Summer Fun

Life is flourishing this summer. Astonished! Summer-Literacy students are delving into ‘Crazy Rich Asians” by Kevin Kwan. Astonished! Core Members are spending Monday afternoons exploring the natural world at the community garden they planted in June. They are engaging with nature through experiences like painting, meditating, making a bird feeder, and generally having fun and creating culture at the garden. The Big Sky Summer Adventure Program is a great way for Core Members to be together and be part of summer events, like the Queen City Ex, a Red Sox baseball game, a campfire, or a movie night. Check out our summer news here…..

Just Sayin

To care deeply about one another means we share in each others joys and sorrows. This newsletter tells of  both, our sorrows and joys. We are grateful to be community together. Click here to read it…….

Photo: Pascal Erickson and her sister Jennifer

Strengths, Dreams, and Needs

At Astonished! the strengths, dreams, and needs of the Core Members set the direction for our work and our play. To see where our Strengths, Dreams, and Needs have taken us recently, click here.

Summer Adventures

Our July 2022 newsletter is jam packed with adventures. Click here to view it. Enjoy

Creating Community

Check out all the ways we are Creating Community in these unique times. Click here to view the April 23, 2022 e-newsletter.

Better Together

It is wonderful for us to celebrate this Valentine’s Day with you, because we are indeed, Better Together. Check out all the work and fun we are having being together in a variety of ways. Take a look at our February 14, 2022 newsletter.

A Little Good News

We know everyone could use a little good news these days. We hope these stories from Astonished! will be blossoms of good news in your day.

Click here to read ‘A Little Good News’ in our July 2021 newsletter.

These Days

Check out our May 2021 e-newsletter. It is a great way to get a flavour of Astonished! these days. We are finding all kinds of ways to stay connected, including participating in Front Porch Photos. We hope you might join us for our Yoga for Every Body Event on June 11th. Click here for the news and  details…..

PHOTO: Madison and Amanda Crerar Koshuba

Walk & Roll 2020

In harmony with the UN International Day of Disabilities, Astonished! is hosting its 6th Annual Walk & Roll. It will be a virtual event, for the first time ever, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Walk & Roll is a family-friendly pledge event that aims to raise funds to support the work of Astonished! We invite you to create a team or join a team and come walk and roll with us. December 3rd at 7:00 via Zoom. To learn more, create a team, or support someone, click here.

We hosted our first Walk and Roll in 2015. Students in Dr. Brenda Rossow Kimball’s Kinesiology 342 (Developmental Disability and Well Being), at the University of Regina, had the opportunity to put their learning into practice. Student groups partnered with community groups to recognize the International Day of Persons With DisAbilities. It was a steep learning curve for all of us; but together we carried out a successful event. Since then we have hosted four more Walk and Rolls and they have been getting bigger and better.  BUT, now it is 2020 and the pandemic creates some new challenges for us. We hope you are up for a challenge!

New Paths in a Pandemic

The past six months have been times of challenge, worry, change, and finding new ways for everyone. This is especially true for us at Astonished! Many Core Members have been at home not been able to go to work, some have changed where they live, have missed summer camp, have not been able to be with friends in ways that are familiar to them, and some have been isolated from family because of the protocol for their housing. It has not been easy, but we are so impressed with the way the Astonished! staff, Core Members, board, volunteers, and families have worked to create new ways of being together. The photo above of Emma and Sean is a great example of these new ways – outdoor, physical distanced, together. Click here to see more…..