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http://www.laramieboomerang.com/news/more.asp?StoryID=104630
Kids in the Cathedral Home for Children’s deaf program will have a new place to live this summer.
Crews have broken ground for an 11,000 square foot “cottage” on the home’s campus north of Laramie, which is expected to be finished in July.
The deaf program opened in 1995. Since then, the kids have lived in a building that was built in 1975. Compared to the other residential cottages on campus, the older building is cold, run down and crowded.
Dann Harvey, Cathedral Home program director, said the kids are excited about moving into the new cottage, because it will feel more like a home.
“This will give them a sense of permanency. Cathedral Home is almost 100 years old. The deaf program is still considered new, but really it’s not. It’s here to stay,” Harvey said.
The new building, which will cost about $1.4 million, will be outfitted for the needs of the deaf program: Special wood floors will reverberate so the children can feel the approach of others. Lights will flash when alarms go off. A television phone system will allow the children to use sign language to communicate with family and friends in remote places.
The new building will also have an open floor plan that will make it easier for the staff to watch over the children. It will be split into two wings for male and female residents.
The Cathedral Home for Children is a non-profit residential treatment program for troubled and traumitized children. It began caring for orphans under the auspices of the Episcopal Church of Wyoming in 1910.
About 56 kids live at the home at a given time. They come from all over the West. Of those, 12 of them are in the deaf and hard-of-hearing program.
COTTAGE The deaf program has been successful in helping out kids that were deemed “lost cases,” and it has made Cathedral Home a stronger institution, said executive director Robin Haas.
“Word has gotten out that ‘They’re making miracles in Wyoming.’ We’ve really made a reputation for staying with the toughest kids that nobody was having success with,” Haas said.
When Cathedral Home first opened its deaf program, all staff were required to learn sign language and take a class in deaf culture. In addition, the hearing children took sign language lessons.
It was important to make the deaf kids feel that they were understood and valued, because they had grown up as outsiders – many of their parents haven’t even made the effort to learn sign — and they expressed themselves in destructive ways, Harvey said.
“Most of them have been isolated. They are just happy that people are willing to try to communicate with them,” Harvey said.
The new cottage is being built with money from the Newell Sargent foundation. Sargent was a successful Wyoming businessman and philanthropist whose foundation also helped pay for the Cathedral Home’s chapel and other residential cottages.
Kids in the Cathedral Home for Children’s deaf program will have a new place to live this summer.
Crews have broken ground for an 11,000 square foot “cottage” on the home’s campus north of Laramie, which is expected to be finished in July.
The deaf program opened in 1995. Since then, the kids have lived in a building that was built in 1975. Compared to the other residential cottages on campus, the older building is cold, run down and crowded.
Dann Harvey, Cathedral Home program director, said the kids are excited about moving into the new cottage, because it will feel more like a home.
“This will give them a sense of permanency. Cathedral Home is almost 100 years old. The deaf program is still considered new, but really it’s not. It’s here to stay,” Harvey said.
The new building, which will cost about $1.4 million, will be outfitted for the needs of the deaf program: Special wood floors will reverberate so the children can feel the approach of others. Lights will flash when alarms go off. A television phone system will allow the children to use sign language to communicate with family and friends in remote places.
The new building will also have an open floor plan that will make it easier for the staff to watch over the children. It will be split into two wings for male and female residents.
The Cathedral Home for Children is a non-profit residential treatment program for troubled and traumitized children. It began caring for orphans under the auspices of the Episcopal Church of Wyoming in 1910.
About 56 kids live at the home at a given time. They come from all over the West. Of those, 12 of them are in the deaf and hard-of-hearing program.
COTTAGE The deaf program has been successful in helping out kids that were deemed “lost cases,” and it has made Cathedral Home a stronger institution, said executive director Robin Haas.
“Word has gotten out that ‘They’re making miracles in Wyoming.’ We’ve really made a reputation for staying with the toughest kids that nobody was having success with,” Haas said.
When Cathedral Home first opened its deaf program, all staff were required to learn sign language and take a class in deaf culture. In addition, the hearing children took sign language lessons.
It was important to make the deaf kids feel that they were understood and valued, because they had grown up as outsiders – many of their parents haven’t even made the effort to learn sign — and they expressed themselves in destructive ways, Harvey said.
“Most of them have been isolated. They are just happy that people are willing to try to communicate with them,” Harvey said.
The new cottage is being built with money from the Newell Sargent foundation. Sargent was a successful Wyoming businessman and philanthropist whose foundation also helped pay for the Cathedral Home’s chapel and other residential cottages.
