A support program for families with special needs children will soon be available in the Conejo Valley due to the support of the Westlake Village Junior Women’s Club.

The Rainbow Connection Family Resource Center, a division of the Tri-Counties Regional Center, will be housed in Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. The program currently has offices in Oxnard and Simi Valley.

The Junior Women’s Club named The Rainbow Connection the primary beneficiary of its annual Gingerbread Boutique fundraiser, which will be Thurs. and Fri., Oct. 22 and 23 at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, 5801 Kanan Road, in Westlake Village.

“Tri-Counties really suffered from state budget cuts. They were so appreciative of this money that we have pledged for them,” said Lesley Lippel, boutique co-chair with Jennifer Loper. “The funding will directly affect their opening of a Rainbow Connection chapter at Los Robles, which we’re very proud of. It’s very, very exciting.”

Lippel and Loper know about Tri-Counties Regional Center and its programs firsthand. Their families have received support from the center. Lippel’s 18month-old receives speech and physical therapy for delayed milestones and one of Loper’s children has Down syndrome.

“The program really benefits families and children and is the right fit for our support,” Lippel said.

The Rainbow Connection was established in 1991 to provide resources to families with special needs children from birth to 3 years old. Parents were recruited and trained to run the program. In 1998 Rainbow merged with the Tri-Counties center to serve people with developmental disabilities throughout their lives.

“Sometimes you’re so overwhelmed. The doctor has just told you that your child has XYZ, and you think you’ll never be okay again. And then you meet another family, and you see that they’re not perfect but that they can have fun again and still survive and thrive, and you can, too,” said Laurie Jordan, who has run Rainbow since it began.

A combination of paid staff and volunteers, many of them parents of special needs children, provide informational materials on special education law or books on parenting children with autism or having a sibling with Down syndrome. There’s a transitioning to high school program, online support groups, social gatherings and educational workshops.

“The parent gets to decide what that support looks like,” Jordan said. “For one it might be to do a medical notebook of their child that’s up-to-date. For another parent it might be just to stand next to them watching their newborn in the NICU.”

The program’s purpose is to each parents skills and strategies and help them form connections with other families for support.

“We are just at the starting point. Our goal is to help families find within themselves that they are okay and to develop some strategies, because it’s hard to access all the different agencies,” Jordan said. “It’s not about doing something for them, it’s about doing something with them until they do it on their own.”

When Jordan’s special needs son was born she said no one celebrated—there were no cards, balloons or baby gifts.

“Hallmark doesn’t make an appropriate baby card when you don’t know whether or not the baby will make it,” Jordan said.

Staff members designed greeting cards for each family. One card features a cupcake with one candle that reads, “Happy One Month Birthday.” A Rainbow staffer visited the home of a family that had recently brought

heir newborn home from the hospital. Framed over the baby’s crib was Rainbow’s one month birthday card.

“It meant so much to the parents that someone celebrated that one month with them because they didn’t know if their baby would survive,” Jordan said. “Cards are very important to parents. Sometimes only a parent who’s been there and done that will understand why it matters.”

Rainbow’s budget has remained at the same level for the past decade despite growth in Ventura County’s population and the cost of living, Jordan said. Without funding from the Junior Women’s boutique, the Los Robles location would not be possible, Jordan said. She commended Lippel and Loper for their support.

“When the women first approached me about this I thought it was going to be one of those things where I daydream and nothing happens,” Jordan said. “When I realized it was real I started crying. These women took it to heart and are making it happen.”

The boutique is open from 5 to 9 p.m., Thurs., Oct. 22. Tickets are $25 and include appetizers and two cocktails. The boutique continues from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Fri., Oct. 23. Entrance fee is a $5 donation. For information, visit www.westlake juniors.org or e-mail lippel3 @hotmail.com.