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iReporter
November 3 2021
Rob's Place founder named Ga. Caregiver of Year
Some of those for whom Ellen Criswell, 2nd from left, is caregiver show their excitement
at her being honored as Caregiver of the Year. Second from right is Rob Cook, for whom
Robs Place is named.
By Diane Glidewell
news@mymcr.net
Ellen Criswell shed a few
tears on Tuesday when
she was surprised by the
announcement that the
Rosalynn Carter Institute
for Caregivers (RCI) has
chosen her Georgia Volun
teer Caregiver of the Year.
She was congratulated by the
leadership of RCI and award
sponsor Seniorlink as well
as a number of her Monroe
County friends and support
ers.
Ellen founded Robs Place
in March 2020 as a place
where young adults could
go to continue learning,
interacting with others
and being productive after
they aged out of the public
school system at 22. She had
worked with special needs
students at Mary Persons
for several years, heard their
parents’ concerns about
what they would do after
they left school and had
seen for herself how some
of them became lonely and
bored when they no longer
had a place to go to interact
with people outside their
immediate families.
Opening Robs Place at the
start of the pandemic held
plenty of challenges, but with
the support of her own fam
ily and the families of those
for whom she provides care
and opportunities Ellen has
persevered with her dream
of making life better for
this group of young people
and their families. The lack
of ways for special needs
individuals to interact with
others during the pandemic
opened up new opportuni
ties for Robs Place to serve.
For example, she now has
an after-school program and
served older students while
Monroe County Schools
were limited to virtual
classes.
Another partnership
formed when Carrie Owen,
executive director of An
chor of Hope Foundation,
reached out to Ellen as she
looked for a place to provide
a monthly evening of respite
care for parents with special
needs children. Anchor of
Hope provides assistance
to children on the autism
spectrum and has had a
highly successful respite
program for several years.
The churches that had pro
vided sites for the program
couldn’t do so under Covid
restrictions, but families still
needed respite, and Ellen
responded.
It was Owen who nomi
nated Ellen for Georgia
Caregiver of the Year:
“It is my absolute plea
sure to recommend Ellen
Criswell as a nominee for
the Caregiver of the Year
award. I first met Ellen when
we needed a smaller venue
to continue our Parent’s
Night Out program due
to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Anchor of Hope hosts
a monthly Parent’s Night
Out program. This program
allows parents/caregivers to
drop their kids with develop
mental disabilities and their
siblings off with our staff
and volunteers for 3 hours of
respite care. The two church
locations were unavailable
during the pandemic, but we
still wanted to provide some
respite for these families.
Ellen recently started
her business, Rob’s Place.
This is a day program for
adults with disabilities. She
graciously allowed us to
host a smaller version of our
Parent’s Night Out at her
location. We were able to
take 5 children with disabili
ties once a month allowing
their family the respite they
desperately needed. This
would take place on a Friday
evening and even though
she was exhausted, and
needed respite herself; she
pushed through to allow us
to provide this service.
In addition to helping An
chor of Hope, her program is
helping countless families in
the area to get the care their
children need. Her mission
is to enhance the dignity,
uniqueness, & independence
of people who have dis
abilities by providing a place
where they keep learning
life & social skills, providing
educational needs, arts &
crafts, fun outings, & build
ing friendships.
Ellen has a heart of gold,
and her hard work is allow
ing families in middle Geor
gia to have a place to turn to
when other doors are closed.
Please feel free to contact me
if you should like to discuss
Ellen and Rob’s Place further.
I’d be happy to expand on
my thoughts.”
On Tuesday Ellen said she
thought Owen was bring
ing some groceries for Rob’s
Place. Instead she received a
plaque, gift basket, a dozen
roses, balloons and a check
for $1,000. Six representa
tives of the Rosalynn Carter
Institute came to congratu
late her and present the gifts,
as well as representative of
award sponsor Seniorlink, a
tech-enabled health services
company focused on keep
ing care in the home where
family caregivers play a
pivotal role.
For many years award
recipients were honored at
a luncheon, where they had
the chance to meet Rosalynn
Carter, and sometimes for
mer President Jimmy Carter,
as well as one another. Each
year three state winners are
chosen: a volunteer care
giver, a family caregiver and
a paraprofessional.
In 2020 the awards lun
cheon had to be cancelled;
so RCI took the awards
on the road, surprising the
three winners in their home
towns. They continued the
road trip celebrations in
2021, surprising Ellen at
Rob’s Place, where her Rob’s
Place family of young adults
was delighted to be a part of
the celebration. The other
2021 winners are in Blacks-
hear and Winder.
Some others who came out
to cheer for Ellen included
Elizabeth Holloway, with
whom Ellen worked at Mary
Persons; Jennifer Brown,
Monroe County Schools
parent services coordinator;
and Debbie Harbin, co
founder of Anchor of Hope.
Carter, who had personal
experience as a caregiver,
founded RCI for Caregiv
ers in 1987 because she is
passionate about supporting
and recognizing the impor
tant role of caregivers, now
estimated at 53 million in
the U.S. She has emphasized
that among people there
are those who have been
caregivers, those who are
caregivers, those who will
be caregivers and those who
will need caregivers.
The Georgia awards are
announced to coincide with
National Family Caregiv
ers Month. Olsen said in
Georgia one in five adults is
a caregiver at some time in
their lives.
“It touches all of us,” she
said.
Ellen said she answered
some questions when Owen
told her she was nominating
her, but she thought nothing
else would come of it with
the thousands of deserving
caregivers in Georgia. She
said it has been hard to keep
providing care at Rob’s Place
as many of the clients and
many who want to be clients
are still waiting to qualify for
Medicaid waivers after ap
plying more than a year ago.
“It’s worked out somehow,
but I’m not sure how we’ve
kept it together,” said Ellen.
She worries about her
Rob’s Place family, and
sometimes that makes it
hard for her, but she said the
young people she cares for
make it worthwhile.
“When you come here,
they just make you happy’
said Ellen. “They’re just awe
some. We try to make it fun.”
The morning before her
surprise, she took the young
adults to the Circle of Care
Thrift Shop to help out. This
afternoon they will be busy
making Christmas orna
ments that will be for sale at
their Sunshine Store on-line.
They will keep half of the
money from sales individu
ally and will be able to use it
to shop at Circle of Care and
learn about budgeting and
smart shopping. You can
find the Sunshine Store at
robsplaceforsyth.com.
Ellen said she welcomes
donations and could use
some volunteers. Contact
her at robsplaceforsyth@
gmail.com. Rob’s Place is at
109 Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive, 478-7875790.
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