Join us for our monthly Game Night!
Every first Thursday of the month, we meet to share games, food and conversation.
Contact [email protected] to get on the mailing list, and we’ll let you know when when the next one is coming up!
Currently, young adults must move to Bend or Redmond to find affordable homes and to be near transportation and supports that allow independent living. This severely limits their ability to stay connected to family and friends in Sisters.
At this time, the Sisters High School serves 65 students students, ages 12 through 21, that have an identified disability. Of these 65 youths, 10 to 15 of are young adults who participate in the Sisters Transition Program where they learn job skills, navigate job placement, enroll in college and vocational training, and learn other skills necessary to live on their own.
SOUL’s dream is to support these students towards full independence by working for community inclusion, support and affordable living- all without leaving their hometown community of Sisters.
“The mission of Sisters Opportunities for Unified Living (SOUL) is to develop and maintain affordable, long-term, independent living for adults experiencing developmental disabilities within the community of Sisters.”
S.O.U.L. Board of Directors:
Becky Lukens, Chair
Dena Isbell, Vice Chair
Julia Huni, Secretary
Jennifer Heiden Smith, Treasurer
Craig Wessel
Tina Mensing
S.O.U.L. is registered as a non-profit organization with the state of Oregon, and a registered 501(c)(3).
Anyone interested in S.O.U.L. is invited to join our mailing list. Sign up above!
Email [email protected] for information on time and location of meetings.
Our S.O.U.L. Stories
Craig
Craig is a young adult and Sisters native, who lives and works in Sisters. He wants to move out of his parents’ house and live an independent life. He has mild Autism Spectrum Disorder and is currently looking for affordable, local housing.
Read more about Craig's story
Maxwell
Maxwell has lived in Sisters since the fourth grade. Moving to Sisters provided so many opportunities he didn’t have access to in his previous home in Virginia.
Through Sisters High School’s community jobs program, Max has worked throughout the Sisters community. Now an employee at Best Buy, Max would someday love to live in Los Angeles or Tokyo. In the mean time, S.O.U.L. housing in Sisters would give him experience living on his own close to the support of his family and community.
Read more about Maxwell's story
Soren
Soren is a Sisters High School student who has lived his whole life in Sisters. He loves being in the woods and visiting his extended family who live nearby.
His family hopes he can live and work as part of the Sisters community for the rest of his life. Their dream is that he can have a stable, independent home and job here when he reaches adulthood.
Soren has a rare form of epilepsy that affects his memory, language and development. The “long learning curve” he experiences makes staying in the same place with the same people an especially urgent issue.