Welcome to Serving Locally with Me, your host, Michelle Dynas, podcast where we spotlight service in the Longmont and surrounding communities. All right, let's connect. Today's episode of Serving Locally with me. Today, we're here with Fred Hobbs of Imagine. So let's just start out with who are you and what is Imagine and just a quick overview. Sure. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. So yes, my name is Fred Hobbs. I am director of public relations at Imagine.  So from babies and toddlers who might need some early intervention treatments, our therapies to help them meet developmental milestones to school age kids, we have a summer camp program and after school program, school closure day programs. So kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be engaged and active in their communities. For adults, we have residential programs if they're not able to live on their own, or need some support where they're living. We have employment programs. So the individuals that we serve can find meaningful work out in the community. And we also have day programs where even as adults, we can help teach them skills that can transfer to other aspects of their lives that will allow them to be more independent and more able to access their community. Okay, so I was thinking it was just for kids. Yeah, it's right all through lives. And we even, I mean, we serve seniors. Also, there is a unique set of challenges that comes with someone who has a intellect, I'm going to use the term IDD, which is short for intellectual and developmental disability. So you don't have to hear me say that 1000 times. So adults, seniors with IDDs, there is a unique challenge that can come with providing them services. So even up to that age, we try to help them always with the goal of giving them as many opportunities as they can to be active contributing members of their communities. That's awesome. Can you just give us a little bit of background about the about Imagine? Absolutely. We are actually celebrating our 60 year anniversary this year. And Imagine was formed by a group of parents living in Boulder, who had kids with IDD, that's not the term that they used at the time. And they wanted their kids to have the same opportunities as everybody else in the community. They wanted them to be able to be part of the Little League teams. They wanted them to be able to go to church with everybody else. That sounds pretty obvious to us in 2023. In 1963, that was really radical. The truth is that most people with IDD back then were not allowed to be part of their community. In fact, the exact opposite. They were literally hidden away into institutions, big buildings that just housed people who happened to have these disabilities, not because they were dangerous, not because they were had committed any kind of crimes, just because society didn't have a place for them. And these parents back then said, no, that's wrong. Our kids have the same inalienable rights to be part of the community, just like anybody else. People too. Exactly. And that has been the foundation of our mission ever since. We believe in the potential of all. We know that people with IDD can and do contribute to their communities every single day in ways big and small and working with our communities. Our goal is to create a world of opportunity for all abilities. That's awesome. I like all of that. What is your focus that imagine? Well, you'll hear me say community a bunch as we talk. I like that. Well, it's and it really is. We're not we are not trying to fix anybody. We're not a healthcare organization in the sense of you come to us with a broken arm. We put it in a cast. The people that we serve. Once they're past a certain age are diagnosed with the IDD and that's for life. So it's not our goal to try to cure them. Instead, it's our goal to make sure that we can work with our community to make sure that they have opportunities to fully be part of that community. And we can't do it without the support of our community. And we're very fortunate to work in a place where there's so many generous caring community members. Longmont's been amazing to us Boulder, of course. And that's how it works. We're at our best at Imagine when we're facilitators that say a business wants to hire somebody that we serve. If we can facilitate making that happen. It's a win for the person we serve. It's a win for the business. It's a win for the community. That's when we're at our best. If we're the ones doing all of the services ourselves, then we're not fully meeting our mission. Fortunately, again, we have a community that's so amazingly supportive of our work, but more importantly, the people that we serve and want them to be part of the community. They want to see them out there. And that makes our work so much easier, but also so much more rewarding. That's awesome. Who are you trying to reach with your organization? Well, I don't want to go too much into how the system works because it's convoluted and complicated and not necessarily I think something that most of your viewers will care that much about. But what we're who we're trying to reach goes back to the answer that I just gave. We want our community to be involved in our work. The people that we serve because of the way the system works, they're already in our system. We're already working with them. So we don't have to try to reach them necessarily, but we want the community to know what we're doing and to be part of that work because that's when it becomes successful. Sometimes in rare occasions, especially families with younger kids who may not know, we do want to make sure that if they have concerns that their children aren't meeting certain developmental milestones that there are resources out there for them. But mostly it's about doing everything we can to have our community not only be part of our work, but in a lot of ways actually lead our work. This is something that I say often and it's half joking, but I am serious in a way that if Imagine successful at its mission, we won't need to exist anymore, because the community will recognize the value of people with IDD and will make the necessary adjustments and adaptations to ensure that they can fully participate. And even though I love my job, I also would love for a day to come when it doesn't have to exist. So I'm using the term reach a little different, I think than you're asking, but we're reaching for that goal of when we don't actually have to be here anymore. And I we've come so long from back in 1963, when those parents were trying to make this happen, we're not there yet. I do think we can get there and I know that less and less of a middle man. Exactly. And I know that we're the this is the right community for that to happen in. That's great. Are you guys in more than just where what is your our service area area is primarily Boulder and Broomfield counties. Okay. It's again, complexity is a system we few we serve a few people outside of those areas, but it's local. You're not a national thing. It's a local thing. Absolutely. Okay. What makes the work of Imagine different than other similar serving organizations? I would say a couple things. First of all, it's the the length of what we're doing. Imagine was the first what's known as a community centered board in the state of Colorado. And that's a designation designed to help the designation of an organization that helps the individuals that we serve find the services. But we also provide the services. So it's that 60 year legacy. But more importantly, I think that because of the communities we've been able to to we're fortunate enough to work in that we've been able to go beyond what I think most organizations can do because of the majority of our funding comes from Medicaid federal funding. But we have a foundation. So a fundraising side of our organization that raises money that helps us do things that go beyond what the traditional funding might allow. Because the traditional funding always comes with a lot of guardrails and restrictions. You can only use the money to do this, which I understand and we respect. But last year, we served almost 4600 people. And that's 4600 individuals. Oh my goodness. So in each case, their needs, their goals, their desires are going to be different. There's no one size fits all unique. Right. So when you're dealing with a funding source that kind of doesn't recognize that uniqueness that says you can only do this, it does limit our options when it comes to trying to create that world of opportunity for all abilities. So we have for the longest time incorporated technology in a lot of the work that we do because just as any one of us now uses our cell phone sort of as a another way to help us navigate the world. In some cases, very literally. We work very hard to provide those same options for the people we serve so that they can use technology that somebody who maybe just 20 years ago would have had to have a full time caregiver 24 seven. Maybe if we can set up some smart features in their home, if we can set up some remote monitoring, they can actually live more independently, be more on their own. And that's something that Imagine has really led the way in. And I do say without feeling like I'm overstating it, we are recognized not just locally, not just statewide, not just nationally, but even internationally as a leader and an innovator in exploring new ways to ensure that people with IDD can fully participate in their communities. That's awesome. Wow, that's really cool. I didn't know the depth of this. Like I said, I thought it was just for kids. It's funny, I will say it's not your question, but one of the reasons that my role exists at Imagine, one of the reasons the foundation's role exists at Imagine is for that very reason. And it goes back to the 1963 story that I keep coming back to. This was a population that was invisible. And to the greatest extent possible, we want to make sure that it's the people we serve that are front and center. So we try to stay a little bit in the background.  So first of all, I very much appreciate you letting me be here and talk about our work to talk about the size and scope. Bring light on it, yeah. But it's also just a reminder that these folks with IDD, they are out there. They are part of our community and if they're invisible to some people, some of that invisibility may be willful on the part of people who don't want to see them. And we want to make sure that they are visible entirely to the entire community. Very good. What are your greatest needs? Well, as I said, we have a foundation and that is designed to raise funds that allow us to go above and beyond our more traditional sources of funding for services. So it's mostly, as cynical as it may sound, mostly we need money. But what, again, going back to how incredible our community is and how much support we get, we get support from the community in all kinds of ways. This is, we're recording this not long after Thanksgiving. There's a restaurant called the Post Chicken and Beer and there's several locations around the area. The owner is a gentleman named Dave Querrey who's been a longtime supporter of us. On Thanksgiving, he opened up one of his locations of the post to more than 400 imagined families and clients so they could have a Thanksgiving dinner. And so that's not a money thing but what it is is once again this example of here's a community member opening up the doors to their community business, to the people that we serve. So it's, now I'm backtracking a little, it's not just money. It's businesses who are willing to hire the people that we serve. It's organizations and venues around the area who are willing to host some of our services so we can deliver them out in the community. It's being part of our work to make our work more meaningful, not just for the people we serve but for the community itself. Absolutely. And money too. Yeah, money too. Money's a big one. Do you guys have volunteers? We do have volunteers. We're ramping this back up so I suspect you've heard this before. The pandemic made. We got to rebuild everything. We had a very robust volunteer program. During the pandemic we couldn't do it, which I will say, you know, I keep talking about community. Talk about a struggle for us being a community organization that you can't be part of the community. Right, there's no community anymore. Everybody's locked away in their home so it's very difficult. So we are ramping that back up but we do have a volunteer program. If you go to our website ImagineColorado.org, there is under Get Involved a link for volunteer opportunities. There's not as many as we'd like or as we used to have but we're working to get back up towards that. Good thing to keep in mind. Awesome. Do you have any events coming up or volunteer opportunities? Well, so back to the events and back to the money piece. Our big fundraising event for the Imagine Foundation, which is the fundraising arm of Imagine, is coming up on Saturday, February 3rd. It's called the Imagine Celebration. It is, I think this is the 20th annual one and this, it's going to be in the Westminster Marriott. This is an amazing opportunity to come out and support our work. It's a fantastic evening. I will say it sells out almost every year. So if people are interested, also ImagineColorado.org under Get Involved, you'll find Imagine Celebration. But this is more than half of what we raise every year comes from this one single event and it's a really fun event. I promise you'll come away moved, may even cry a little bit when you hear some of the stories about the success of the people that we've served but also help make a difference in our community. Absolutely. How can people contact and find out more about Imagine? Well I've already mentioned it a couple times but I'll do it one more time. The best place is to go to our website that is ImagineColorado.org and it has a contact form if you're looking for more specific information whether it's you want to learn more about services or you want to get involved volunteering or through the foundation but it's got everything right there and I think fairly easy to navigate. Awesome. They'll also be in my QR code as everybody is and I'll have all that information in the show notes and everything like I always do. What is the process to become a client? Well it's a complicated question but generally a health care provider or perhaps a family member it happens usually early on because they recognize like I say they're not meeting it could be school oftentimes preschool the earlier it can be identified the better because I talk about like early on I talked about our early intervention services those are so vital because if you get it while kids are young their brains are still very malleable oftentimes you can come out on the other end of earlier intervention services and not need services from us moving forward but generally especially in this day and age someone with the IDD is going to be identified relatively early in which case if they're in the state system and they live in boulder and boomfield counties they will be connected with imagine if somebody's moving from out of state it's a little more complicated but there's there's 20 organizations across the state of Colorado like imagine now I think imagine is very unique in many ways of so very talked about but there is a very good solid system of these organizations being connected if people move helping them them get set up but it's not something that unless it's a really unusual situation that say somebody who's 25 years old is going to suddenly discover because if it's already been identified that they have an intellectual or developmental disability they will be in the system in one form or another and I don't even mean system in a negative way just that we will be aware be aware of them and their needs awesome um well great is there anything else that you would like to add to the conversation that maybe I add or maybe that I missed or that you just feel passionate about talking about I don't think you miss anything and I great again I greatly appreciate this I just would once again reiterate how fortunate we are to be in this community and this interview is a perfect example of that that we met at a unity in community event so even the name in there and you reached out to us and and this is what makes our work work these folks in our community who see the work who recognize the value of the people we serve and want to be part of it in one way or another so I thank you for that I thank our community for all that they've done for imagine and encourage those of you who want to do more to check out our website and again just thank you for letting me talk a little bit about it absolutely thank you so much for being on the show you bet thank you to my guests my listeners and my supporters serving together we can strengthen our community please like and subscribe do all those other things you know you got to do them because that's the easiest way to that you can serve right now all right now go connect with others and be a blessing


Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Anicia Antoine, The Sedition's Top Stories. Paho urges the region to respond rapidly to the mental health effects of COVID-19. St. Lucia's Health Minister lords the diplomatic cause contribution to the national COVID fight. And the annual Grosally Top Achievers still a night. St. Lucia, along with the countries of the Caribbean and Latin Americas, have been called upon to expand and invest in mental health services to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The call has come from the director of the Pan American Health Organization, Dr. Carisa Etienne. Noting a mental health crisis in the region brought on by the effects of COVID-19, the Pan American Health Organization, Paho, has been helping countries increase their capacity to provide mental health support at the community levels. In her latest update to this region during a weekly press briefing, Paho director Dr. Carisa Etienne asserts that the coronavirus has exacerbated what was already a silent epidemic in our part of the world. In our region, depression and anxiety are two of the leading causes of disability. We are also home to the second highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world. And emergencies can worsen these conditions. Surveys from the three countries in our region that are most impacted by COVID-19, the United States of America, Brazil and Mexico, show that about half of adults are stressed by the pandemic. An early data showed that many are coping by using drugs and alcohol, which can create a vicious cycle that makes people more prone to and can exacerbate mental health issues. In spite of increased needs during these challenging times, mental health support may be increasingly out of reach due to strict lockdowns or as the already scarce mental health staff and budgets are reallocated to the COVID-19 response. Dr. Etienne adds that this is especially concerning for patients who are affected by COVID-19, as they don't only experience physical symptoms, but many also experience insomnia, difficulty to sleep, delirium or even depression. Doctors, nurses and health workers, she says, who are risking their lives on the front line working longer hours than ever before are facing burnout, anxiety and depression. We need governments to prioritize mental health as part of the response to the pandemic. And at the same time, countries must make investments to scale up services to hire and train additional staff. One of the most effective and efficient ways to do this is to integrate mental health and psychosocial support within primary health care systems. So they're easily accessible to those who need them most. Dr. Etienne stresses on the need for the region to work assiduously to destigmatize mental health as everyone who needs mental health support should feel comfortable asking for help and seek professional support where needed. PAHO has been helping countries to strengthen policies and services and to expand online learning for health workers so they know how to identify and support survivors of violence during the pandemic. St. Lucia's 311 Hotline offers psychosocial support services to individuals during the pandemic. Here at home, Minister for Health and Wellness, Senator Hon. Mary Isaac has lauded the Diplomatic Corps for its steadfast assistance to the government and the people of St. Lucia in the COVID fight. I want to thank all our ambassadors who have put their best foot forward. They have provided us with quite a number of PPEs, quite a lot of masks, gloves and so on. Especially the Taiwanese ambassador, the government and people of Taiwan, as well as the Cuban ambassador, the government and people of Cuba. We saw the number of nurses, a hundred and something nurses and doctors that came to us from the very beginning of this, from the onset of the virus and they have remained with us up till now. A few of them returned but the majority of them are still here with us in St. Lucia helping us to maintain our good record and to keep taking care of our people here in St. Lucia. Senator Hon. Mary Isaac. Meanwhile, the OECS Commission has made a donation of face shields to support the transition of schools to the new COVID-19 safety preparations for the 2020-2021 academic year. More in this report. The donation forms part of the Commission's Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment to contribute to the societal goals of the OECS member states and support OECS communities in shaping their shared prosperity. Overall, we want to thank the staff, not just at the Impolite, but of all the schools on Ireland for putting together the initiatives to get students back in school come September and we hope that our gift of masks to the teachers will assist in preparing the Dane-Pollet School to be ready come September and to be focused on teaching our youth rather than worrying about the health as much. Principal of the Dane-Pollet-Louise Primary School, Mrs. Ethanin Leos, thank to the OECS Commission for the donation. The face shields will definitely augur well for us as a school and as a teaching staff. The teachers will have an additional layer of protection as they go about continuing the journey that we have set up from the beginning in 2003 of making sure our students achieve the best, focusing on education and not on all the other things that can be distractions. Mr. Louiseau, the face shields do more than just protect us. It also gives us this kind of assurity and assurance that everything is fine not just with Dane-Pollet, but with education in St. Lucia. Principal of the Common Rainy Memorial School, Sianna Nolly George says a gesture from the OECS Commission reinforces the school's safety protocols for the new academic year. Life as we know it will never be the same. The COVID-19 pandemic prevention through social distancing and health and safety protocols has introduced the new normal into our education system. As an educational institution, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that the school environment is safe and that mandated protocols for the education system are in place to receive our staff and students when they return next month. The use of face covering such as a face shield is an important element in ensuring the safety of staff, students and other key stakeholders on the ground. And we trust that this donation will make the transition a little better for all. The relationship between the OECS Commission and the Common Rainy Memorial School is slowly growing and with this small donation and future opportunities, we aim for a long, fruitful relationship. The OECS Commission presented 42 face shields to the principal and staff of the Camille Henry Memorial School. The cooperation initiative between the Camille Henry Memorial School and the OECS Commission facilitated staff of the OECS in resolving the abrupt interruption to classroom learning. We are here again to express our appreciation to you principal and staff for your kind generosity and that of the teachers who assisted in the process in allowing nine children of staff of the OECS Commission to be registered on the online learning platform of the Camille Henry Memorial School during May to June 2020. The students were registered across grades one to grade six and the feedback from the parents we received worked very positive. I must mention that we had two students from the Commonwealth of Dominica who also participated and benefited from this cooperative initiative with your school. We felt it prudent though that given your quick response and your willingness to partner with the OECS Commission that we contribute to the inventory of your personal protective equipment that your school must now acquire to meet the new safety and health protocols. Principal of the Camille Henry Memorial School, Beverly Diodone, thanked the OECS Commission for the presentation. This contribution will greatly assist in offsetting the huge financial burden on the school in preparation for the reopening while ensuring all safety protocols are in place. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the Commission and we look forward to continuous collaboration between the OECS Commission and the Camille Henry Memorial School. The OECS Commission has partnered with other schools in St. Lucia and the Commonwealth of Dominica through the annual social outreach and educational activities. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The annual Grosile top achievers award ceremony has put a smile on the faces of many students, parents and teachers. Roger Byron Lawrence reports. Top achievers from the constituency of Grosile have been awarded for their successes. The ninth annual Grosile top achievers ceremony recognised the outstanding academic performances of students from the constituency in the common-entrance examinations. Paliamentary representative for Grosile, the Honourable Leonard Montout, congratulated the top-achieving students on a job well done and spoke of the importance of recognising the youth and their achievements. This annual ceremony is very significant to me because I am one who believes in accentuating the positives about our youth, our young people and when they do good, when they perform well, I think they have to be celebrated, they have to be given due recognition and the praise that they deserve. I think that in itself serves as a further motivation and encouragement to them as well as an inspiration and to others to at least pursue excellence and to aim to do better in the future. I am hoping that when we present them, we present them as models to their pairs. The pairs can emulate and so I think it's all around a positive because we too often only speak of the negative things about our young people but there's a lot to celebrate among our youth and I think whenever we get the opportunity, we profit that opportunity and this is one occasion when we take pleasure in doing so annually. This year's top achievers from Grozile are as follows the Common Entrance Exams, Christian George, Thierry Morrill, Brianne Seely and Kyle Chaus also in receipt of special awards for second place are Eva George, Menelik Nurse, Brielle Anson and Zohan Orillier. The top achievers were rewarded with laptops and plaques for their exemplary performances. Top Achiever Thierry Morrill expressed gratitude to the parliamentary representative on behalf of the achievers. Despite the current economic climate due to COVID-19, the achievements of the youth definitely did not go unnoticed. We are there for most overjoyed at the recognition. Our gifts will definitely be used to assist us in our educational journey. I would like to express my gratitude towards the many persons who tirelessly to ensure that this event was successfully executed. We the recipients are grateful for the acknowledgement of our efforts as this year's top Common Entrance achievers of our respective schools. Sidney J. Harris says and I quote, The windows are open. The opportunities await. End of quote. It's up to us now to use our new devices and the skills, values and knowledge acquired thus far to take us to a higher level. The Grozile constituency top achievers awards took place on Tuesday, August 18th at the Grozile Human Resource Centre. From the Government Information Service, I am Rog Varo-Lorens reporting. A film series has begun airing this month to educate the public on climate change and biodiversity. The Department of Sustainable Development embarked on this production to convey how the National Environmental Information System can be harnessed for developing scenarios in St. Lucia's future and planning for such eventualities. Jesse Leos has a report. A film series has been launched to highlight the value of St. Lucia's one-of-a-kind environmental information system. Referred to as the NEIS, this web-based platform provides reports on the state of the island's environment and updates on the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements that the country is signed on to. The film series, titled St. Lucia into the Future, will be aired over three seasons, each themed climate change, land degradation and biodiversity. The films demonstrate the use of the NEIS for translation of data into useful and actionable information and presents a baseline for environmental scenarios in St. Lucia which can be revisited, revised and used to inform strategic planning. We just want to bring home the message of how climate change can impact a small island developing state like St. Lucia. And you know what's the public role in this right now. So this is why the film comes in. So we target everyone at all levels to let them see the value of this national environmental information system, how it will allow us to envision these scenarios that we have generated and see what improvements we can make to make St. Lucia better in terms of environmental management. That was Daniel Gordon, project manager at the Department of Sustainable Development. The film series is an undertaking of the department's increased St. Lucia's capacity to monitor multilateral environmental agreements, MEA, implementation and sustainable development project. The project's main deliverable is NEIS. Being the first of its kind in the region, makes St. Lucia a trailblazer for its online environmental information platform. So access the reports on there. You can go to www.neis.govt.lc. So this is where the public can access the reports generated from the data. Now you can access both reports and the data so you can create your own reports based on the data there. But that data comes from government and non-governmental organizations who have agreed through an MOU to contribute periodically to this national environmental information system. So you have agencies like Central Statistics Office, Department of Planning, Ministry of Health and Wellness. You also have National Trust. Met Office? Yes, Met Office there as well. So you have multiple agencies who have agreed through this MOU to commit to uploading data in a very regular manner. Project Manager Daniel Gordon encourages the public to visit the NEIS site at neis.govt.lc and follow the film series airing weekly. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. This is NTN Nightly. Up next, Primers Hutchinson with the NTN Novella Quaiol. Welcome back. We now join Primers Hutchinson for the NTN Novella Quaiol. My name is Kadef Salah. I am 18 in 2020. My name is Kadef Salah. I am a woman from Delaney, Delage, and I am from the US. I am quarantine. I have been living here for seven years. I am now in a stable position in the hospital in Victoria. I am Kadef Salah, I am a resident of the MOU who has been confirmed in this hospital for 26 years, 28 years. I would like to advise the public that even though the government is trying to manage the Ecosy Code of Investigation to ensure that everyone who is in contact with the individual must learn about their responsibilities personally to protect them as well as their families. I would like to say that I would like to say that to participate in social activities in the public, I would also like to give a notification that all the protocols will continue in the same fashion as before to serve the masses in the public, to continue to waste six feet of distance from the people. I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to give a notification to all the people who are in contact with the public the Ecosy Code of Investigation in the public and how they would like to speak to the public to support them and to encourage them to keep up with them with their realized work. And we would like to say that I would like to thank for the 3rd of September, 2020. Residuality explained that the 8th initiative was necessary to extend its operations to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State's work collaborated very closely with the Secretary of State to ensure that there is a place where everyone who is involved can continue to follow and protect themselves. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to add a lot of attractions and restaurants to help increase the situation of the foreign agent to encourage the country's economy to be stronger. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to add a lot of attractions and restaurants to help increase the situation of the foreign agent to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to expand its time for the Secretary of State to expand its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to make the Minister of Tourism ¡Favio! Since there is a reduction in the number of children to assist the school, it is necessary for the school to find a way to help them continue to operate. So if we have to do 5, 20, 15, so it's not going to be a difficult way to manage, because we don't have to bring money or coffee before. And it's not going to be a difficult way to manage. So we have to do this to make money, to bring money, to buy support for all these people. It's not going to be a difficult way to manage. Thank you very much for your invitation. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below. That's one.


How's it going, my friends? Hope you had a great Christmas. So this will be my last video for this year. It will be New Year's soon here in Switzerland. And I just wanted to share a few things about my journey so far. The year of 2020 has definitely been a rough year for many people. I think the most difficult part for me was that I wasn't able to see my brother for more than a year now since he lives in San Diego, California. It would have been nice to spend Christmas with him, but with the coronavirus situation at the moment, it just made everything harder for us. But I still feel that next year will be a better year for all of us. Luckily, there were still some good moments that I got to experience this year. I got to meet a lot of cool people, work on exciting projects, and as far as my YouTube journey goes, I'm happy to say that we are soon reaching 10,000 subscribers, which is amazing. Now, I have prepared a special giveaway which I will announce in another video soon. I feel really proud to be able to help so many people with my videos. And as a matter of fact, I have set my goal this year to reach 10,000 subscribers, which came true. I really enjoy your supportive comments and that is what really keeps me going. It's also great to see how my videos impact your lives so positively. I just wanted to say that I'm really here for you guys, really here to help you, and I try my best to answer all of your questions. One of my goals for next year is to be more present on social media so that you guys get to know me a bit better. I was also considering doing vlogs, but I'm not sure if you guys want to see that. I sometimes feel like I have to be perfect on YouTube because I'm afraid to disappoint you guys. When I think that way, I put a lot of pressure on myself and I know it's wrong and it isn't good for my work-life balance. Now, creating videos on YouTube does consume a lot of time and takes a lot of hard work, but I enjoy it so much that I feel like it's not even work at all. I'm hoping to produce two videos a week. I think I've said that the last year, but since I'm working on another special project which I can't tell you about, I will have to stick with one video a week, which actually has worked well so far. I really don't want the quality of my video to be affected since I want you to have the best viewing experience possible. Now, it took me six months of consistently uploading one video a week to get from 1,000 subscribers to almost 10,000 subscribers. And during that time, I learned so much from filming and trying out new things with my smartphone to running a small business. And I really wish I have started earlier. Now, I never thought that I was able to make money on YouTube. Now, you probably wanna know how much money I make. Well, this month I made around $174 in ad revenue, which is not bad. And you might know that I still work part-time as a nurse and also do freelance work, but hopefully someday I can do YouTube full-time because I enjoy it a lot. And when going full-time, I can just focus on creating awesome content. When I say content, I not only mean educational content, but also entertaining content where I can combine these two together because I'm actually a funny guy. Why do I never laugh? See what I mean? And I want to bring out more of that humor inside of me. Trying to be perfect all the time just kills the humor. In the end, what really satisfies me the most is that I can just create a video and put it out for the world to see. What I also want to do more on this channel is to create short cinematic films as these videos are really fulfilling to make and also very enjoyable to watch. Now, most of the content I create on this channel is currently about mobile filmmaking since it's a really hot topic. But for 2021, I also want to include filmmaking tutorials using my Sony A7S III as I enjoy that as well. It's important for me that I keep pushing myself to develop new skills and get out of my comfort zone. And that is what I will continue to do in 2021. So this is the end of the road, guys. Thank you so much for watching and thank you for being part of this YouTube channel. And I wish you guys all the best. Happy new year. Take care. And I will see you in the next video.