The holidays are on their way.  Many residents will be spending time with family for Thanksgiving and various December holidays.  However, Moving Forward still will be offering many groups, classes, and weekend outings throughout the Holiday season.  Moving Forward will also have it's annual, traditional Thanksgiving Dinner for residents and staff that are remaining in the Napa area.  Below are some of the other notable events planned for the the month of November here at Moving Forward.

* Camping Trip to Petaluma!!!
* California Academy of Science in San Francisco!
* New Group!!! ->  Girl's Night (Moving Forward female residents and staff participate in a fun evening of varied, fun activities)!

On Monday, October 9th and Tuesday, October 10th, we hunkered down at Moving Forward while we kept an eye on the fire locations and evacuation area updates for the Napa area.  With our residents, we played games, did some baking, and worked on a lot of arts and crafts.  Our main focus was to keep our residents safely inside while the fires raged around Napa.   On Wednesday morning we made the decision to send all residents and staff home. Within three hours all 32 residents were vacated out of Napa to their own homes, other Moving Forward family homes and in some necessary cases went home with staff.  
 
Although our neighborhood never was formerly vacated by the city of Napa, air quality was poor and the possibility of needing to do a quick evacuation loomed heavy on our Board, families and staff.  The precautionary decision was made to leave Napa and get residents as far away from the smoke as possible.  Staff who lived in parts of town that were closer to the fires, were offered the opportunity to stay on our property but all found other places to stay.  Local staff kept in contact with resident's employers, fed resident's pets and continuously checked on all Moving Forward properties.
 
Our Board, staff, families and residents kept in contact with each other and on Sunday, as soon as the fires were much more greatly contained and air quality improved, we began returning to Napa. About half of our residents returned to Napa on Sunday and the rest are coming back over the week ahead. All staff is scheduled to work this week and all residents are happy to be back to their homes and routine.
 
A special thank you to the amazing staff who worked tirelessly to support every resident during this unprecedented scary time.    To the Board and families, we could not have done it without you!  What a wonderful community we have created over the past 19 years!  Thank you all for your help in securing the safety and well-being of our residents!