Newsletter for September 2006 Volume 3 - Issue 9 - Page 1

General Operations
Ladeska (Decky) Makings, Chief Operations Officer
A new feature this month is an insert from the Early Education Center. We hope to make this a regular addition to our newsletter. Our new coordinator of early education services, Cathy Estes, has brought a renewed sense of enthusiasm to the program and we are glad to have her aboard.

Fall is such a busy time and especially so when volunteering to plan, coordinate, and/or work at special events! By the time you receive this edition the chamber coffee and pancake feed will be behind us. In addition to the usual trips and activities, groups are now planning and preparing for the SACK conference in Wichita, AKTION club meeting in Hutchinson, staff training in Topeka, disability mentoring day, Halloween parade, Christmas parade, trail of lights participation, annual community food drive and marketing is already doing initial planning for a Texas Hold’em tournament, possible Chili feed and for next year’s Annual Charity Gala in March. Be watching for the first annual “Paws in the Park” on April 29th. The event will be held in cooperation with the Golden Belt Humane Society, Hutchinson Kennel Club, Barton County K-9 Unit and the Salty Dog K-9 Unit of Hutchinson with plans for some wonderful events and features. Sunflower’s staff and the people we serve are truly an integral part of community service in the area and work in cooperation with many other service organizations.

As the public meets people with disabilities that live, work, and serve in the community with greater frequency it becomes increasingly common for us to hear expressions of surprise that the people we work for here at Sunflower are competent, hard working, and appropriate. Our staff and the people they work for are to be commended for significant contributions in our ongoing efforts to forge a better public understanding of people with disabilities and in eliminating the stereotypes that have hindered accomplishment and acceptance. We are grateful to all of the individuals and groups that assist in our efforts to ensure people with disabilities are accepted and truly included as valuable members of society.

One of the most frequent questions we are asked in the community is how to refer to a person’s disability so next month I’ll spend some space on “the words”.

Our newsletter is available at our website www.sunflowerdiv.com. If you would prefer using that format and would like your name removed from our paper mailing list please, contact Carol Anderson at the Plant, 792-1321. If you haven’t already done so, please visit our website. We would love to have suggestions from you for expansion and/or improvement!
 

Day Services
Sarah Krom
Thank heavens summer’s heat has begun to wane!

We had 4 students working with the experienced staff this year under a new Student Apprenticeship program. The students worked alongside experienced staff learning about life with disabilities and the supports folk’s need. As with any new program we had a few bugs to work out but upon review I would say it was a positive experience for staff, the students {2 of which have looked at continuing this type of service at facilities in their college communities}, and most of all the clients. We ended the program with an impromptu bagpipe concert from one of the students and anticipate implementing the program again next spring.

On August 14th we experienced the death of a long time friend and client. All of us learn the lessons of compassion and grief by experience but we rarely share that sad news with 60 folks all at one time. Staff had but a brief opportunity to deal with their own feelings of loss and then were called upon to support clients as they heard the news. Once again staff ‘dug deep’ and found the personal strength to help others
meet the challenge of facing a loss. Looking back to the first days that SDS provided services to this individual I realized