Lund recently launched the “Lund Learning Hour” to provide an opportunity for community members to visit Lund’s buildings and learn about how our programs help women, children and families across Vermont. The Learning Hour happens once a month and alternates between the Hoehl Family Building at 50 Joy Drive and the residential treatment facility at 76 Glen Road. Everyone is invited and we guarantee that you will learn at least one thing that you did not previously know about Lund.
The program lasts one hour and the next one is scheduled for March 15th from 12:00pm to 1:00pm at the Hoehl Family Building. If you would like to attend, please call Julie at 861-2564 or email: julier@lundvt.org
One of Lund’s good friends, Ray McClure, recently wrote this reflection on his experience of the Lund Learning Hour. If this inspires you, or if you have always wanted to know more about Lund, please join us on March 15th. Or click to see the rest of the scheduled dates for 2018.
The Butterfly and The Heart
If one is mindful when one goes on the two different tours of the Lund facilities, one is likely to become aware of two symbols that epitomize this fine service organization: the butterfly and the heart.
The butterfly has been a symbol of transformation and this is what happens at Lund’s Residence on Glen Road. When the 26 guests (teenage girls and young adult women) come to stay here for perhaps a year or longer, depending on their needs and situation, a significant positive change in their lives and perspectives is likely to happen.
Using the butterfly analogy, the prospective guest is a kind of caterpillar, crawling, that is, perhaps hesitating, to participate in the services Lund offers, including a home away from home. When the recipient of this opportunity commits to the guidance and care that Lund provides her, she has entered the chrysalis stage that the caterpillar enters. The Lund residence is a kind of cocoon for these women. We humans do not see what takes place in the cocoon stage, but there has to be much happening inside. The same is true for us who do not reside at Lund’s home. We do not see what is happening inside, but gradually many positive changes are taking place within the essence of each of these guests. At some point the time comes for the butterfly to leave the cocoon and enter and explore the world of opportunity. Such is what occurs when each woman leaves Lund’s residence. Nature is not perfect and Lund’s efforts do not always produce the desired results either, but the success rate of Nature producing healthy butterflies is excellent and the same can be said about the future of the guests who have had the Lund experience. This is also true for its services that do not involve staying at the residential facility, such as adoptions.
By the way, when one visits the Lund residential program, one sees lots of butterflies displayed on various walls there, and may even see some in a guest’s room that is part of this tour.
The second symbol is the heart. In fact, it is so special to this caring organization that it was made a part of its logo.
I had gone on both tours within a month of each other, the one at Joy Drive, an administrative type venue where counseling, social work, schooling, daycare, and so many non-residential services are provided, including the processing of adoptions. It may not matter which tour, the Residence or the Joy Drive facility, one takes first, but I had taken the latter first. This provided me with the information about what the staff at Lund does to provide what has already been mentioned and so much more. Then on the tour at its Residence one sees literally the effects of some of the services offered at Joy Drive.
Underlying both tours, the residue, the after effect that lingers, is the heart of this compassionate organization. I only met a few of the staff on these tours but I could feel their authentic dedication, sincerity, sense of fulfillment and love for what they are providing to the women. It touched my heart and even provoked some tears that I managed to hide.
The reason I went on these tours is that I first became more aware of Lund in 2014 and what it provides. I made a connection with it because my mother, when I was three years old, had stayed in a similar facility for two weeks in the early 1940s in New York City. As brief as that stay was, it did help her. My current support of Lund is my way of “paying it forward” in appreciation for the help my mother had received.
One can learn about Lund by reading the literature and perusing its website, but one gets a three dimensional vision of what Lund offers by these tours. Whether or not you are already a supporter of Lund, I strongly recommend taking these tours, as it will truly help you realize the butterfly-like transformation that occurs there and it is all done with a loving heart.
Thank you, Ray for sharing your experience at Lund’s Learning Hour. If you too, would like to experience your own butterfly and heart, please join us.
