By JOE POPIS, Solutions News Bureau

Karrah Valassis is the director of the virtual chapter of Friendship Circle, a nonprofit organization that develops programming in the areas of socialization, education, activities, and employment to assist individuals with special needs. Valassis started as an intern, which led her to become a permanent part of the organization.

JP: What does a day in your life look like?

KH: I’ll usually start by checking emails to see if parents need anything. I’ll usually get 50 to 100 emails from parents every day asking questions about virtual programs or how to get involved with different things. A lot of them come to me as the go-to person for any questions, and so I’m happy to be around for the families. So getting in contact with families is a huge part of it. I usually will run about half of the programs during the day. We have a lot of interns and volunteers, which is so great, and that usually ebbs and flows to how many I personally have to run each day. Like this morning, I ran the Rise and Shine program and got to talk with our participants, which was really fun. So you know, making that connection with the participants. I try to do something every day that I get to connect with instead of just sending a volunteer. I really think it’s important to create that stable connection because the volunteers come and go, but I’m consistent and there every day.

JP: What exactly goes into the thought process of creating the programs for participants?

KH: So I can mostly speak on our virtual programs. First of all, finding the programs that are needed. So we found that a lot of our participants, especially when we first started in the pandemic, needed social groups because there was a lot of isolation that was happening from COVID-19. That was why we started so many of our social group programs because these individuals were looking for friends and friendships. So that was a huge aspect that went into creating our social programs. Friendship Circle is a Jewish organization, so we found a need for Jewish programming. So we do our weekly davening, which is like the weekly prayer program. We do a Shabbat party every week. We do kosher cooking classes. So we just saw a need for the Jewish community in our program, so we created that.

JP: How do you measure if a program is effective?

KH: I think that’s such an important thing to look at because I can think all I want is that a program is going to be fun and that they’re going to enjoy it and that they need it. But if it’s not fun for them, or it’s not something they’re getting something out of, it’s not a good program. So I’m thankful that I work with all of our participants who use these programs firsthand. So I can ask them, are you enjoying games like this? Are you enjoying welcome circle questions that talk about this? Having that rapport with them is really great because they can share what they’re

feeling. They’re not afraid to tell you how they’re feeling about something. If they think a game is boring, they’ll tell you.

JP: Is there any other evidence to determine a program’s effectiveness?

KH: We try to do at least once a year is send out a survey both to families and the participants themselves. Just to kind of get an idea of the programs that they really enjoy. Anything that they’re feeling is a gap, and they want filled. I think what’s most important is hearing the needs that they feel need to be filled.

JP: How many hours of programming happen in a given week?

KH: So we have about 30 hours of programming every week. Because we have at least two social groups every day, but normally it’s more like four to five social groups a day. We do programming six days a week. The only day we take off is Saturday for Shabbat. Some days there’s seven or eight programs throughout the day.

JP: What have you gained or learned from the participants by working with them?

KH: It sounds cheesy, but friendship is a big one, honestly. To me, I’ve learned how easy it is to just be a light in somebody’s life. Just to be there and show up and be consistent can bring so much joy and peace to these participants. I’ve learned to find joy and simplicity because we make a craft and seeing the smile on their face for drawing a butterfly, like we did this morning. It was just awesome to see them get so excited and proud of themselves. Finding the joy in something so simple of doing a craft or finding the answer to a trivia question has been really great. The connections that have been built have been amazing. It was awesome to get to meet a few people in the virtual community this past weekend at the Friendship Circle fundraiser. It’s cool to see the connections, and that’s a huge thing I’ve gained. The connections and the friendship, for sure.

JP: What do you hope participants have learned from you and your presence?

KH: I love that question. I really hope that they are getting just the sense that they are valued and cared about. I feel like this population is often so overlooked. So many people just try to ignore or don’t listen to anything they have to say, so I hope they’re feeling heard and valued. Just that their loved. I hope that they are having fun and are so happy that they made these friendships. We have a participant, and it was her birthday recently, and her friend from a whole other state that they’ve never met in person was like, ‘are you excited for your birthday coming up’? Like she knows her birthday, they built that friendship without ever having met. So I really hope that they are just feeling friendship and feeling cared for.

JP: What challenges do you see consistently in your line of work?

KH: I would say a big one is maybe a lack of consistent volunteers. Volunteers that have to cancel last minute is always a challenge because we really rely on those for our programs to run.

Behavioral challenges are always a challenge that comes along. Especially working with individuals with special needs, it’s learning how to navigate those and how to best de-escalate a situation. Also, teaching our volunteers and interns how to de-escalate situations so that it’s the most calm and safe zoom space that it can be. Those are probably the two biggest ones, consistent volunteers and behavioral challenges.

JP: Is there anyone you turn to when challenges occur?

KH: Yeah, so if it’s like challenges regarding safety, I’ll usually turn to my supervisor so we can brainstorm how we can make sure everyone’s okay. Then with volunteers, it’s kind of tough there’s not too many people I can turn to because, as the director, I am the person that I have to turn to. It’s helpful now that I have some assistance if there’s a lack of volunteers. Luckily my assistants can hop in if it’s a last-minute need. Mostly it’s learning how to problem-solve on the spot, and there’s not always someone to turn to. That’s what I’ve been trained for, that kind of problem-solving.

JP: What limitations do you face at Friendship Circle, and how do you overcome those limitations?

KH: So some big ones that can come across would be, like I said, volunteers and things like that. The consistency of that. Funding is always a big one. One thing that we tried to do is for the first year, we didn’t charge for our virtual programs. We didn’t charge at all, but then we did start implementing a payment for it. I would say more than half of our participants are on a scholarship of some form for the programs. By having them pay for programs, the participants became much more consistent. When they were paying for it, it was something they wanted to attend more to get their money’s worth obviously. So adding a payment aspect diminished a lot of the inconsistency of the participants because, as things go back in person, we don’t want people to just be sitting on zoom all day when the world is out there. Funding is a big one, and we do fundraisers. I was just in California for a Friendship Circle fundraiser race, and that was fun to be able to raise money for Friendship Circle and know all of the money being raised was directly going back into the programs. Since we’re a 501(c)(3), the government doesn’t contribute. We’re not government funded at all. We’re only relying on donations and payments from programs.