Craft Fair April 18th

JOIN US FOR......

Bunnies & Butterflies

Springtime Craft Fair

April 18th, 2008 9:00 - 1:00

EDS will be participating in the annual spring craft fair. At this fair, different programs have an opportunity to make and sell crafts. This year, client will be decorating small tin boxes that can be used as business card holders, gift card holders, gift tag holders, or any other small items that you don't want to loose. They are super cute (if we do say so ourselves) and the clients are excited to make and sell them at the fair. There will be three sizes to choose from with the purchase price of either $2.00, $2.50 or $3.00.

All proceeds of the tins will go directly to the EDS client council fund. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call. Hope to see you there!

Lights....Camera ...Action

On Tuesday, March 25th, there will be a camera crew at Pioneer Center making a video specifically for the upcoming Gold Rush fundraiser event. The idea is that the camera crew will document the various programs in their new space. The Assistive Technology Lab, Snoezelen Room, Employee Development Services Classroom, Developmental Training Classrooms, New Breakroom, Adaptive Kitchen, Bridges classroom and Exercise Area will be areas of interest.

We are hoping that many clients would like to participate in this video. Attached you will find a release. For all interested clients, please return the release by the 25th. Thanks.

EDS gains exemplary status again!

Pioneer Center for Human Services had our CARF survey last week where they looked at all programs in the agency.

This was a three day review, where surveyors looked at files, spoke with clients, family members, and staff, and also observed each program in action.

On Friday March 14^th, 2008 the surveyors gave us their findings, which include things the agency needs to work on, things that would be good ideas to do, and what strengths we have.

To briefly explain CARF, they are an independent, nonprofit organization. That means their focus is on ensuring the services you use meet your needs for quality and the best possible outcomes.

CARF reviews and grants accreditation services nationally and internationally on request of a facility or program. Their standards are rigorous, so those services that meet them are among the best available. As a customer of Pioneer Center, you can be assured it meets high standards.

The results for Employee Development Services? Not only did the program meet all the CARF standards and receive no recommendations for improvement, but the program received the highest standard, called exemplary.

This means that the EDS program is seen as excellent model worthy of imitation. What makes this even greater is that this is the second exemplary in a row for EDS, which is almost unheard of.

Overall, all the programs at Pioneer did very well, in fact the SOAR Senior program also was recognized as an exemplary program.

I am very proud of all the hard work of the dedicated staff, Rachel and Britt. Congrats to the entire program!

Jason Clark
Division Director

Book Fair April 3rd

Come Join the Fun!

Thursday

April 3rd 10am-2pm

In Rooms A, B & C

Choose from our quality selection of:

General Interest for everyone

• Children's Story Books


• Cookbooks


• Early LearningEducational


• Inspirational and Religious Titles


• SportsHealth & Fitness


• Home & Garden
  

A portion of the proceeds from this event goes to Pioneer Center for Human ServicesThis event is sponsored by Pioneer Center for Human Services

Karaoke Good Bye Party on the 13th

We re in SHOCK that now the other Kathleen is moving too!

So please join us to Wish Kathleen R Luck by coming to her Going Away Party!

Thursday March 13th

11:00-1:00

Would you please join us for a Karaoke and Pizza Party?

Please Bring $5.00 for pizza and your own drinks.

And bring your favorite CD to sing along to!

Going Away Party March 24th

A Going Away Party For Kathleen Christiansen!!!!!!!!!

When: Monday March 24th 10:00- 1:00
What: Scrapbook and Pizza Party!!


We are making a scrapbook for Kathleen. So please bring your favorite scrap booking supplies and pictures that you would like to add to Kathleen’s Going away scrapbook.

Please bring $5.00 for Pizza. Bring your own drinks.

Client Volunteer Needed March 11th

Pioneer Center for Human Services is hosting a

Chamber Mixer on March 11th from 5-7 pm.

This events gives Pioneer an opportunity to showcase new programs and remodeling to the community. It is expected that we will have between 250-300 visitors. Lorraine Kopczynski, President/CEO has asked if any EDS clients would like to volunteer and assist with the event. Volunteers could work in the sensor room, assistive technology lab or EDS classroom where they could tell visitors about the new space and new equipment in the room. Unfortunately, I don't have transportation for clients to and from, but all volunteers will earn themselves a free dinner.

Please contact ASAP if you are interested in volunteering.

Thanks for your assistance,
Rachel (rmerke@pioneercenter.org)

GUEST SPEAKERS 3-13-08

Attention: EDS will be having not just one, two guest speakers on Thursday, March 13th.

The first speaker will have a representative from the Wonder Lake Chamber discussing community involvement.

The second speaker is a secretary who will be discussion her job duties and skill set needed.

This is something not to miss!

Client Interviewed for the Paper

http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/02/29/my_hometown_priorities/culture_and_diversity/doc47c88a278507f341363214.txt

Above is the link for an Article our Vocational Division Director wrote for the Northwest Herald. For this article, Jason interviewed the EDS clients for his supporting evidence.

Please enjoy the read, and let us know if you have any questions....Thanks, Rachel

Diversity - Persons with developmental disabilities
Even today, one of the most powerless groups in our society are persons with developmental disabilities. Historically, these are individuals that have had little to absolutely no control in their lives. Many individuals were segregated by being placed in institutions, with the rest not being offered the same basic opportunities as everyone else. However, thanks to many parents, self-advocates, community agencies, and advocacy groups, life has been improving for these citizens. These are folks who are contributing members of our community.When it comes to diversity within the population, persons with developmental disabilities are a large segment of the community. The national average of individuals with developmental disabilities is 1.6 percent, which would translate to about 4,900 McHenry County residents.For the purpose of this essay, I spoke with a group of adults with developmental disabilities who attend the Employee Development Services program at the Pioneer Center for Human Services. I wanted to hear in their words what it meant to them to be a contributing member of society, what types of barriers they see in employment, and how they would make McHenry County a better place to live.I spoke to a group of 25 individuals, many were either working part time in the community, while the rest were working on trying to obtain a job. The employment experience ranged from fast-food and grocery store jobs to working in a library, animal hospital and data entry. Like all of us, income was a major reason for wanting a job, while they also wanted to be able to interact with different people and have responsibility in their life to feel important.I asked what the ideal workplace would be for them. Accessibility and accommodating work schedules were important, but so too was for employers to have a better understanding of persons with disabilities. Although many of these individuals need some extra support, they want to be seen as adults, and treated as such. Past barriers to obtaining or maintaining jobs included lack of availability, need for training, lack of parental support, and the biggest obstacle of all, transportation. Having to wait a long time for Dial-a-Ride, no routes in the evening or weekends, and lack of routes all were barriers for these individuals.In conclusion, to make McHenry County a better place to live, these individuals want to see better transportation, more job opportunities, and for all local citizens to see that persons with disabilities are important contributing members of our community.
Jason M. Clark Division

Job Exploration Guest Speaker

On March 5th, the EDS clients will have an opportunity to meet Renee, an Employee at the Woodstock Recreation Center. In a job exploration class before the visit, the client wrote a list of 24 questions that they would like to answered to understand what it is like to work in the recreation field.

Check back for a future blog about how the visit went!!