Contentment, Even in a Pandemic

May 3, 2021

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the result of an interview with Brett so that you could hear, completely in his own words, what life has been like through this pandemic.] 

I was born in 1965 to Myra and Ray Dohmeyer in South Holland, Illinois. I always loved going swimming and playing ball with my dog. I would just go down the street and hang out with my neighbors. My friend, Dave, and I would go to each other’s houses all the time and play and swim or whatever.

I came to Elim when I was three years old because of my handicaps. My parents had found out about Elim and decided I should go there. I was very excited about it and I made friends right away. 

One thing that helps me is that I have a plan at Elim. We have what we call “team meetings” where I sit down with the Elim people and the people from my group home and my sister and we talk about the things that I would like to do and how we can make that happen. 

We also come up with goals for me to reach, and with their help, I usually reach all my goals. 

One of the things that I get to do at Elim is HOPE Packs. I really like it! It makes me feel good to know that I am helping kids and I can see that by the smiles on their faces. It makes me feel good inside knowing that I’m helping people, especially the parents that can’t afford the school supplies. 

The staff at Elim help us a lot with the HOPE Packs. They taught us how to assemble the kits, they drive us to the schools where we meet the kids and give them the packs. 

This year, we didn’t get to do HOPE Packs because of Covid. I missed that because I like to help out the kids. 

It’s really nice being back with everyone at campus because I was really disappointed when we couldn’t come back for such a long time. Things are different because of the virus. It’s a different way of seeing other people. We can’t really mingle and talk with everyone. That’s the hardest thing about all of this. 

What we have to do is stay six feet apart and make sure we are sanitizing our hands all the time. I have to remember to wear my mask too – that’s just what we have to do right now. 

I hope this virus will go away, but it seems like it’s going to take a while before that happens. When that happens, I hope we will go back to how we did things before. 

If you are someone who supports Elim, I just want to say something to you today. I just want you to know how much I appreciate that you would support Elim and learn about it today and I am so thankful for you. It means so much to me that you care about me and my friends. 

Also, I want you to pray for us that everything will turn out okay for us and that we will stay safe from the virus.