by Jonathan Ross, Development Director

If these were normal times,
you could visit L’Arche at the Welcome Center. As you made your way through the building, you would meet Cindy, the Welcome Center ambassador and core member who lives at Ananda. Cindy loves to give tours.

Cindy watched as the Welcome Center was built. She baked cookies for the construction workers and brought them across the driveway as encouragement. Each day, she took note of the progress and reported to community members. “They still aren’t able to pave the parking lot. It’s too wet.” This building was important to her. To Cindy, the Welcome Center meant meeting more friends and sharing her gifts with others.

Sadly, the doors of the Welcome Center are closed temporarily due to COVID-19. Cindy is following orders to Stay Home, Stay Safe at Ananda. She video chats with her friends. She bakes sweet treats, but she can only share them with her own house now. Her housemates host painting parties and birthday celebrations. It is fun, but Cindy misses her friends and her role as ambassador at the Welcome Center

You can’t visit the Welcome Center right now. We are all doing our part to keep each other safe. But, Cindy’s role as Welcome Center Ambassador hasn’t stopped – it has grown. Now she’s an ambassador for all of L’Arche. Her job is to help people feel connected and to make sure we remember, even in hard times, that we have a place to belong.

Cindy wants you to know “the building is closed to help people not get sick. I care about you and miss you and hope we can be back at the Welcome Center soon.”