Spreading Cheer This Holiday Season at FREE with Our Decorating Contest!

Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc (FREE) holiday decorating contest between all of our residential programs for the best decorated home, and we’re here to share the winners with you! The winner of the best decorated house throughout FREE is our Coram program! All the men and women supported by Supervisor Deirdre and her staff at Coram participated in decorating their home. The individuals decorated their stockings, painted snowy reindeers for Santa’s sleigh, put ornaments up on the tree, and worked together to create a mural in their kitchen. Greg is a resident at Coram, and he says his favorite part of the holidays was painting together with everyone, especially his reindeer, and how he can’t wait to make more paintings to decorate in the spring.

At the Coram program, Deirdre keeps all the individuals involved in decorating their home with arts and crafts projects year-round. She says the home is always filled with their accomplishments, and how lovely it is to see the individuals take pride in their creations. “We need more laughter and something to enjoy together” she says, and that decorating the home with the individuals helped not only the residents, but the staff working there as well. How working through COVID with all its challenges, and now the staffing crisis facing our programs, knowing that she is not only caring for the residents but helping to make their holidays special.

Ashley is a Direct Support Professional at Coram, and she loved that their home also decorated for Hanukkah so everyone in the program would feel included. Decorating for the holidays helped her feel like she was doing more than just going to work, she was helping to make a home for the holidays.

Our runner up is the Cayuga program! The guys living here were joking about getting a fireplace for Christmas, and so the staff got to work! They put together cardboard boxes, covered them with paper and then painted a lovely brick fireplace to hang the stockings. Latonya, the supervisor at Cayuga, said that everyone involved loved decorating with the individuals, and it brought everyone together for some holiday cheer. Brothers Mike and Aaron were excited to show off their Funko Pops as well as their collection of characters from Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer including the Misfit Toys! All the individuals helped fill their home with holiday cheer, put ornaments up on the tree, and making stockings. You’ve heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for Find the Tinsel! Each day the guys would find a new place to hide Santa’s tinsel and the staff would have to figure out where it went. After talking to the guys about how much fun they’ve been having, two staff members, Direct Support Professional Vanisha and Shift Lead Crystal brought me to the “Winter Wonderland Room” where the residents had made a snowy getaway right in their own dining room.

This holiday season was enjoyed all!