For more than three decades, Anita and Luke Lefebvre have opened their hearts and home to Germaine and Marie\u2014two women with developmental disabilities<\/p>\n
This story was submitted by Community Living Algoma to share the positive impact of the LifeShare program, which mirrors the concept of a natural family by matching people who have a developmental disability with a caring family setting. <\/p>\n
Germaine and Marie are often referred to as \u2018the ladies,\u2019 but to the Lefebvres, they are family, first and foremost.<\/p>\n
Germaine joined their household 32 years ago, followed by Marie, almost four years later. Now at 65 and 71 years of age, respectively, they\u2019ve experienced four generations of living with Anita and Luke Lefebvre, through LifeShare.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do this because I feel like I have a purpose and I\u2019m making someone\u2019s life better, or in this case, two people, as a matter of fact. Plus my own,\u201d she says. \u201cThe ladies have enriched my life \u2013 they\u2019ve kept me excited and wanting to do the things that make them happy because when they\u2019re happy, I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like any family, they travel to Michigan to visit family and even co-ordinate their schedule so that Germaine can have her weekly visit with Bobby, her boyfriend.<\/p>\n
Relationships, especially those that are naturally-occurring including family and friends, are essential to living a fulfilling life for anyone, says Anita.<\/p>\n
Germaine and Marie still maintain regular contact with their two biological brothers. There is also their chosen family of fellow campers at Blueberry Campground, north of the Sault.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have what we call our Blueberry camp family that includes fires and potlucks with the other campers,\u201d says Anita. \u201cGermaine and Marie have developed their own relationships with some of those neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then there is, of course, the Lefebvre family connection. Long before Germaine first came to live with Anita and Luke, she already had a presence in their family. If you look at Anita and Luke\u2019s wedding photos, you\u2019ll see Germaine, in attendance. By day, Anita was providing support to her at her residence but that relationship was quickly growing outside of business hours and LifeShare enabled them to blend their home, together.<\/p>\n
Four years later, changing circumstances in Marie\u2019s life resulted in her also joining their home which included Crystal, their seven-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really good environment because Crystal saw what we all did together and she was very much a part of it,\u201d says Anita.<\/p>\n
Although people sometimes mistake the sisters for twins, they are six years apart and very much each their own person. Each has their own household responsibilities; the same as Anita and Lulu (as the ladies like to call him). It is a reciprocal relationship of everyone caring for one another.<\/p>\n
The Lefebvres are quick to point out their appreciation for the support they receive from CLA management and staff.<\/p>\n
With three decades (plus) of a blended household, a natural progression is the circle of life that includes people passing on and babies being born. Recent deaths, of people who Marie and Germaine were close very with, have hit hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose talks were tough,\u201d says Anita, \u201cBut as much sadness as those experiences presented, it was also with the knowledge of how much those relationships enriched Germaine and Marie\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Out of all the rewarding experiences and events that have occurred throughout the past 30 plus years, there is one word that verified, to Anita, that she and Luke were doing all the right things. It was the word \u2018home\u2019 and it was like a stamp of approval for a life well-lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time when Germaine stated \u201cI’m home\u201d, it spoke to me and I cried because I had never heard her refer to our home as her home and it was probably about three years after she had moved in with us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
It was the validation that she needed to hear to know that life, for all of them, was going to be just fine.<\/p>\n
LifeShare is a chosen lifestyle for Anita and Luke, however, some people will ask if they\u2019re \u2018done\u2019 with LifeShare, as it has been many years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respond with, this is my family, this is the family they know and as long as I\u2019m here, they\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For more than three decades, Anita and Luke Lefebvre have opened their hearts and home to Germaine and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[151095,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-346789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-community-living-algoma","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}