fundraiser
Next's Words of Thanks: WHALE Respite Center
$9,333 Raised
WHALE, Inc. of Weld County provides quality short-term care for children with delays or disabilities, and respite for their families with the overarching goal of enhancing their quality of life, improving wellness, and strengthening the family unit. The physical safety, and emotional well-being, of children and youth is sustained through the preservation of lifelong connections to their families, culture, spirituality, and communities. WHALE, Inc. supports the community’s families and children.
Through WHALE’s respite services, we strive to achieve the goal of providing children with delays and disabilities with the opportunity to be in a safe environment with trained staff members who can meet each child’s diverse and individual needs, have social interaction with peers, and participate in sports and/or activities that they may not otherwise be able to due to physical, cognitive, communicative, or behavioral differences. Respite services will also provide school-aged youth a place to participate in social opportunities, tutoring for educational needs, adaptive sports, and activities of all kinds to help young people with delays and disabilities thrive in their environments outside of the school setting.
What parents are saying about WHALE:
"I tell everyone who has a special needs child that WHALE is an amazing place that I trust for childcare. I don't need to worry about getting calls that my son is too much to handle for the day."
"I am grateful for WHALE Respite Center because it allows me to spend focused time with my other children, while my child is at a safe place, and she is understood."
“I have an eight-year-old child with special needs. She is the youngest of five children. We have a crazy beautiful life full of many activities. Life can be hard to juggle with typical children but add a special needs child in the mix and it makes things so much more challenging. She is non-verbal, G-tube fed and is severely developmentally disabled. We cannot just call up any typical babysitter to watch her when we have an activity with one of the other children. We love to include her in as many activities as we can, but she does not enjoy most of the long days of sport tournaments or places where she has to sit and be quiet for an extended time. It has been very stressful to find and train caretakers for her over the years. Having a respite care facility close that is trained to meet the specialized needs of our daughter and feels like a home away from home for her is a true treasure.”
What children are communicating about WHALE:
"My son in nonverbal, but he is so happy and excited when we get to WHALE. He is comfortable and goes straight to his classroom and is happy to see his teachers."
"I had a blast."
"Mom, I want to join my friends who are at WHALE for days off of school!" (Referencing our Schools Out Days program.)
At WHALE, we build inclusive communities where families who have children with delays/disabilities THRIVE through equal opportunities to live, learn, and play.
We Help and Love Everyone, Inc. (WHALE) was founded as a nonprofit entity with federally recognized 501(c)3 status in 2021 to serve children with disabilities and their unpaid caregivers by providing respite care and support. In contrast to general childcare, WHALE respite services provide skilled care for children with delays and disabilities to provide for the child’s wellbeing while in temporary care, and the caregiver’s opportunity to mentally, and physically, recharge themselves. The founders of WHALE are also co-owners of Oasis Pediatric Therapy and have supported children with delays and disabilities and their families in the Northern Colorado region for seven years. WHALE, Inc is dedicated to furthering the founder’s support of underserved children with a continuum of care critically needed by the community.
The founders are thought leaders in applying multimodal methodologies to address community needs for therapy treatments and care of children with disabilities. They are highly experienced medical professionals in pediatric treatments, developing organizational management practices, and programs that uphold the organizational adherence to its mission to serve the underserved families and children with disabilities of Colorado.
Respite care is designed to relieve families, and caregivers, of the physical or emotional stress associated with caring for a child with delays or disabilities. Respite is time-limited, temporary relief that allows families, who may otherwise be home-bound, the opportunity to enjoy a short break from childcare activities. Parents who have children with delays or disabilities are not able to place the child with a local teenage babysitter, as their children have a higher degree of care needs that must be provided by skilled care professionals. Caring for a child with disabilities or medical complexities is often extremely difficult, both physically and emotionally, causing many family and other unpaid caregivers to experience high levels of emotional stress and depression as a result with over half of them having no prior experience in performing caregiving tasks of this nature.
Organization name
Whale Inc
other names
We Help And Love Everyone
2021
Tax id (EIN)
87-4433243
Category
Youth Development, Education, Health Care
Organization Size
Small Organization
Colorado State Tax Credits
Colorado Child Care Credit
Address
5699 West 20th StreetCO, US