others. There was plenty of time for all of us to take breaks, meander around the store, and even get a “cup of joe” from Starbucks. The final cash-in for the day came to $200. We all felt that it was a worthwhile day, it was fun, and that it was worth doing again next year!
