Eden Foundation's Datong Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop” in Xizhi which commissioned by Social Affairs Bureau of New Taipei City Government, that turned 10th year this year! As Father's Day approaches, Eden organized the “Showing Love in the Name of Fathers and 10th Anniversary Celebration of Datong” event on the 3rd of August inviting the service users and parents to look back on what has happened in the small-scale sheltered community workshop during the past 10 years. After the event, a parent-support group crafting course was arranged to relieve the stress of busy parents, and the service users even presented handmade desserts and cards to celebrate Father's Day.
The New Taipei City Government subsidized Eden Foundation to organize the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Datong Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop, and thanked all the service users, parents, and staff for their support and hard work.
In 2013, the Social Affairs Bureau of the New Taipei City Government commissioned Eden to established of the Xizhi Hsiu-Feng Center for Disability, and Eden formally invested in the Xizhi area services, and then saw that there was a shortage of local day care services, and in the next year, under the strong support of the New Taipei City Government, the Xizhi Datong Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop was opened, and it has been 10 years since then. Ms. Sheng-Ying Tsou, Director General of New Taipei City(II), Eden Foundation, said that Eden has always strived to support the community life of the persons with disabilities, and the services of the Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop are the key to enabling person with disabilities to leave their homes and continue to learn and grow in a familiar community environment.
From time to time, Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop organizes parent support group activities in the hope of creating respite for them and allowing them to be a support for each other.
In the early days of Datung Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop, the main direction was to develop handmade wool felt crafts. As the ability of the service users improved, the work gradually stabilized, and the homemade products continued to innovate, such as the “Transparent Flora Ball”, which not only received good reviews from general public, but also extended and developed into an experiential activity in which the trainees acted as instructors and led the participants in making the crafts, which promoted interpersonal and social skills, as well as greatly boosting their self-confidence.
The parent representative, Mother of Chun-Chun, said, “I am very grateful to Eden for being so committed to Xizhi, so that children can have a place to learn and parents can have a respite!
Hsiao-Chun, who came to Datung Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop 10 years ago, is one of earliest service users at the center. Suffering from moderate intellectual disability, before she came to Datong, she was always very obsessive about things and easily affecting her ability to take care of herself by other people's emotions, after coming to Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop, the patient guidance of the educare givers, coupled with the support of her peers and the cooperation of her parents, has enabled her to make a lot of progress in her various abilities.
This year, Hsiao-Chun also participated in the training of the cleaning team set up by Datong Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop. She was very eager to work, and she put her heart and soul into every exercise, which touched the educare giver very much. “I would like to thank Datong Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop for their support. Seeing the changes in Hsiao-Chun has released many of our worries about the future, and we can finally feel a little more at ease,” he said. Hsiao-Chun's father is always present at his child's activities, and he fully accompanies her with physical attendance, which is the best support for Hsiao-Chun's independent living.
Whenever they have time, her parents support Hsiao-Chun also Datong's activities, and they get a lot of joy from it. They hope that their child will continue to learn and grow up happily!
Ms. Yi-Hua, the Chief of Section who has been with Datong for ten years, said that she feels younger every day when she and the service users do activities together, and that she hopes to help each other in the future. Mr. Huei-En, the Chief of Section who has also been with us for ten years, said that he is very honored to be at Eden, and that he would like to grow up together with the service users in the future. Ms. Ying-Ju, the Director hoped that all the service users, parents and staff would give themselves a round of applause. We have been together for ten years and we will continue to create more wonderful memories!
In addition to actively developing diversified service projects, Datong Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop has also linked up with Hsiu-Feng Center for Disability and Nan-Hsing Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop to jointly organize diversified activities, such as a wedding gown show on Mother's Day and a barbecue on Mid-Autumn Festival, in the hope that the cultivation of manufacturing skills can expand the life experience of persons with disabilities. In the future, Eden will continue to develop its services in the local community, and we hope to provide more support to families with disabilities, so that they can return to the community to live a good life.
We are happy to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Datong Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop! All parents have seen the hard work of the staff and hope that we can move forward to the next decade together!
