The LiveWorkPlay News Top 15, broadcast LIVE on 2 April 2024, at the Open House event, Bayview Yards [Video]

Coming in at #15, our good friends at Inclusion New Brunswick spread the word about our Inclusion Workshop and we ended up hosting an online workshop with a half dozen community organizations in and around Fredericton.

Coming in at #14, this story has a Bayview Yards connection, because one of the first places visited by Canada’s first ever Chief Accessibility Officer Stephanie Cadieux was upstairs in the board room.

Speaking of amazing public servants, coming in at #13 it is none other than David Young,

At #12, we joined in the World Down Syndrome Day end the stereotypes campaign, starring actor Madison Tevlin. If you haven’t seen this video, you have to see it, so I am going to show it to you now.

At #11 the FESG draws public service leaders and employment specialists from across the country with a tight hour of learning, news, and celebration led by our dedicated volunteer chair, former Chief Commission of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Mary Gusella!

Into the top 10 we go, with Janet Balcome featured in her condominium newsletter! LiveWorkPlay had the opportunity to assist Janet and her family when she moved to her own place more than 10 years ago, and she’s also celebrating 10 years of working at Bushtukah.

Sometimes it takes a village, and for #9 we are talking about Value Village, because Jalynn recently celebrated 17 years, how about a round of applause for a 17th work anniversary!

Coming in at #8, we are truly privileged here at LiveWorkPlay to have a community that appreciates a good board meeting, because that’s what holds this spot in our countdown. Let’s hear it for our board of directors for engaging to effectively with our community!

Coming in at #7, he was in the top 5 of our last countdown back in December for a social media feature by the Ottawa 67s, and he’s back again, let’s hear it for our Coop of the Day, Cooper Gage!

Coming in at #6, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to get the 5% we requested, but there are rumours that something is coming, and something is more than nothing, so on this one, I say, hold your applause until we have real news.

We interrupt this live broadcast for breaking news from our reporter in the field, David Young. David, if you can hear me, go right ahead. [World Autism Awareness Day report].

Coming in at #5, our international coverage of the election of Mar Galceran in Spain, there might be other elected politicians in the world who are also a member of the Down syndrome community, and if so, please let us know about it, but we are 99% this has not happened in Canada, and we sure hope to see people with intellectual disabilities represented in the future of Canadian politics.

Coming in at #4, we are particularly proud of this one here at The LiveWorkPlay News, because we put out a bit of a teaser, so everyone thought the story was going to be about Nadine Ghadie. But it was a different LiveWorkPlay public sector inclusive employment success story starring graphic designer Lindsay Cardarelli! An internal Finance Canada event featured a reveal of new seasonal designs, some of Lindsay’s first work products since making the move from the Treasury Board Secretariat. Congratulations Lindsay!

Big news at #3, our Volunteer Coordinator Alex Darling forwarded to me what seemed like a strange email, explaining that LiveWorkPlay had been investigated for our quality as a voluntary organization, and that with permission, the results would be featured on Best In Ottawa. Well, it was all true, turns out we came in at #6 and every other organization on the list is one we know and respect, and it is all thanks to our amazing volunteers, thank you so much for helping us build such a robust team of amazing contributors to the LiveWorkPlay mission, and congratulations to Alex!

What a story at #2 Jennifer Harris has been involved with LiveWorkPlay for about 25 years, and she’s done group travel and family travel, but with her brother Tim working as an international teacher, and it not always being possible to have other families to travel with, Jennifer checked off a huge item on her bucket list, with a solo trip all the way to Costa Rica and back! Congratulations to Jennifer as well as for her parents providing chauffer service and other supports as Jennifer made her way from the Montreal airport.

You’ve been a patient audience, and a great audience, so here we are at #1, and it wasn’t close, our Festive Holiday Gathering on December 8 was a real blast, with delicious food and a raucous crowd sharing good food and good times. Let’s have a shout out to our community team staff member Chris Floyd for his wonderful photography!

I’m Keenan Wellar, and this has been, The LiveWorkPlay News!