#sparkchamber 051820 — Colleen Zakoor
From our ready-for-the-moment department, #sparkchamber is honored to welcome leader with heart, Colleen Zakoor. Colleen has spent her life in service to others, making sure the most vulnerable are supported in ways that enrich their lives and the lives of their communities. Her belief, her inspiration is that, “we all matter, we all need a hand up at different times in our life.”
Colleen is the Executive Director at Community Living Central York, a not-for-profit charitable organization that provides essential daily living support to people with intellectual disabilities. Founded in 1954, their vision of building a community where everyone belongs is realized through programs offering group living, supported independent living, career development and workplace support, and community integrations and connections.
Rewarding and demanding in “normal” times, the pandemic adds another layer of complexity. “This is an incredibly challenging time for everyone, and we are grateful to our entire CLCY family for managing the new normal so brilliantly. The new constraints and hurdles we are navigating are proving to be an opportunity to think beyond the obvious and find new ways to support our staff and residents.”
One of those out-of-the-box approaches is a social media campaign #RaiseYourHand, bringing awareness of the need for personal protective equipment, and in supporting people with developmental disabilities through games and crafts to engage and entertain during physical distancing. Donations are welcome — at their website, click on donate — or through CanadaHelps.org.
We are all connected, and as Colleen says, “everyone needs each other.”
1.] Where do ideas come from?
I am incredibly collaborative. Working with others provides me with the framework to generate ideas. I then like to weave the information together to flesh things out more fully. In my line of work, we have lots of systems and protocols in place to keep things running smoothly and safely, but there's always space for unexpected inspiration. I think that's the key, a solid system with room for inspiration.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
I like to make things happen for the better, start the trend, reach beyond the obvious, knowing there are others for the details, be ahead of the curve.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
Being around people, [with or without contact], I love sitting at a shopping centre, feeling the energy in the air, I get into a zone, lots of information and hyper-focus to produce my best. The ideal time and space is when everyone has left for the day, it’s quiet, no distractions as much as I love them, just as I am doing now to complete this survey. I love the questions — they inspire me.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
When I have done everything I can and then some ... I have an inner feeling of calm. I’ve exhausted every idea to the full extent, wordsmithing has been “undone” as wordsmithed one too many times and go back to the last version.
