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Community Living Dufferin to host annual Christmas lunch

December 20, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

It has been a long and, in many ways, a fascinating year for Community Living Dufferin (CLD). The Citizen had the chance to chat to Karen Murphy-Fritz, Executive Assistant at CLD, by telephone to discuss what has gone before and what is to come, especially with looking forward to their own Christmas lunch today.

“This building hosts our day programs and all our managers and admin staff,” Ms. Murphy-Fritz told us. 

She was referring to the beautiful CLD building just west of town on County Road 3, the Or Fergus. 

“Out of here,” she continued, “we offer our arts and leisure programs – photography, ceramics, arts, any of the arts – all kinds, day trips to all over Dufferin County, as well as swimming and bowling.

“This building was built 10 years ago; it opened in September, 2010. David Tilson [Dufferin-Caledon MP at the time] was very helpful and this really solidified our partnership with Theatre Orangeville.”

Theatre Orangeville was a huge part of the fund raising that went along with a grant from the federal government. Theatre Orangeville’s accommodation in the building are a permanent rehearsal hall, large workshop for building sets for this and other theatres, all of which bring in income, an office for the production team. 

Most importantly for CLD, this is the theatre home for Creative Partners On Stage (C.P.O.S.) and Theatre Orangeville Exceptional Players (T.O.E.P.). Both these theatre arts groups, respectively for adults and youth, bring in people with special needs of all ages to the joy of participating in theatre productions, usually two a year and once per year.

“The clients we support are sometimes with us for decades,” Ms. Murphy -Fritz continued. “One of our managers, who retired after 30 years, she remembers some of the adults here that they started supporting when they were kids.” 

Some the clients live at home with families and others live in homes with others and staff to care for them.

“We own several homes in and around Orangeville,” she told us. “We have a house in Mono, one here on the property, and the others are in Orangeville.”

There are many ways to celebrate. In May, which is Community Living month across Canada, “it’s about recognizing that it’s a national celebration, an observance, more than a party but it’s important.” 

One of CLD’s biggest fundraisers is “our Christmas Crafts Fair at the end of November. They make all kinds of crafts and sell them at the fair to the public. 

“And this Thursday is our annual Christmas lunch. Everybody comes dressed up. Our executive team actually does the cooking. Pancakes, bacon and eggs,” she surprised us. “For years, we did a traditional dinner with the turkey and all the trimmings but, a few years ago, we did a survey about the menu and they said no. They get turkey at home. So, we changed it up. We did chilli and some other things but, last year, we did pancakes, bacon and eggs and it was a hit. So, we’re doing it again this year.

“A lot of people we support have families they live with. Others stay in their homes – the houses we own – where there is staff 24/7. There are three shifts: day, afternoon/ evening and night shifts and the fourth is the weekends. The staff don’t live in the homes. Each home has its own group of staff that are orientated to that particular home and the people living in it.”

She assured us, “Staff do turkey dinners in the homes on Christmas Day, whoever the staff are working that day. They go to church and have their dinner. It’s great for them.

“When they’re making crafts, sometimes, they give it to staff as gifts throughout the year.”

Making the point about Christmas, which is a general rule that applies to most aspects of activities, Ms. Murphy-Fritz was clear. “Everybody has a choice to participate or not. They might join their families for other celebrations.”

Karen Murphy-Fritz just celebrated 14 years with CLD. “It is fun and a great place to work. I’m the Executive Assistant, which means I work directly with the Executive Director. I also do all the event planning and fund raising, which is largely through events. We don’t do a lot of fund raising as such. Our Christmas craft sale money goes back in to the programs.”

To brief us on what is coming in 2020, she let us know, “March 7 is our Curling Fun Spiel. We do that because it’s a very non serious event: this year a team of four, three of whom were just beginners and they came in second place against people that had been curling for years. Money from this event goes to transportation – vans. We need specially equipped vans to transport people to medical appointments, work, get them home – so many reasons. 

She added, “The ministry does not provide funding for it; people from the community help – friends of staff and others. We get a fair amount of private donations. Curling Fun Spiel is open to anyone.” 

She talked about the provincial government shutting down the packaging business that employed a large number of people and was housed in a part of the building. At the time, it was a real blow to many people.

So, she had high praise for Executive Director Robert Bingham. “He was so innovative, he created Be Social Enterprise, a for- profit entity, in partnership with FTP and DCAF to operate two snack bars in the arenas, one in the courthouse and in Georgian College.

“We provide positions for women who can only do certain hours and we organize hours as per peoples’ needs, while making sure all the cafes are open for the hours required. It’s really worked amazingly well.” 

On another note, as one might say, “We can look forward to the Toronto Welsh Male Voice Choir coming to the Opera House in November, 2020. We’ll hope to fill the house that night.”

Meanwhile, for Christmas lunch, there will be “decorations definitely. We’ll have on Thursday about 130 people coming to enjoy lunch together. It’s very laid-back, easy going.” 

Harking back to the summer of this year, “some of them are celebrities from their appearances on the main stage and Midsummer’s Night Dream [fabulous Theatre Orangeville production of that favourite of Shakespeare’s comedies, on the stage of the Island Lake Amphitheatre, in which members of CLD performed, memorizing their lines as much as the other actors].

“This meant to them, inclusion, an even playing field for them, being on stage with professional actors, with Theatre Orangeville. For the actors, it was the icing on the cake. It meant so much to them. Hopefully, we’ll do it again this year coming.”

Theatre Orangeville’s Artistic Director and the person who instigated the Midsummer adventure, “David Nairn will be here on Thursday as Elfie, “ she remarked. “It starts at 11:00 and runs until 14:00.”

Ms. Murphy-Fritz paused as if looking over her shoulder at this year, so near its end and wondering what 2020 might bring. “This is my 14th Christmas lunch.”

Putting it simply, “I love it because it brings everybody together – we are together over good food and lots of laughter.”

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