Ahhhh, the holiday season ‘tis upon us. You know what that means? Time for lots of fun, food, family, and giving! This year we are pleased, and oh so excited, to present to you our #GivingTuesday Campaign – Me, Myself, & Thai. To make this year’s #GivingTuesday extra special, we’ve joined forces with Hope Home in Chiang Mai, Thailand to create a much needed sensory room for the children with disabilities in their care. We can’t wait to see it all come together, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting this incredible cause. Here’s everything you need to know:
A home full of hope?! Sounds amazing!
What is Hope Home?
Hope Home serves 12 children with a wide variety of special needs. Children with autism, sensory integration issues, or children who have experienced trauma. These children can really benefit from proper sensory therapy, and we can help be the stepping stone for them in order to provide the necessary environment for the proper therapy. Hope Home proposes to create a dedicated room that would be utilized to provide sensory breaks for children with autism whenever they are over-stimulated. They would have access to what we like to call, a sensory room!
A sensory room? Ooohhh, sounds fancy.
What is a sensory room and why is it needed?
We’d hope you’d ask! A sensory room is a designated therapeutic space set aside to meet the varied needs of the children with sensory or communication needs in particular. It is a way to help teach children to safely self-manage their sensory needs with appropriate coping mechanisms.
Tools such as a semi-darkened room with fiber-optic low lighting, bubble tubes and various visual stimuli including a rotating projector, nurturing areas (hammocks), bean bags, soft mats, tactile areas with a variety of textures and sizes, and SO much more! Sensory rooms provide both a place to escape sensory stimulation and to engage in stimulation – both needed for children with sensory and communication needs.
Hammocks and Beanbags and Fibre-Optic Lighting, OH MY!
Tell me more about the project!
Well, initiation of the project could begin as soon as January 2018, so it’s coming up quite quickly. It is estimated that it will take one to two months to create the sensory room which will be designed with the support of Hope Home management and so many others. This project will be life changing for the children because it will promote their independence as much as possible in all areas of activities of daily living. They will get the educational support they need, which we believe everybody on this face of this Earth has the divine right to have access to.
What is our fundraising goal and what can it do for Hope Home?
It is estimated that $1500 would serve to initiate and complete the project the sensory room
environment with an estimated budget as is given below. $1000 will provide the entirety of all DIY or Thailand purchased products and the sensory tiles ordered from the United Kingdom.
- $100 – Protective Matting of the sensory room
- $50 – Paint and Materials
- $300 – Sensory Tiles Ordered from the UK
- $100 – Sensory Screen
- $200 – Musical Interaction Wall
- $50 – Interactive Mirror Cubes
- $100 – Lighting Features; Black Lights, Rope Lights
- $100 – Sensory Interaction Tray