LiveWorkPlay Welcome Back Family BBQ 2024 at TD Place: Record Turnout and Tons of Fun!

This event started in the summer of 2022 as a way to get back on track with our event schedule, but without the risks of an indoor event. For many years, there has been an indoor dinner event in September as a “welcome back” from the summer for members, families, and volunteers. This has also been the time for a brief staff recognition ceremony, as requested by staff many years ago, who did not want to distract from the proceedings at our Make A Buzz Ottawa annual awards and celebration of community.

The LiveWorkPlay community enjoyed the 2022 outdoor BBQ event so much that we have managed to keep it going, and the 2024 version was actually the most highly attended in three years, with a turnout of more than 130 on a sunny but cool Wednesday evening, on August 28.

Board member Daniel Spagnolo hosted a brief staff recognition ceremoy, which was followed by another tradition that was started during the pandemic: The LiveWorkPlay News! Initially developed as an online news broadcast, TLN has morphed into a live countdown of LiveWorkPlay stories drawn from our social media channels. The August 28 edition represents broadcast fifteen! You can get the live experience from the video, and also check out a transcript provided below.

Welcome to the August 28 edition of The LiveWorkPlay News! Tonight, we are coming to you live from TD Place stadium in Ottawa, as part of the LiveWorkPlay Welcome Back Fathering Gathering and BBQ event at Lansdowne Park.

Tonight’s broadcast will feature a Top 15 countdown, because it has been about 15 weeks since our last edition at Make A Buzz Ottawa on May 10.

To get us warmed up, a few mentions of stories you won’t see in the official countdown. First up, and barely missing the top 15, was the story of Tim Siebrasse volunteering with the Parkdale Food Centre Mino’Weesini grocery program. Mino’Weesini is an Algonquin term meaning ‘good eats’ reflecting the transformative power of sharing good food. Congratulations to Tim for being a part of it all and supporting our amazing friends at Parkdale Food Centre.

Next, we don’t include memorials and remembrances in our countdowns, but our story about the passing of parent, advocate, volunteer author, and inclusion champion Noreene Adam received thousands of views. Noreene was a huge contributor to Community Living Upper Ottawa Valley and Community Living Ontario, and she also helped LiveWorkPlay, particularly back in 2008 and 2009 when we transitioned away from our congregated programs. Thank you, Noreene, for all that you brought to your community and to the world.

And lastly, we were hard up for news in the middle of July, so we posted an old photo from July 1997 when the first LiveWorkPlay office was getting set up, I was a part of the painting team in the photos, and this was also right around the time of my birthday, which is July 24, so thanks for all the birthday wishes, but I am not putting that one in the countdown. Now, let’s get on with the top fifteen!

Coming in at #15, stories from LiveWorkPlay members and families participating in the Ottawa Race Weekend on May 25^th and 26^th. The story that made the countdown featured Paul Knoll, who volunteer with the team from Liquid Gym, raising funds in the 2k race. Paul is a valued member of Liquid Gym where he has built many wonderful connections and was pleased to contribute as part of the team on Race Weekend. Way to go Paul!

At #14, thank you to our hardcore supporters who came out for our online annual general meeting on June 17. You got a chance to meet our new auditor Eric Wilson, hear from our special guest Mike Coxon, and elect the board for 2024-2025. Even if you were not able to make it, many of you got the information after the fact on social media, and that pushed the story into tonight’s countdown, thank you for your support!

Coming in at #13, this one shot up the charts in just a few days, from news we shared just three days ago! Thank you to David Young, Mary Gusella, and other supporters who brought to our attention that LiveWorkPlay has been mentioned in several recent Government of Canada and federal public service reports and documents. This includes, for example, a statement from the 31st Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada: “Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada achieved an impressive milestone by doubling its number of permanent LiveWorkPlay appointments. This endeavour transcends mere numbers; it’s about embodying a core belief in inclusivity and support for every member of the LiveWorkPlay community.”

Congratulations to our federal public service partners, the LiveWorkPlay employment team, and of course, the amazing employees who are serving their country as public servants in various roles throughout the federal government!

At #12, it’s a two-part story because two separate posts about the same topic made it into the top 15. On June 27^th we announced that the Ottawa Community Foundation was providing a grant in support of our private sector employment task force, and then on July 9^th the task force met right here at Lansdowne in the Otto’s Club, hosted by Jessica and Natalee from Levy TD Place. Thank you to all task force members and to the Ottawa Community Foundation for your continued support of LiveWorkPlay!

At #11, we take you all the way out to Regina, Saskatchewan, where LiveWorkPlay presented at the Canadian Association for Supported Employment conference back in July. It was a bit of a nerve-wracking experience to be presenting in a giant ballroom, especially because it was our first time ever presenting on career advancement for people with intellectual disabilities and autistic persons. The presenter team of Anna, Josh, Julie and I were up late making some last-minute changes, and it seemed to pay off, with a great response from the audience. Thank you to CASE for supporting our presentation!

May-June is conference season, and coming in at #10, more conference news, but this time from right here in Ottawa with the Helen Sanderson and Associates Person-Centred Gathering at the Hampton Inn. LiveWorkPlay was all over this event, including a presentation with Batoul, Grace, and Alex that resulted in standing room only for a discussion about our approach to Just Enough Support. The HSA community has been very important to LiveWorkPlay for the past decade, and we really appreciate the opportunity to connect and celebrate with like minded organizations, families, and advocates.

At #9, it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time for a story with Chris Jones in the countdown. This time it is a community story about our friends at Ottawa Rec Sports and the indoor soccer league. Chris finished the season as a proud member of Team Missile-toe! Yes, Missile-toe! If you are thinking that might be a fun team to play on, you would be correct. Although they were defeated in the playoffs by the team that went on to win the championship, they were #1 in team spirit. Way to go Chris and Team Missile-toe!

At #8, the Federal Employment Strategy Group seems to be unstoppable when it comes to finishing in our top ten. The June 6 edition of this online quarterly event drew a huge audience from across the country, with Anna Nelson announcing the new total of 42 indeterminate hires, and Marie Stanfield was celebrated by the Director General at Canada Revenue Agency for her 7^th year work anniversary.

Later, CRA manager Amelie Clement moved the audience to tears talking about her role in supporting inclusive employment for three employees on her team. Congratulations to volunteer chair Mary Gusella and the entire FESG team for another successful event!

At #7, we have the highest-ranking individual story coming out of Make A Buzz Ottawa 2024. To be clear, if we included all of the stories from Make A Buzz, that would fill up most of the countdown, so we picked that one with the most views, and it was close. If you are thinking it was the Fred Dixon standing ovation for the Rob More Good Life Award, you were close! That was the second-most popular. Coming in just ahead of that, probably because it is several stories in one, the inclusive employer awards that honoured Costco, Levy TD Place, and Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada. Thank you so much to all of our inclusive employers!

Coming in at #6, it’s the annual LiveWorkPlay pilgrimage to Bluesfest! So many of our members, staff, volunteers, and families take part in this event, as attendees and volunteers, and this particular story featured Chris Jones volunteering on the Green Team and Grace Hudson and Paul Hamilton getting ready for the Offspring on the main stage. Cheers to the live music scene in Ottawa!

Moving into the top 5, we’ve got a great mix of stories, from employment to insider news, to national events, to community news. But which will end up at #1?

At #5, it’s an employment story featuring Logan Sauve of Health Canada, who was promoted last year, and in June 2024 was nominated by his manager Guy Levesque for an Assistant Deputy Minister’s Award of Excellence. Although the award went to another deserving nominee, the detailed praise for Logan’s role, which included his expertise as well as his commitment to colleagues and customer relations, earned a ton of attention to this amazing story, well done Logan and Health Canada!

Coming in at #4 is our top-ranked of many stories about National AccessAbility Week. LiveWorkPlay was everywhere, in person, and online, whether it was Anna and Joelle joined by member Philip Delangy for Canada-wide webinars, or Jonas van Walraven, who was in the NAAW spotlight in the National Research Council newsletter. For a long time, people with intellectual disabilities and autistic persons have been left out of these accessibility conversations, and it’s great to see that this is changing for the better!

I told you there was some insider news in the top 5, and coming in at #3, was a share about the LiveWorkPlay team-building day with artist Carole Gagne Ince at Bayview Yards.

Some of the resulting staff projects on the theme of “hands” were showcased and we also had great conversations about evolving approaches to person-centred support. Way to go team!

That leaves us with just the top two! What’s it going to be? More employment? More conferences? Another insider scoop? … None of the above, our top two stories are both about LiveWorkPlay members in the community.

Coming in at #2, just barely missing out for #1, was Frances and Martin enjoying, celebrating, and recommending the NCC River House for your summer swimming and cold beverage pleasures. Their unbridled enthusiasm for getting out and about in our great city always has an impact on our audience, and if you need to know more about the river house, just ask, they are the experts, thank you Frances and Martin!

That leaves us with #1. Can I have a drumroll, clapping, and foot stomping please?

Coming in at #1, it’s Steven MacPhee at the Mud Lake Conversation Area! YES! On August 14^th we announced that Steven had surpassed 15,000 steps of walking on the trails of Mud Lake, and that he has also served as a guide to many others who are interested in this amazing gem of the Ottawa wildlife scene. We don’t know if it is the picture of Steven with Aya and Lindsay, or the picture of three ducks and a turtle on a log, that helped shoot this story to #1, but either way, Steven and Mud Lake came out on top. And this concludes The LiveWorkPlay News for August 28, 2024, thank you so much, you’ve been a great audience!