“Best Coalition Yet!”
By: Taylor N. Thomas

 

              I attended the 2025 Pennsylvania Clubhouse Coalition event, which was an amazing new experience to me! There was so much more to it this year than I’ve had before. The PCC was held at the Penn Stater’s Hotel, in State College, where we also stayed for our four day trip. The rooms were pretty nice, there was plenty of construction going on during the day, but I still enjoyed it. They provided us with breakfast and lunch in the hotel's restaurant, which had a buffet style set up and they had a nice spread for each meal. It was very tasty and we enjoyed the wonderfully decorated dining room areas reserved for our meals. They had a pizza night for one dinner and the other was the big gala & dance party with fancy food and desserts. There was a great number of people that also attended. I made plenty of new friends from other clubhouses. Along with many great speakers who support us and they had presentations for us to learn more about what they do and how they can help us further. We had a few workshops during each day and I even helped with one of them about my experience with SLA (Supported Living Arrangement) and how I graduated from it and now have my own home for about five years now. It’s also my first year working in the PCC Board along with my colleague, Rania. I helped in the Communications group of the board, where we worked with social media, taking pictures of the event, designing the logo and much more! I was the one who came up with this year's logo and I’m very proud of it! This year's theme was “Better Together”, because together we help each other’s clubhouses with resources and share how different clubhouses do something that another could improve on. We’re here for each other, to help become stronger and more efficient clubhouses!

              I found out earlier this year that we are also allowed to make handmade goods, like jewelry or other merchandise. I brought a BIG bag of crochet goods that I made, and they almost sold completely out! I was very surprised but pleasantly so! I made what I call “Comfort Buddies”, they’re made with fluffier yarns. I make flower turtles, which are turtles with the flower for the shells. I made a few different colors, plus I made sunflower ones, too! They went first, plus regular flower comfort buddies, and a few sorted decorative pillows that look like sweet treats. I enjoy making sweet creations so much that I wanted to share them with others there! At the end of the PCC, I had made almost $200 from all my goods, and I loved seeing people get really excited to see and buy my work. It made me feel wonderful. This years’ Pennsylvania Clubhouse Coalition was my most favorite one so far. I had the best time and I thank everyone who helped make this happen!