SenseAbility Gym

Saying Goodbye

SenseAbilityAdmin — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 20:41:58 +0000

It is with heavy hearts that we announce that we have decided to close SenseAbility Gym as of June 30, 2018. This decision did not come easy to us, but after over five years of serving the families in our community, we have determined that now is the appropriate time for our doors to close.

When we first conceived the idea for SenseAbility Gym in early 2012, it was because as parents of young children with special needs, we saw that there were few resources in the community available to us for safe, judgment free play. Since then, we have seen incredible progress in terms of opportunities for inclusion and acceptance in the community at large for special needs families. We like to think that our success and influence played a part in the huge growth in resources and programming in our area. From sensory friendly movie times to Sensitive Santa to haircuts to Chuck E Cheese’s sensory friendly open times, the entire community is more aware of what special needs families need to feel included.

We believe whole-heartedly that here at SenseAbility Gym we have achieved our mission of providing children with special needs a safe, fun, indoor are where they can play and accommodate their sensory needs. But with the increased resources becoming available in the community, we have seen decreasing attendance on a yearly basis. As a non-profit organization, we will not be able to sustain the business with this downward trend. We are sad to see this trend, but at the same time, we view this as a positive. More opportunities and resources mean more choices for all of our families.

In addition, and just as importantly, our children are getting older, and it is time for us to focus on our families and their changing needs. As it has just been the two of us on a volunteer basis for these five plus years, we are looking forward to being able to spend more time with them.

After we close our doors on June 30, we will begin the process of the dissolution of SenseAbility Gym. As part of the dissolution, we will transfer our remaining assets to another local non-profit with a similar mission to ours. We will communicate more details as we progress throughout he steps of this process.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many, many families who have come through our doors over the past 5 years. So many of you have become our good friends; we are so thankful that you have come into our lives. We would also like to thank our donors and grantors who have generously supported us; many since the beginning when we were just a concept. You believed in us and helped us raise almost $40,000 to build and open the gym. You supported us throughout our many campaigns and fundraisers to help keep our doors open. We pledge that our remaining funds will go to an organization that is committed to the special needs community as much as we are.

We would also like to thank everyone who has helped us in so many ways over our journey: Our class instructors, board members, volunteers and countless community members who provided their advice, resources and expertise. Without all of you, we would have never made SenseAbility Gym what it is today.

Finally, we want to thank our husbands, Tim and Mike, who supported us every step of the way and made many sacrifices so we could pursue our dream.

Over the next several weeks, we will communicate our plans for our closing date, including information for families who hold unused passes or credits. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us any time. We do plan to keep a presence on social media for the foreseeable future so families can stay connected and share information and resources.

Thank you again for all you have done to enrich our lives over the past 5 years. We will be forever grateful.

Sincerely,

Alysia and Tina

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Changes to Saturday Hours

SenseAbilityAdmin — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 15:05:50 +0000

Dear SenseAbility friends and families,

We wanted to alert you to a change in our Saturday Open Sensory Gym hours starting March 18th. Our new hours will be 9:30am – 1:30pm, matching our hours for Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday day times. This new time will be for children ages nine and under, again matching our weekday day time hours.

We know that this represents a change in our open gym time for kids ages 10-13. It’s not a change we take lightly. Since we opened in February 2013, we’ve worked hard to meet the needs of all the children in our community ages 13 and under. We had hours split out for older kids to maximize safety for all ages and for families with kids of similar ages to meet each other. We held monthly teen nights specifically for kids ages 9-13. Attendance for these times was very low or nonexistent. As a nonprofit, we can’t continue to offer hours/programs for activities where we have no interest from our community.

We understand that the Saturday afternoon time was the only open sensory gym time set aside for older kids, and we apologize to any families that will be affected by this change. But don’t fret! If your child is older than 9, please call us at . We are happy to work with you to make this a place for every child. Additionally, private play times, field trips and birthday parties are open to children of all ages, so please don’t hesitate to call us for more information on those activities.

Thank you so much for your understanding! We look forward to work with our community to provide the very best services we can.

Sincerely,

Tina and Alysia

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February 2017 Vacation Hours

SenseAbilityAdmin — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 15:35:01 +0000

We will be open special hours for February Vacation week. Please note times for Tuesday and Wednesday (opening 30 mins later than usual to accommodate our vacation camp).

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Holiday Vacation Hours

SenseAbilityAdmin — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 16:11:24 +0000

We have extended vacation hours for the holiday vacation week! We will be open on Wednesday and Thursday ALL DAY from 10am-6:30pm in addition to open our usual hours during the week. Check out our hours for 12/23 – 1/3 and come play with us!

Please note that on Tuesday and Wednesday we will open at 10am to accommodate our holiday vacation camp schedule.

To schedule a private playgroup during vacation week, call us at or email [email protected]

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Meet Our Vendors For Our 2016 Fundraiser

SenseAbilityAdmin — Sun, 11 Sep 2016 15:27:43 +0000

Meet our vendors for our 5th Annual Wine/Food Tasting Fundraiser!

From our very first fundraiser in September 2012, we have been committed to supporting and highlighting local Hopedale and Milford businesses as a part of our desire to bring our whole community together. We are so grateful to all of these local businesses and their owners who have made our fundraisers so successful.

By attending our fundraiser, you are helping to support these amazing businesses. We hope to see you there.

Hopedale Package Store: The Hopedale Package Store (130 Mendon Street, Hopedale) will be our vendor for our wine and beer for the fifth straight year. Gary Neves has been our biggest supporter from the start, signing on as our very first vendor for our first fundraiser in September 2012. Gary has a passion for locally grown products, and through his distributors, Atlas Distributing and Horizon Beverage , he will have a variety of organic wines and beers that night for us to taste.

As you may know, the weekend after our fundraiser last year, the Hopedale Package Store had to close for several weeks after a car crashed into the front of the store. We are so happy that they were able to rebuild and we look forward to continuing to support them in any way possible as they have supported us all these years. Gary will have information about ordering the wines/beers that you taste that night, so you can support them too. Find them online at https://www.facebook.com/Hopedale-Package-Store-167210703337996/

The Little White Market and Catering: The Little White Market and Catering (Hopedale Country Club, 90 Mill Street, Hopedale) has been our food vendor for five straight years. Tracey Liberatore has been on board with our cause from day one, providing us with delicious seasonal food items that match perfectly with our local connection theme. Tracey has always been sensitive to the dietary needs of our families, and always provides a gluten free option so everyone has a chance to eat.

Tracey has recently moved her operations to inside the Hopedale Country Club and continues to provide excellent catering services as well as running the restaurant at HCC. We are delighted that she can be with us again this year. Find Tracey online at https://www.facebook.com/The-Little-White-Market-Catering-201504216561497/?fref=ts

Green Mountain Chocolates: Green Mountain Chocolates (1 Rosenfeld Drive, Hopedale) has been our dessert vendor since our first fundraiser in September 2012. Their incredible chocolates are made right in Hopedale and they are locally owned and operated. When we went to Lisa at Green Mountain Chocolates to talk about what we were doing at SenseAbility and why, she was on board right away. They have been incredibly supportive of our mission and our community, and we are grateful for their support. Visit them online at http://www.greenmountainchocolate.com/

Gene’s Variety: Gene’s Variety (80 Water Street, Milford, MA) joined us for our 3rd annual fundraiser in 2014 and have been with us ever since. They are a locally owned sandwich shop and grocery store and have been in business in the same spot in Milford for years. They were recently named one of the best places to get a sandwich in Milford by the Milford Patch. We are incredibly grateful for the support from Laura and the whole crew at Gene’s for providing us with delicious sandwich and pizza bites for our food tasting. Find them online at https://www.yelp.com/biz/genes-variety-milford

confectionism: confectionism (2 Evergreen Lane, Hopedale) also joined us for our 3rd annual fundraiser in 2014 and Alison has been making incredible desserts for us ever since. A locally owned bakery in Hopedale, Alison caters everything from large weddings to birthday parties to small gatherings. She specializes in unique desserts that cater to differing dietary needs, including gluten free and dairy free. She is part of an extensive network of local wedding and event vendors and can help with any of your dessert catering needs. We are so lucky that Alison will be making some of her incredible desserts for us again this year. Visit confectionism online at http://www.confectionism.net/home.html

Hens and Chicks Cookie Company: Hens and Chicks Cookie Company (Dutcher Street, Hopedale) is our newest addition to our vendor list, joining us last year right after they started their local cookie bakery. While they are our most recent addition, we have known Susan and Chris (the owners) for years. Both have been supportive of our mission at SenseAbility since we opened, and when they started their home based cookie company, we just knew we needed them at our fundraiser. Hens and Chicks uses only the freshest ingredients for their cookies and they are all made to order. They are committed to supporting local businesses and farmer’s markets, and we are so grateful that they are a part of this year’s event. Find them online at http://www.hensandchickscookiecompany.com/

A Very Special Thank You To Our Corporate Sponsors and Our Venue:

The Crystal Room, 49 Cedar Street, Milford, MA (third year hosting our fundraiser)

Milford National Bank (sponsor for 5th year in a row)

Bright Insurance (1st year with corporate support, five years as our insurance provider)

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