THE BEAUTIFUL FACES OF LAHH

How we are living this moment of history | May 2020

When I was asked to describe how we are living the time of Covid-19 at LAHH, I was very surprised by my answer.

The beginning of my answer has to do with the feelings and reactions that many share at this time: uncertainty, fear, an unstoppable desire that this will be over soon, concerns about my health, the health of our employees, and the health of the other essential workers going in each day. So in me there are the same sufferings, fears and concerns shared by many.

A few days ago something new entered and penetrated my horizon and reopened my heart. While working at one of our sites supporting the janitorial crew I heard this short exchange on the radios between two of my colleagues with disabilities:

“J. come in...” “This is J go ahead S.” “I have completed the restrooms and I am going on the break”, “Thank you S., Come home, S, Come home.”

I was caught off guard by this dialogue full of tenderness. Reflecting later, I saw two things I want to share. In this time of crisis, when we are more exposed, a greater tenderness can emerge among us, when we see we are in this together. And secondly, what is emerging is what we value the most. This simple dialogue showed me that there is a piece of home at work. Home is a place where we can find ourselves, who we love, and what we care about. I recognized a more human gaze on me and the other.

I want to reiterate, we are in this together and it’s possible to find a little piece of home at work. 

-Guido

Everything that is essential is being highlighted in these days and for this I am very grateful.

There is also a deeper and more intense relationship at work with all of our employees. This is also something very beautiful. We had a discussion with everyone, asking them if they wanted to work, and there was a resounding yes!

When our employees showed up to work on Friday, just after the Safer at Home order was implemented, their faces were radiant. Our colleagues with disabilities understood that they are being asked something special and wanted to respond.

We are very pleased that the world is saying something that Guido and I and the families and friends already knew -

our employees with disabilities, are essential. 

-Nancy

THANK YOU |

Thank you for your generosity and continuous donations to our mission.

How and where we train our employees with disabilities at LAHH is changing due to the new social distancing measures in place. We will be expanding training hours and locations to keep everyone safe and healthy. What we use to be able to do in one training session, will now take two training sessions at different locations.

We believe that training while employed is one of the key success factors for success, now and in the future, for people with disabilities, so we are committed and continuing to provide training. Thank you for your support for training!

We are seeing an opportunity for people with disabilities who have several years of experience in janitorial building services to provide detailed restroom cleaning, quickly, efficiently, and safely, leaving the restroom sanitized for employees and customers. We are pilot testing this service now and plan to roll it out to new and existing customers soon.

If you would like to donate to the start up costs of this new project, please click here.

Thank you for your donations and friendship and sharing with us in this adventure! 

WORK AND LOVE