2020: A Year of Resilience
Video Transcript:
CHRIS ADAMS: Hi, my name is Chris Adams. I'm the executive director with Stepping Stones. I'm here with Whitney Eckert, the board chair for the 2021 term. Stepping Stones is an impact organization that provides services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Typically, we write a letter together, the board chair and myself, in the annual report. But we decided that we would video our message this year. And I think it's been an incredible year, the 2020 year, as the agency had to adjust to many different things, hitting at the same time.
WHITNEY ECKERT: Chris, well, I wanted to commend you and your leadership team. You guys brought to the board great planning for COVID, which allowed us as the board we have a great diversity of skills and expertise on the board that allowed us to give you guys good feedback for your plan for going forward.
CHRIS: We were also very fortunate that we were able to find PPE and the United Way came in and stepped up and provided outlets for individuals to get that.
WHITNEY: Just the learnings that the leadership team took away from COVID and then really taking the opportunity to step back and look at the programs we're offering, make sure that we're meeting the needs of all the clients, and making changes where necessary.
CHRIS: I was very, I guess, grateful was probably the right word for all the support we got from the community, even the funders and the foundations that stepped up to provide COVID relief really helped us turn the corner and also provided us some footings for moving forward.
WHITNEY: Well, and I would thank you and all of your staff, you guys are very well positioned and the board, as I'm exiting the board, coming in is lucky to have all of you.
CHRIS: Well, thank you for that. As far as the staff at Stepping Stones, I just need to say that they were truly amazing during this period of time. The resiliency that they showed was amazing. Even the folks that were carrying out the day-to-day programming, kudos to them because they were the individuals on the front line that really made it possible for the organization to continue to operate through that period of time. I think at this point we are well-positioned and we continue to bring people back and we're blessed to have that. But that level of resiliency and the ability to change and adapt to things was crucial for our success. Well, thank you very much.
Special Events Highlights
12th Annual Open Your Heart
Net of $104,752
Click Here to Learn About This Year's Event
16th Annual Bloom Gala
Net of $253,628
Click Here to Learn About This Year's Event
4th Annual Sporting Clays Tournament
Net of $77,720
Click Here to Learn About This Year's Event
19th Annual Golf Classic
Net of $97,985
Click Here to Learn About This Year's Event
In 2020, we received $90,600 in new & upgraded sponsorships across all four special events.
Step Up Autism Alternative Education
Video Transcript:
MEGAN MACY: Looking back at the 2020 school year, I think there were so many opportunities that we had as a program to collaborate and really find our resiliency.
JENNIFER SCHNEIDER: Yeah, most definitely. We really had to get creative because we do have such diverse students and everybody needs different types of instruction.
MEGAN: And even within that, once we had those videos up and running, we kind of had to continually go back to the drawing board as a team and with parents to make sure that we were meeting all of those learners’ accommodations.
JENNIFER: Yes, we had many, many videos recorded in our living rooms, but it was also super cool because we got to bring in our aides as well.
MEGAN: And I think I speak for all of us when I say how important it was to get parent feedback during that time.
JENNIFER: So we also had to get creative with how we were going to make sure that all of our students had what they needed at all times.
MEGAN: Yes. And then on campus, we were also able to simulate some work that we were doing at Crossroads Church with different cleaning tasks and then generalizing those to different areas on campus.
JENNIFER: I would say overall, 2020, definitely made 2020, we had to work very collaboratively and we also had to really practice that resilience.
MEGAN: That's all we've got, that’s our ending.
JENNIFER: That’s the end.
Recreation & Leisure Services
Video Transcript:
KAREN MARTIN: Hi, I'm Karen Martin, the Director of Recreation and Leisure Services at Stepping Stones. With the reality of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, our Rec and Leisure services at Stepping Stones had to come to a halt with our fall, winter, spring programming. Our team had to work together to figure out a modified plan of operations to be able to operate summer camp once we got permission from our governing bodies. We had to take into consideration our nursing team and do risk analysis on each participant. How could we safely serve them while attending our summer camps? At camp, we did not have volunteers or outside groups come in because we had to stay within our pods and within our own groups. Each camper had staff that worked with them and our staff did not crossover from group to group.
For our overnight camp, we went from Sunday to Thursday, so then we would have more time in between each session to safely prepare for the next time. We spaced out our cabins safely according to the governing bodies' rules on how our cabins had to be set up during these times. And we made sure our programming was fun.
It taught us that we were resilient. We were challenged with the times, but we worked together as a team and with our participants and families to have summer camp happen. We know those who attend our programs need our services the most. And we were there as part of the community for our participants and families in the year of 2020.
Adult Day Services
Video Transcript:
LISA STEVENSON: I'm Lisa Stevenson. I'm the Adult Day Services Director at Stepping Stones.
JON AHRENS: And I'm Jon Ahrens. I am the manager of the Parkcrest location at Stepping Stones and Stepping Stones is an impact organization that services adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I remember when COVID first started, the focus was always the safety of the participants. So, day in and day out, we're focused on how to keep them safe and ways to go about our program that would maximize the safety of everybody. I think that we could use this as an opportunity to grow and to change things in our organization that we didn't like, or that we thought we could improve upon.
LISA: And then we got to bring back the participants. And it was just an exciting day to see the smiles on their faces to get out of their homes.
JON: You could tell when they came back, how much they really missed us.
LISA: We had a lot of tears at the door of people coming through the doors, just so excited to be back out in the community and to be with their peers and their friends and their staff. And then, the families, the overwhelming gratefulness that we opened our doors. And the trust and faith that we were keeping their --
JON: Their loved ones safe.
LISA: And we did a lot of virtual trips. So, we got to see the world, not just Cincinnati.
JON: Yeah. Over the web.
LISA: There you go.
Thank You To Our Generous Donors & Special Event Sponsors
2020 Monetary Gifts and Sponsorships of $1000 or More
BE A PART OF A STRONGER FUTURE FOR CHILDREN, TEENS AND ADULTS BY BECOMING A STEPPING STONES SUPPORTER.
WE APPRECIATE GIFTS OF TIME AS WELL AS MONEY AND DONATIONS-IN-KIND.
Stepping Stones is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization (EIN #31-0671799). Thanks to Borne Content for donating video work for this report. Published December 2021.