York Manor Improv Assoc

Hello All So happy to see signs of Spring but have a question and hope the Home Owner Improvement Asso can give me some help or direction. We have lived in York Manor for 25 years now and have loved our neighbors, community and all the years that stand for a great community. This is our home and always will be. Well some may know our situation but others do not. We have a son with significant disabilities and we knew that he would need a home of his own, when we are no longer here. So we decided we should leave our home to our son, move out, but not leave the community. We are these almost daily, weekends and all the caregivers are people that we know and have hired to care for him. It is not group home, it is our home and we look after our neighbors and they us. Some of our neighbors have aged and we help them, others help us as well, but this winter has been a killer. Both myself and my husband have been hit with significant health issue, yet we have still kept up our regiment of taking care of our son, and helping our neighbors and keeping connected. So when we hit this barrier of snow removal we thought of the Association may have some ideas or direction. Sorry for the length of this but perhaps other neighbors who are aging and dealing with health issues may need this information as well. We got through this winter by my husband getting up at 4 each morning, shoveling our home and neighbors here, then going over to York Manor to shovel out our son's home and neighbors there. It has been hard to keep up with our health going down hill as well. We have turned to our local Baltimore Cnty networks and State networks to see if there has been any type of community snow removal set up for things like our aging families or people with disabilities. The response was deplorable. We have to shovel our snow so you do to. They also went on to compare our situation by saying we have to care for our caring parents so what is the difference. Well the difference here is we not only have failing health issues ourselves but are providing around the clock care (yes with some help from our State and Federal Governments) but not all, we have been doing a lot of the services ourselves, as we expect all families to be...a family and share in the care, your family, your neighbors and your community. We have cared for our son, my father until he died, my mother in our home until she died and a Uncle at 90 plus years until he died. Needless to say the States uncaring response ruffled some feathers, but did get me thinking. Is there some way we can create a caring network within our community association? We have all sorts of people in our neighborhoods. Many are aging, many have young children, many have issues where they need just a little helping hand. A trip to the grocery store for the neighborhood person who no longer can drive, grass cutting, in our case snow removal, there are so many needs. Our state also have a program where young teens have to use community service learning hours, so why can't we bring this idea to some of our younger families who have teens that need to fill those learning hours. We have good schools in our area that having our children support the community where they are growing up it would be wonderful to help them get those hours plus help our neighbors. The other idea I had was to form perhaps a community link for people that may link our neighbors to networks in our neighborhood like grass cutting or snow removal since this is my example but other things like shopping lifts to doctors etc. You see just a link path to services and where to begin. I am already in touch with some people in our Governors office to share some ideas that County Executives may consider setting up community links with some sort of incentives for our communities to benefit both the neighborhood plus the State. Any ideas from other would be appreciated and if someone has a connection with snow removal in the York Manor area please let me know. I know this, it gives us great peace of mind that our son will continue to live in the home he grew up in and still know his neighbors. He is just "one of those people" believe me we have heard this straight from people mouths, but never in our community. He is our son, a young man that has always lived with us, Jackie and Mike, not one of "those providers" or a "group home" we are a family. He loves all of his neighbors and his community, his smile on his face tells us that each day. We know we are not the only people dealing with health, aging, and disability issues as we all have some sort of problem we need a bit of help with. Perhaps we can help each other if we can organize it in some way. I would love to hear from others and willing to do what I can to help, even if it is only something little, but helps us. We cannot always turn to our government. I think that why we like York Manor so much is because it is just that a neighborhood where our children grow up and families help each other as well as neighbors. So I am throwing this out to see what communities think of this. We set up community watches, any way to set up community links or help? Perhaps there is something out there that I am not aware of and could bring any talents I have to the table as well. Love to hear from others Thank you, Jackie