We recently connected with Nadene Fishback and have shared our conversation below.
Nadene, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
It all started with two local moms looking to meet more families in the area who had a young child with Down syndrome, just like themselves. They knew there had to be more families out there, but there just wasn’t an established way for them to meet each other. To remedy that problem, they founded 3•21 Fun!, a playgroup for infants through preschoolers with Down syndrome in early 2023. Over the course of their first year, 3•21 Fun! ended up hosting 24 individual families at a variety of events, with many families being repeat attendees. Between the success of that group and the amount of friends with a wider range of ages and abilities that they met along the way, they decided to start a more inclusive network for the disability community in the Sioux Falls area, and Fun & Friends was born!
We are so passionate because while there is an abundance of wonderful services available to meet the medical and therapeutic needs of the disability community in the Sioux Falls area, there is one set of needs that is grossly overlooked: the need for community, for friends, for FUN! One statistic states that 85% of young adults with developmental disabilities in the U.S. say they feel lonely most days. Loneliness is associated with physical and mental health problems and an overall poorer quality of life. In 2023, the US surgeon general said loneliness poses health risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily and that loneliness increases the risk of premature death by nearly 30 percent.
By providing an easily accessible social network, both online and in person, we believe we can positively impact the overall health of individuals with disabilities and their families. Parents will be able to easily exchange information, support, & encouragement to each other in a social setting, helping to reduce both caregiver fatigue and loneliness for parents, who are also shown to experience isolation at a higher rate than parents of typical children.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My journey into the disability world started with my son, Owen. I had an uneventful pregnancy, normal scans, and a reassuring noninvasive test called an NIPT which screens for chromosomal abnormalities. He came into the world around 10 pm & needed help from the NICU team to bring his oxygen up. After they determined he was fine, they placed him in my arms and I remember thinking he had Down syndrome. I was quite tired and in a room filled with experts, so I gratefully held my child and rested. In the morning, I asked the doctor directly–they told me that due to our NIPT, our son did not have Down syndrome. Five hours later, my son turned blue. I called a nurse and she took one look, scooped him up, and ran. A team of ten saved his life that day and we moved into the NICU for the next month.
The rest of our journey looks very similar to other families with a child with a disability. We went home on oxygen support and follow ups for heart conditions with a myriad of doctors and therapists appointments.
Once he turned six months old and we hit a pivotal point for his health, we switched modes from trying to just keep him alive to how do we help him thrive. Community was our answer.
Jenni, a friend with a daughter with Down syndrome close to Owen in age, asked why we didn’t formally make a group specifically to help facilitate community connections–thus our first group, 3•21 Fun!, was formed. It was followed almost a year later with a larger group, Fun & Friends Jr. to better incorporate the wider community we were meeting with a similar need, and then a few months later, we decided to make the leap to incorporation and nonprofit status. We now offer programming for all ages with our key programs focusing on 0-5, 6-12, and teen and adults.
I have loved to meet the amazing families and individuals in our area. I feel incredibly blessed to get to be on this journey.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three qualities that I think have really played a roll in our group have been: enthusiasm, perseverance, recognizing and thanking our supports.
When we incorporated, Kelly joined us, and we are are now a board of three and I would have to say that all of us love what we’re doing. We all have a skillset that plays well into our roles, but beyond the day to day efforts it takes to grow a group, the time we spend meeting people, strengthening friendships with the community, and watching them engage meaningfully together, really brings us joy. It’s hard not to smile when we’re together.
Not every event we host is successful and not every behind the scenes job comes easily to us, but we persevere. Additionally, we volunteer our time in this organization which means that we are often working during nap times, bed times, and weekends. It can sometimes feel tiring, but having a team helps us to push through the hard times.
We are all incredibly blessed to have such supportive partners. They provide manpower to move our equipment, technical support with our digital work, and take on more duties at home to allow more time to work on our passion project. Our friends, family, and community have also risen up to support us–this has been through sharing the organization’s events, monetarily, lending a hand, and donating their time to our committee. We are incredibly grateful for all they have done for us.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We would love the opportunity to collaborate with others!
Locally, we are always interested in volunteers– we have something for everyone! If you’re looking to give back with a limited schedule, we have prep work for activities that can be done when your schedule allows. If you’d like to spend time with the community, we could use help with setup and running our sensory stations. If you want to really get involved, we have an Outreach Community committee dedicated to helping us grow our membership.
Do you know of anyone in the Sioux Falls area with a disability looking to socialize and build connections? Please send them a link to our group!
If you are interested in supporting us monetarily, we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and your tax deductible donations would be greatly appreciated. If you are interested in a larger donation, we have sponsorship opportunities for our 2024 General Fund and are about to start fundraising for a Family-Friendly Disability Resource Expo in April 2025.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.FunandFriends.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555387777228
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
