dFs News 5454 East State Street P.O. Box 1027 Hermitage, PA 16148 724-346-2123 www.diversifiedfamily.org Editor: Nancy J. Tusinac, M.Ed., Program Director Layout Design: Chris Maurice Winter 2010 Diversified Family Services- Continued 2005-2010 By Marilyn Klemens This is the last installment in the four-part series on the history and growth of dFs. In 2005 dFs was providing services to about 150 clients through the efforts of 100 employees with funding of almost 4 million dollars. Due to our agency growth, we were extremely crowded in our old office. In response to our need, many of our employees donated to the building campaign. Our board members also understood our need for more space and donated $15,000 as individuals, and additionally raised $15,000 through our first Celebrity Doodles fundraiser. Through these efforts and other donations we raised over $100,000 towards the down payment on the building. We received tax-free financing for our project from the Mercer County Industrial Development Authority, through a mortgage with First National Bank. With our funding in place, we had a ceremonial groundbreaking in August of 2005 with our “gold” shovels. While construction was underway, business continued as usual at our former site. Construction was completed in May, 2006. Then we had the overwhelming task of moving 10 years worth of belongings and records! We celebrated our new facility with an Open House on June 8th. An Honor Guard from Hickory VFW conducted a flag raising ceremony to start the festivities. Reverend Douglas K. Dayton, Board Vice-President, gave the invocation. James W. Stevenson, Board President, welcomed everyone and gave a brief historical overview of the building project. Members of the Board had the joy of cutting the ribbon to officially open our new building. In This Issue The Early Years 2005-2010 .......................... 1 Years 2005-2010 ........................................... 2 Star of the Month .......................................... 3 New Employees ............................................ 3 Summary of Surprise Staff Awards............... 3 Open House ................................................... 4 We Need Your Help......................................4 Pink for Cause .......................................................... 4 CHAPS Chatter ........................................................ 5 Client Holiday Party/Parade Info ............................. 5 Pictures .................................................................... 6 Dr. McElree Honored............................................... 7 Special Events .......................................................... 7 1 After the ribbon cutting, CHAPS clients invited the guests to watch them perform a skit about relocating to the new building. Employees gave guests guided tours of the new building and guests enjoyed refreshments. About 150 people attended the event. In July, 2006 we opened a 4 person group home in Venango County. This was quite an opportunity for dFs as we expanded our presence as a regional provider. In 2007 dFs was the honored recipient of the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce Phoenix Award in the nonprofit division. During the past three years dFs has continued to grow as a regional provider as we now provide ODP services in Mercer, Crawford, Lawrence & Venango counties. We have also experienced significant growth in our Habilitation Aide services. Currently we serve 185 individuals and their families each year, employ 200 staff and have an operating budget of over 5.5 million dollars. This has been a special year as we’ve reflected on our accomplishments and growth over these 25 years of providing services to people with intellectual disabilities & their families. Highlights of the past year have included: the commemorative agency calendar; the client appreciation picnic and carnival and the provider dinner. The most significant event was our 25th Anniversary Dinner at the Corinthian. dFs was honored to receive both a citation from the PA House of Representatives and recognition from United States House of Representatives. It was my great pleasure to share our agency history with our guests and to publicly thank our board members and employees for all they have done to support this organization over these years. I’d like to close with this quotation from our recognition award from the US House of Representatives: “The United States House of Representatives does hereby honor Diversified Family Services as being an invaluable asset to the greater Hermitage community and hereby commends their endless humanitarian efforts, all their dedication, hard work and encouragement that have helped to guide countless families and individuals with intellectual disabilities toward a path of self-reliance, and consequently shown them that they can truly have a better life.” 2 Contributed by: Stacey Llewellyn, Personnel Assistant Dave Guido, TAA was selected as August’s “Star of the Month.” The “Star of the Month” for September was RPS, Michele Groover. Board Member, Dr. Frank McElree, was selected as October’s “Star of the Month”. Doug Aller Carmella Blackwell Lakisha Bridges Ciara Buck Durene Carter Cindy Chambers Nelsea Davis Jennifer Dixon Amanda Dollman A certificate was placed in the office waiting area in honor of each “star.” Each “star” receives a token of appreciation. In addition, each “star’s” name was added to the “Star of the Month” plaque that is located on the “dFs Wall of Fame.” Congratulations to all recipients of this award! Direct Care Professionals Tom Durisko Whitney Hall Lynette Hartley Amber Kellner Kimberly Lampkins Cassandra Minshull Keith Moulin Patrick O’Connor Sam Plyler Steven Proctor Deland Quarles Rhonda Reimold Johna Rerko Theora Scott Brandi Shrawder Erica Smallwood Jeremy Spangler Linda Strickler Patricia Zinz By Andrea Davidson, Quality Improvement Coordinator July, “Good Housekeeping” was a tie between Buhl Court and Clarksville, both received a score of 100% on the Infection Control Inspection. August , “Best Use of the Digital Camera”-West First Street, Venango County September, Buhl Court for “Kitchen Cleanliness” CHECK THIS OUT !!! dFs is now on Facebook: visit us at www.facebook.com/diversifiedfamily 3 By Carol Medford Clients have been gathering together recently to learn about themselves as well as to share ideas with each other. Thank you to HCQU staff who assisted us with providing a series of trainings on relationships. This fall clients explored how they feel about themselves as well as others through topics such as understanding feelings and emotions, accepting themselves and others, and building relationships. These sessions were well attended, and the participation was very enthusiastic. This coming spring another series of classes, which will center on acquiring practical skills, will be offered. Diversified Family staff will lead these groups on making good decisions, acquiring conversation skills, and learning about rights as well as responsibilities. We hope that the clients will continue to find these opportunities to be both educational and fun. By Carol Medford On Thursday October 14, 2010, dFs held an open house at the main office. A sign out front announced that we were open to the public in the afternoon for tours. That morning, staff busily geared up for the festivities by creating informational displays and sprucing up their offices, while the clients and staff in CHAPS prepared food. Once everything was ready, staff greeted visitors in the lobby and took them throughout the building. The tours ended in the conference room, where our guests could learn about the variety of services offered by dFs as well as eat the scrumptious homemade treats arranged and waiting for them. Everyone had an enjoyable time. The day was one more way for us to show that we excel at teamwork, and we are proud to work for the dFs family. On Friday, December 17th dFs will be at Macy’s from noon to 8 pm offering gift wrapping services to Macy’s Shenango Valley Mall customers. We will work in 3 hour shifts with 3 people per shift so we need 9 spirited souls to volunteer their time (the last shift 6-8 will be only 2 hours but will also include clean-up). The gift wrappings are $5.00 and $8.00 and dFs keeps all the proceeds. Macy’s provides the wrapping supplies. If you are a gift wrap guru please volunteer your time for this fund raising opportunity for dFs. To volunteer please call 724346-2123 and give your name and phone number to the operator. THANK YOU !!! by Stacey Cannon, RN dFs participated in Passionately Pink for the Cure, raising $142.00 for the Susan G Komen Fund. Employees contributed $5.00 to wear a pin and pink along with jeans on October 21st. There was also a raffle for items that were donated by Stacey Cannon and Tiffany Johnson. The winner of the raffle was Residential Program Supervisor, Michele Groover. 4 Written by Ken Avery, TAA Diversified Family Services’ (dFs) Community Habilitation and Pre-Vocational Services department (CHAPS) is a growing environment. CHAPS serves as a way for clients to succeed in building the skills necessary to perform in a competitive employment setting, should they choose to pursue that opportunity. There are many ways the CHAPS staff prepares the clients for a future in the work place, from knitting, vending machine sales, card making, and also sewing the trendy Capri Sun bags. Our media department is gradually becoming a popular opportunity for the clients. This is a great opportunity to support their efforts by purchasing media services. Currently, the most popular service offered through the media department is the Digital Photo Converter, which turns your memorable photos into data discs that can be viewed either on a computer or a DVD player. The clients not only enjoy performing the work, but they also enjoy being able to view a history through pictures of the staff members. Another well-liked service includes our TEAC Multi Music Player/ CD Recorder that can convert old records and tapes into compact discs, which clients especially enjoy this because they listen to a variety of different types of music ranging from Beethoven and Mozart to the Beatles and Beach Boys. Last, our JVC DVD Video Recorder serves as a cost efficient way to convert VHS home videos to a DVD disc. This is a very popular service because VCRs are becoming increasingly outdated; this serves as a way to keep all your memories while keeping up with today’s current technology. Each work station in the media department provides clients the opportunity to use skills needed to pursue employment in the community; whether its problem solving; such as finding the correct way to properly place an oversized picture into the scanner, or attention to detail like focusing on the correct recording speed is selected when attempting to fit a home video onto a DVD. Through working in the media department the dFs clients not only receive training to learn the necessary skills to perform in the work place, but also have the opportunity to be involved with technological advances that we all enjoy. By Christina Sheirer Come and join us for our 2010 dFs Client Holiday Party! The party will be held this year at the dFs office on December 14th 2010 from 11am-2pm.Lunch will be provided and there will be games and activities along with festive holiday music! Jay Brenner, a magician will perform. Please join us and remember to wear your favorite holiday attire! Please RSVP to the receptionist at the front desk by December 7th, 2010. Support dFs this year at the Hermitage Light-Up Night Parade Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. Look for the Christmas Tree Forest Float sponsored by dFs and featuring handmade ornaments and decorations made by the individuals we serve. If you are interested in making a tax deductable donation, please call dFs for a list of items that are still needed. The official registration and financial information of Diversified Family Services, Inc may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. Diversified Family Services is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization – donations to which are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. 5 6 Dr. Frank McElree Recognized at Annual Meeting By Andrea Davidson Dr. Frank E. McElree has recently resigned from the dFs Board of Directors. At the agency’ annual meeting on September 28th, Board President Jim Stevenson and Executive-Director Marilyn Klemens presented him with an inscribed brick in his honor for our courtyard and also the agency’s “Star of the Month” award. Dr. Frank began working with our agency in 1998 as our medical consultant. For the next seven years, he provided oversight to our health services and also wrote a popular column for our agency newsletter titled “Frank’s Suggestions.” Stacey Cannon, Health Services Coordinator, remembers Dr. McElree as a physician who took extra time to really talk with both clients and staff, frequently inquiring about the staff’s family and activities. Dr McElree’s warm personality, along with his generous deliveries of food for the office staff, endeared him to the entire dFs family. In 2005, when dFs no longer continued JCAHO accreditation, Dr. McElree resigned his medical consultant position and became a member of the board. He was a faithful, generous and valuable member of the board. He actively served on various committees, including Building Committee, Audit/Finance Committee and Board Development Committee. Dr. McElree and his wife Gerry purchased the flag pole for the agency, contributed to the building fund, and were staunch supporters of all three Celebrity Doodles fundraisers. All of us here at dFs want to express our deepest appreciation to Dr. McElree for his years of dedicated service to our agency. Tis` the Season The Community Awareness Committee is sponsoring a food drive to benefit the Shenango Valley Food Warehouse. For every item brought in before November 12 for the drive, a coupon will be given for a chance to win a dFs Camp chair. The more items….. the more chances………! Come be a part of the Holiday cheer. Join Diversified Family Services in our First Holiday Sing Along. Tuesday, December 7, 2010 5:30p-9:30p, singing starts at 7:00p Refreshments and Santa’s workshop (handmade merchandise by CHAPS clients); a children’s activity table will be available free of charge, however donations are welcome. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 3325 Morefield Rd. Hermitage, PA 16148 7 Diversified Family Services 5454 East State Street P.O. Box 1027 Hermitage, PA 16148 www.diversifiedfamily.org “Helping Families Since 1985” Please help fill the box NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID SHARON, PA PERMIT NO. 133 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED BOARD OF DIRECTORS President ....................Jim Stevenson Vice President ...... Audra Kosmowski Secretary .............. Andrea Davidson Treasurer ................... Carole Giroski Member ...................... Jennifer Cidila Member ............... Dana Frankenburg Member .............. Marilyn Heckathorn Member ............. Rosemarie Janosko Member ....................... Ken Johnston Member ................... Timothy Thomas Member ...........................Meg Mirizio Member ...................... James Shaffer Member .................. Russell Swauger 8