 All right, welcome back everybody. This is Geeks are sexy. I'm Jason Leduc This is the third the fourth Thursday of the month and we're back with our second guest Teresa more from Down syndrome Organization of Southern Nevada Teresa came to Las Vegas from Utah and left a career in banking That's how I met you actually to become the executive director of Down syndrome of Southern Nevada And their mission is to enlighten the public by promoting a positive understanding of Down syndrome the community and be a source of support Information and education for families and individuals with Down syndrome. They do so much more than just that but thank you for joining us today Teresa Let's start by talking briefly about what Down syndrome is because I think there's a lot of misconceptions about it I know I had a lot of misconceptions about it before I met you so absolutely and thanks for having me Down syndrome is actually the most common genetic disorder We all have 23 chromosomes and when you have Down syndrome you have an extra chromosome 21 Okay, so what that does is it messes with your balance and so children that are born with Down syndrome Have a slower pace of that they learn and they're but their bodies develop at a slower pace Okay, they're more prone prone to have heart defects hearing problems speech issues and Just their social issues are a little bit off, but they're just amazing kids And they're just wonderful just something need like a little bit of help to do the same things that the rest of us do Absolutely, and they're just they're just so pure and so innocent. It's like you just want to hug them off Yeah, so so Down syndrome organization of Southern Nevada has been around a long time. How did it get started? Where are we at today with okay? Yeah, Down syndrome organization of Southern Nevada actually was Established in 1987 So we've been around for about 33 years it was a group of parents who were here in Southern Nevada and they Got together because their children all had Down syndrome. So they kind of formed this bond and decided to establish a non-profit organization which then became Down syndrome organization of Southern Nevada and It's been great because they're able to provide programs and services for the individuals and their families in The Southern Nevada community and just been growing and growing and that's what I want to emphasize It's not just about events and raising money and distributing money You guys actually have a really beautiful house where you have a lot of these programs at and you have the kids come By and you have an after-school program and that kind of thing and the kids can come by every day After school to do music and art and those kinds of things and you took over not quite a year ago as executive director And you had some very specific goals when you came in so what were those goals that you had coming in to take over this Organization and what were some of the challenges you faced to meet those goals? Well, it definitely was different than coming from my banking background But the nice thing with my banking background is I had management experience And so coming into the organization that have been running for 33 years. It's volunteer ran Not an amazing board, but I came in with a different vision so I was able to look at the organization and look at where they were running as a business and I was focused more on getting structure and Just creating a better pathway for things to happen on a more consistent basis And in doing that I was able to meet with the community meet with parents meet with individuals and find out You know what is really needed versus what we're offering and It's made a huge impact in the organization already just giving us some structure Yeah, I think that was we talked a lot about this a few months ago And this was this was there are a lot of great intentions But it was really hard to get from vision to execution and and I've heard you've done a great job Yeah, you know and I met some of the most amazing volunteers out there We have an amazing community and everybody wants to help the thing is is when somebody says hey, I want to volunteer We need to figure out how we can incorporate their expertise into what we mean. So they might say I want to volunteer I mean I have something for you today, but please don't walk away You know, we're open to whatever you're willing to do and sometimes, you know your expertise We can fit a program into that so now that the new structure is in place now that now that you have this Strategy to to action set up where you can go from those from idea to execution What are some of things you want to do? We're some of the new programs you want DS OSN to be able to offer in 2019 and 2020 now that now that some of these structural changes have been made. Yeah, what we're doing is we have incorporated parent meetups which will Dual dual purpose. It's a playtime for the kids, but it's also an opportunity for those support group for the parents Which is extremely important because once you have a child with Down syndrome If you don't know another parent with that, you feel like you're out there on an island So we've got a new parent meetup starting. We've done that years ago and the kids have aged out So now we're starting it up again, which has been great and we also have one that's bilingual We have quite a huge Hispanic community and you know, we definitely don't want to leave them out Just because we have some language barriers. So we're starting one for the Hispanic community So any of you out there with children with the speak Spanish or the parents speak Spanish Please come and reach out to us to learn more about that We're also incorporating more programs during the day most of our programs were after-school programs But we're looking at maybe yoga in the middle of the day or an art class Things like that especially in the summertime now that the kids are out of school Sure, because they go to regular schools and stuff and you know We're seeing how we can get them in to get things going during the day Well, what a great opportunity for the the parents who are new to all of this to get some mentoring from parents Who've been doing this for you know, 10 or 15 or 20 years or even three months, right? So those are all new things you want to do. Let's not forget about some of the great stuff You guys were doing when you came in what are some of those programs you guys were running from the kids and and if you Have a child with Down syndrome when you know someone who has a child with Down syndrome These are some of the classic programs you've had for the kids, right? Yeah Our classic program that will never go away. In fact, we're looking at expanding it is music The kids absolutely and I call them kids some of them are 16 some of them are newborns But they're all kids and they love music. So we have a couple of music sessions going on We're looking at expanding one from zero to three worlds. Mm-hmm. They come and do music. They come and do art They are learning Communication skills with each other and just social skills And then we have Turro University is amazing. They come in and help us do physical therapy That's great And then we will continue to outsource our speech therapy and help subsidize those particular programs with funding That's coming in. Okay, great Now you've got a big event coming up your big event for the year is coming. It's not coming up right away So it feels like it don't tune out though because it is coming up fast. It'll get here fast and tell us about it Yes, it is actually coming up in a hundred and forty-five days So, you know, we've been working on it for a few months already and it is our annual a little bit Our 31st annual festival of trees and lights Gala It is definitely one of the must-go-to events of the year And it's where we auction off live. Well, we do live and silent auction of Christmas trees Wreaths and all the gifts and toys and everything to go with them That event will be on November 23rd at Treasure Island this year. Okay, great treasure islands. Yeah We're so excited to do Treasure Island. We had done that's new. Yeah We were had been doing South Point and South Point was amazing and they were really good to us But we decided it was time for a new venue. So we're going to try South Point. I'm sorry Treasure Island And so we're excited about that and there's a number of ways people can be part of this event and help out with this event In the short term they can sign up to have a tree, right? They can sign up to design a tree, right? So they could be tree designers and They can get their own sponsors and their own gifts and they're you know Just work with the community that surrounds them and donate that tree and then we can auction it off We're always looking for silent auction items baskets and gift cards and things like that that we can combine in a basket or make it The whole basket and wreaths. We're looking for wreath designers. Okay, we auction off about 40 wreaths Mm-hmm, and they're just amazing people love them because they get to come to this event They it's a it's a dinner a dance that gala and all of that So they come to that and they purchase these items the money goes to a great cause and then they have a great holiday It's great, and you also if you're looking to a corporate donation, they can come and purchase a table Yes, or they or they can just come make a donation outright. Absolutely, right? And so so We'll have all this information where you can get in touch with Teresa but Teresa tell us how people can get in touch with you or you can get us in touch with me at the company or here at the Show and we'll get you in touch with Teresa if you're interested in doing a tree or a buying a table or Attending the event but Teresa tell everyone how they can reach you not just for the event, but yeah Organization in general our number is 702 648 190 and we're there Monday through Friday from nine to five to answer any questions that you have I'd love to have a tour of our organization. It's amazing And we can just answer any questions that you have and we take donations of all kinds So nothing is too small and nothing is too big and we'd love to hear from you and look out for them on social media I won't go through all the handles, but I'll link I'll link them all you they have some great social media stuff So Teresa, thank you for being here. Don't go too far We're gonna have you back for our panel discussion in a few minutes, but and don't you go too far We're gonna be right back with Pebbles Friday