We met up with our LEG Up! team and took a trip down memory road to give you a short recap of the history of our LEG Up! program!
About LEG Up!
Our LEG Up! program aims to empower individuals by enhancing their skills across various aspects of life. It is designed for adults with developmental disabilities and open to the whole community. Our goal at LEG Up! is to remain responsive to the direct funding model and person-directed request for service and to address the large percentage of adults who experience difficulty maintaining employment. The LEG Up! program provides diverse educational and skill-building opportunities. This includes speciality activities as well as offering skill building classes for job seekers waiting for a spot at KW Career Compass (KWCC). It encompasses categories such as independent living, cooking and baking, employment and volunteering, community inclusion, tutoring, and more.
About the team
Today at LEG Up! we have Michelle, Annita and Marc on our team! Together, our team has a collective 70 + years of experience in the Developmental Sector field each with diverse backgrounds, varied life experience and passion for their work. Our LEG Up! staff are highly collaborative and love to be creative and think outside of the box.
Below is a list of our current team members and the classes they specialize in:
Marc’s go-to classes are: music, art-sketching, painting, clay building, social study courses, tech, and math.
Michelle’s go-to classes are: baking, healthy living, baking, hikes, and more baking!!!
Annita’s go-to classes are: book club, creative writing, financial fitness, self advocacy, and independent skills.
Here is a Breakdown of our History at LEG Up! from 2013 until today!
April 1, 2013:
- LEG Up! program is established and our LEG Up! Classroom is housed at 109 Ottawa Street South, Unit D.
January 1, 2013:
- Planning for LEG Up! begins. Our initial focus was on literacy and skill development, including one-on-one tutoring.
Between 2013-2018:
- Our LEG Up! program expands!
- With the expansion of our program, we introduced courses like “How May I Help You?” (a course on customer service skills), “Money Sense” (a course on cash and money handling skills), and “LEG Up! to Work” (focused on job search skills).
- Over time, as LEG Up! continued to evolve, we added cooking classes, special interest sessions, and pop-ups (Art, Arts and Crafts, Zumba/Healthy You). We also introduced independent living skill building, relationship classes, baking classes, and music classes.
October 2018:
- Alison departs the LEG Up! team
November 2018:
- Annita joins the LEG Up! team
January 2019:
- Erika departs and Lana joins the LEG Up! Team.
2019-2021:
- LEG Up! uses “My Community Hub” a third party registration platform we used before switching to in house registration (shop.kwhab.ca)
April-June 2020:
- LEG Up! Responds to COVID-19 and goes virtual!
- There was a shift from in-person classes to virtual and hybrid classes. Virtual class offerings included baking, academic sessions, arts and crafts, and yoga.
2021:
- Technology transitions.
- We relied on technological tools including Zoom, Mailchimp, and Canva for effective information sharing.
- We transitioned to Cognito forms for registration, later merging with the KW Habilitation shop website: shop.kwhab.ca.
February 2021:
- Marc joins the LEG Up! team to meet our increased demands.
Spring 2021:
- LEG Up! goes back to in-person activities.
Summer of 2022:
- Lana departs, and Michelle joins the LEG Up! team .
2023:
- In 2023, LEG Up! offered 60 courses and 73 individual classes, and filled 3,149 spaces in these activities.
2024-Present
- You can continue to explore all LEG Up! courses and classes available at: https://shop.kwhab.ca/product-category/leg-up/
- We have a ton of Holiday and Winter classes and courses now available!
