“Since doing this community building project with my family, my son is now the one connecting me to the community.”

“For me, it’s like something has changed. We were told no Troy’s [son with disability] entire life. We were told no by a lot of disability services. We kind of withdrew and became isolated. But I think, maybe that was the wrong way to approach things anyway. Maybe we should have always been thinking about, ‘This is where we live, in Clifton. How should we be including Troy in Clifton?’ Looking to the neighborhood for support instead of looking to disability services for support. I think we’ve been happier here in this last year than ever and it’s because we included our neighbors…”

“We came to Starfire and started learning different strategies – taking people to lunch, taking other runners, birders, artists, taking even neighbors, just taking people to lunch and pick their brains, I just call it getting out of my own head. ”

“The most powerful thing Tim [of Starfire] said to me was that I had permission NOT to put my son’s disability first. It shook my world up in the most beautiful way. My son is terminal. The first thing I said to Tim is, ‘What happens if my son passes away?’ He said, ‘We’re living in the moment.’ And that’s what we’re doing – a year and a half later. Through the project grant from Starfire, our circle grew over the summer, we made over 30 new connections in the community. It was the first time Grayson [my son] was getting to play with peers. We’re going to continue to grow our story and warm our circle.”

“We will work the rest of our days to continue to learn and walk a path of belonging, community building, and Love. We are so grateful for Starfire’s planting seeds in our path as we navigate this journey that we have learned requires forgiveness, bravery, and a beautiful imagination for what could be. ”