Apricity Place Update
For the last month the Apricity Hope Project team has worked to secure a perfect headquarters for our organization. As the executive director, founder of this nonprofit, and caregiver of two disabled children, I am taking my role incredibly seriously.
As a medical mama for the last seven years, I have learned that sometimes we must pivot. Sometimes our plans change. Sometimes things are simply just.not.fair. Especially for members of this amazingly strong and persistent community.
Last week, after signing papers, making our deposit, receiving approval from the city of Norfolk, setting up our insurance with the property address, confirming everything with the owners and agency, we received confirmation verbally, through text messaging and in an MLS listing that the house that we were calling “Apricity Place” would be our headquarters. Which is why I FINALLY shared our exciting news on Friday. We were thrilled to find “the perfect” place, close to CHKD, waterfront view, and enough space to love on the fatigued, forlorn and often overlooked caregivers of children who are fighting big battles.
Earlier in the week, the realtor representing AHP sent the property management real estate agent a text asking her what the property’s protocol is if any of our guests have a service animal. Days later, at 3PM on Friday (after I shared our good news) we received an email that said:
“After receiving your text yesterday about the dogs and because of the falsification/inaccuracy on your part, your application is considered incomplete at this time. We have since received another completed application and they have opted to move forward with that one.”
Our realtor tried to contact this agent the rest of the day on Friday and as of 4PM on Monday we still had ZERO response. We do not and will not have animals living in our headquarters. In an attempt to be respectful of the owners of this property, we simply asked about service and companion dogs that may come with our guests.
For so many reasons, I am crushed.
I am devastated that after months of work, finding the “perfect place”, sharing our exciting news with all of you, sharing an amazon wishlist, and launching our “Bring Hope Home” capital fundraising campaign… that because of an unanswered text about companion animals that members of our community are dependent upon, this has happened.
But mostly I am incredibly horrified at how, yet again, members of the disabled community have been dismissed. The security provided in the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act have been completely disregarded by this realtor, her management team and the owners of the property.
I have gone back and forth about how I will handle all of this publicly – by sharing details, it can hurt our nonprofit and potential donor relationships. By not sharing this experience, lessons will not be learned and our disabled community will continue to be hurt, dismissed and discriminated against.
As of now, we do not have an Apricity Hope Project headquarters on the horizon. We will start over with our search. As medical mamas we continue to ride the waves of hope, grief and unfortunate setbacks that we have been riding for years. As an organization we will continue to raise funds for the perfect place that will allow the Apricity Hope Project the opportunity to remind caregivers of disabled and medically complex children that there is love, hope and light even in the darkest seasons.
Thank you all for your kindness as we navigate these chaotic, unsettled waters. For those who have donated items from our Amazon “Bring Hope Home” Wishlist I will be reaching out to give you the option of returning the items or AHP keeping them for when we do find a property.
I have been asked by friends “how can I help because this is awful!?” Here are a few ways you can make a difference:
- Share our story. This cannot continue to happen to marginalized groups.
- We will continue to raise funds to secure our headquarters. You can donate through our website (www.apricityhope.org) if you feel moved to do so. At this time, I am going to disable our amazon wish list until we know where we will be and what we will need.
- In addition to “Love Like Lorelei Day” on 7/7, at this time the Apricity Hope Project has mama meetups, retreats on our calendar and waitlists of caregivers who need our support. If you know of long term rental properties in the Hampton Roads area, preferably in Norfolk since the city has been so awesome and supportive of our project, please let me know. Waterfront or water view is a plus because I believe that while salt water cannot cure the battles our children and families are facing – it can definitely soothe our souls.
Apricity means “the warmth of the sun during the winter.” This is a cold day for our organization and community but I know that the sun will rise tomorrow and we will continue to shine.
With hope and respect, Lorelei + Benji’s Mama,
Susan Geoghegan
Executive Director of Apricity Hope Project
susan@apricityhope.org
