Every year, we reach this final quarter of the calendar and look back at both our ups and downs. Letting the list of downs overpower our perspective can sometimes be easier than seeing all of the ups for which we should be so grateful. This holiday season, we are grateful for:

Friendsgiving

Celebrating friends with our annual tradition of Friendsgiving.

Our friends. In our annual tradition of Friendsgiving (left), we come together to celebrate the folks of Goldie Floberg. This year, we paid special gratitude to Nancy Swain, CFO, with the presentation of the Paragon Award for her 30-plus years of service to our organization.

Community support. Special Olympics uniforms, an expanding micro-business by and for the adults we serve, continued access to enrichment camps, and a new roof for our aging Rockton facility are a few of the opportunities made possible by the individuals and community organizations providing financial support to the Goldie Floberg mission.

The Cubs! Staff and adults who come to the Center for weekly LEEP classes and employment gathered

Cubs victory party

Cheering on the Cubs and watching the World Series victory parade, November 4, 2016

November 4 to watch the World Champions Cubs parade (right).

The ability to see our weaknesses and become stronger. In our sector, as in most, we have to pay attention to the negative in order to continue on a path of our own improvement for the lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities — What’s in our way? How can we do that better?

So what if we slide the downs over to the list of all the things we have for which to be thankful?

Read more about all for which we are thankful in this Dignity newsletter: