Nonprofits have struggled along with businesses and the general public during the COVID-19, dealing with issues ranging from lessened and altered fund-raising and vast changes to their day-to-day practices.
HOPE Landing, an El Dorado-based organization that offers “occupational, physical and speech-based therapies for children,” according to its website, has faced particularly tough challenges during the pandemic.
The nonprofit was forced to close in March, something that immediately radically limited their ability to serve clients and forced adjustment.
“The uncertainty was the scariest. HOPE Landing had to close its doors to the children we serve for seven weeks. It is proven that early intervention is the most effective for children with disabilities, so this was tragic for most of our clients,” said HOPE Landing CEO Kristi Lowery.
Despite this sudden setback, the organization adjusted to the new reality.
“We quickly rallied and began weekly calls to parents providing them with home programs that they could carry over. We began tele-therapy with our most critical patients. We adapted to the best of our abilities, just like the rest of our community and world,” Lowery said.
They were able to reopen in early May with a bevy of now-familiar restrictions in place including screening client’s health and temperatures, hand washing and sanitizing measures, changes to therapist rotation and other protocols, along with the use of PPE (personal protective equipment).
Despite HOPE Landing’s quick move to tele-therapy and home programs, the months of closure and other effects of the pandemic have had statistical consequences on their ability to provide services.
“The pandemic we are currently living through impacted attendance at HOPE Landing with over 5,000 visits being missed those initial seven weeks of closure. Since then, attendance is only 64% with most cancellations being due to COVID exposures [or] quarantines,” Lowery said.
The organization’s annual events were also not free from radical changes due to COVID-19.
According to Lowery, the first big change was the annual “Easter Eggstravaganza,” which was held as a drive-through event in 2020.
“It was a great success, with over 200 vehicles driving through to see our horses and the Easter Bunny,” she said.
HOPE Landing’s biggest fundraiser, The Heroes of HOPE Luncheon, was postponed twice before eventually being held virtually in August along with a talent show, an event Lowery also described as well-received.
The organization also decided to hold Christmas on the Ranch as a drive-through event this year including a socially-distanced greeting from Santa.
Lowery also said that nine week-long summer horse camps were also held with “smaller groups.”
Looking forward to 2021, Lowery is staying optimistic.
A currently “on-hold” plan from before the pandemic to expand the clinic by 8,500 feet is still in the works, and Lowery said that she hopes 2021 brings face-to-face and in-person events back with it.
“The year 2020 has been very challenging, both to our organization as a whole and to the clients and their families that we serve… Our hopes are to continue to safely provide the highest quality, innovative therapies to children with cognitive and physical disabilities so that they can achieve their greatest potential. We are hoping to resume all our major events in 2021 as in-person events,” Lowery concluded.