For many people with a spinal cord injury, the goal after rehabilitation is simple: go home. Home is where your routines, your neighbors, your kitchen, and your life are. But living at home with a significant physical disability takes daily support, and how that support is arranged makes a big difference.
Managing your own care
Many people with spinal cord injuries choose to direct their own care. They decide who helps them, when, and how. That control matters. It means getting up when you want to, eating what you want, and planning your day around your life instead of around someone else's schedule.
The hard part is that paid support often comes in short, scheduled visits. Someone arrives, helps with a task, and leaves. The essentials get done, but there's little room for the things that make a day feel like your own: cooking a real meal, running an errand on a whim, going to a concert, or just having someone around to talk to.
Where friendship fits
That's the gap Amicitia Reciproca hopes to help fill. We aren't a care service, and our volunteers won't replace the paid caregivers or family members people already rely on. Instead, we plan to match people with spinal cord injuries with volunteers who share everyday life with them as friends: cooking together, getting out into the community, and being there for the ordinary moments.
When support comes from friendship, both people gain something. The person living with a spinal cord injury gains a reliable companion and more freedom in daily life. The volunteer gains a home, a community, and a friendship that can last.
Why it matters
Staying at home, close to friends and community, is what most of us want for ourselves. We believe people with spinal cord injuries deserve the same, along with the support to make it work.
We're just getting started in Fort Collins. If you'd like to help us launch our first friendships, visit our Get Involved page.
