A Toy Story

Tina Osadca spearheaded efforts at Community Living Skills- Walton (CLS-W) to gather toys for children. The toys were delivered Dec. 15 to Community Bank in Walton, NY. Donna Bundy, Branch Manager of Community Bank, formerly Wilber National Bank in Walton, explained that the bank has been accepting toys for children of the Walton Central School District for over 20 years. They typically are able to provide toys for approximately 300 children and so they greatly appreciated the donation from Tina and CLS-Walton.

Anna Conway, Life Coach at CLS-W, related that Tina is a very caring person. While discussing their plans for Christmas, Anna had shared her plans for buying gifts for her children. Tina asked, “What about the kids that don’t have moms or dads? We need to get them some (gifts).”

So they discussed ways to help children that may not be fortunate enough to receive gifts this year and decided on participating in the local “Walton Toy Bank” program. Within a week Tina had made collection boxes for the toys, advertised the toy drive with posters and announcements throughout the CLS-W facility, and successfully concluded the effort with 2 full boxes of toys.

Tina said, “Every kid needs a present for Christmas!” When she delivered the toys to Community Bank Tina said they were surprised and thanked her. It made her feel “Great!” she shared.

Tina lives in Franklin and loves to sew and write to friends and family. When asked what she wanted for Christmas she related,” A new purple notebook!”

“Our Song" Gives Gift of Music to Participants and Community

On December 8th, over 100 people attended the community open house presentation of “Our Song” held at Resources For Industry (RFI) in Walton, NY. This event was a culmination of several workshops held at The Arc of Delaware County’s (Delarc’s) RFI and Community Living Skills (CLS) in Walton.

The workshops were conducted by Elly Wininger, award winning musician and song writer. Participants created their own music and lyrics and then hosted this open house to share their musical creations. Steve Finkel, Life Coach at Delarc shared: “This program is not just a musical activity, but stresses a foundation of enjoyment and satisfaction that music can bring, especially if it’s your own!” Steve had heard about Elly’s workshops and approached her with the idea of hosting workshops at Delarc, she agreed. Elly said, “Music is transformational”, she shared that during the workshops many people had experienced a heightened sense of participation and the ability to express themselves.

Lyrics and themes were developed during the first two workshops and were based on what people shared that affected them or interests that they have. One song, “The Flood”, was developed by the RFI workshop attendees, was about how Hurricane Irene and Lee impacted them either on a personal level or affected them through experiences of people they knew. Elly said that during song development, one person observed that the group was “listing all the bad things that had happened, but there were some good things that happened too”. That comment inspired the group to list the many volunteer efforts they had been a part of or had been a recipient of, as well. This song ended up being a crowd favorite at the performance.

Bruce Besdansky and Elly Winiger provided accompaniment with guitars during the performance. Also participating in the workshops and performance were community volunteers and members of the First Presbyterian Church of Delhi choir- Bea Mooney, Tom Little, Ed and Joyce Goff. Reflecting on this experience Bea shared: “What a blessing it was to be part of this event. As with mission work and any outreach, I always walk away feeling like I took so much more than I gave, and I try to give my all. I enjoyed every second of it and would love to be invited back again!”

In addition to the musical performances, laughter and amazement could be heard from the audience as comedian Henry Kamp and mentalist Gavin O’Rourke-Soccorso entertained with jokes and mind reading demonstrations.

A separate OUR SONG performance took place at Carousel Children Services.

OUR SONG is funded in part by a grant from the New York Council on the Arts’ Decentralization program, administered in Delaware County by The Roxbury Arts Group.

Visit our Flicker site for more photos of this event at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/

Teaming Together to Grow Compassion

For the second year in a row, The Arc of Delaware County (Delarc) and Delta Kappa Gamma are working together to help build a lifetime of caring and compassion for students in Delaware County. With news of the negative effects of bullying and peer pressure, this contest endeavors to challenge students to see past differences and focus on the person inside.

The theme of this year’s contest is “Everybody Can” and is open to all Delaware County Elementary and Middle schools. The goal is to educate students and their communities about people with developmental disabilities and strengthen character by building compassion and caring. Students are encouraged to take a proactive approach to increase their knowledge and awareness by utilizing resources provided from the contest packet, independently research the topic by requesting a self-advocate from Delarc to speak to the class, read articles, books, visit websites, and interview family and community members. Projects that students can create for entry in the contest are only limited by the imagination. Some examples of projects include: songs, poems, posters, videos, book reports, creating a puppet show or role playing scenario, creating a power point presentation, planning and hosting an event or creating a children’s book.

There are three cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in each school. And winning entries from grades 5-8 will also be entered into a county-wide contest for a chance to win a Grand Prize of $500 or laptop computer, and scholarships for their class to participate in Delarc’s “Share, Learn, Grow Mentorship Program.” The “Share, Learn, Grow Mentorship Program” is an interactive one-day program where people with disabilities serve as mentors to the students; the students are paired up with people supported by Delarc and they spend the day side by side learning, sharing, and getting to know each other at one of Delarc’s facilities.

Erika Liddle, South Kortright Central School teacher, whose 6th grade class worked together on a class project for the contest last year and won the Grand Prize, had this to say to other teachers considering entering the contest: “You need to do it; you have a chance to make a difference in how children see things, and this is a great opportunity to build compassion.” Participating in the contest and the “Share, Learn, Grow” program was how her students learned a valuable life lessons. One thing that struck her during her class’s reading of a book about autism was a connection the kids made to a former classmate. What they had not understood about this child was why he had behaved certain ways. They had an “aha” realization that probably this child had autism and that explained why he had behaved a certain way. The students’ visit to Delarc reinforced this understanding . “This program fits hand in hand with discussing bullying and its impacts,” shared Erika. Before, they may have been inclined to shy away from him, or perhaps pick on him because of the differences, but after their contest experience, their eyes were opened.

To learn more about this contest or to request an information packet for this contest, contact Catherine Tweedie at Delarc, (607) 865-7126, email Catherine@delarc.org or Pam Thompson at Delta Kappa Gamma, (607) 746-3497 or email pandg1@live.com. The contest is running through February 1st, 2012.

Heidi Friedman Receives Blesher Award

Heidi Friedman, Life Coach 7 at CLS Arkville, received a visit from Blesher Lil’ Heart on November 30th. She was nominated by Hope Townsend, Program Director who shared: “Heidi is committed to excellence and is extremely dedicated. She (Heidi) is always here- early and working on other department projects such as flower and car care.” Having earned 24 Time Utilizations Awards, it is not surprising to know that she is described as a person who understands the important role she plays in the lives of those we serve daily. They know they can count on her. Time Utilization Awards are given monthly and recognize employees who schedule and utilize their leave time appropriately. Heidi encourages others to try hard to earn Time Utilization Awards and recognizes and congratulates those who do earn them. Congratulations Heidi!

“OUR SONG” Comes to Walton On December 8th

A free Open House set for Thursday, December 8th at Walton’s Resources for Industry (RFI) welcomes two groups of singers presenting their original music and lyrics to the community for the first time. OUR SONG’s creator, Elly Wininger—a Lake Hill, NY resident—is an award winning lyricist and guitarist. She leads the two groups, one from RFI and the other from Community Living Skills (CLS), also in Walton. Elly said that “OUR SONG‘s premise is actually simple: people interested in music gather as a team to create a theme, write their own lyrics, create the melody behind the words and then sing at a performance.”
The presentation of the two group’s songs is happening at a free community Open House set for Thursday, December 8th , starting at 1:00pm at RFI’s center on Route 206/190 Prospect Avenue in Walton. Wininger added that “the key to creating their songs was first learning to work as a team and add in some good old fashioned brain- storming for ideas and possible contemporary themes. In fact, the group from RFI all felt that the terrible storms of late August/early September that devastated many towns and villages in Delaware County was a story that needed to be told.”
In addition to the two groups from RFI and CLS, word of the OUR SONG program spread to some members of Delhi’s First Presbyterian Church Choir, four of whom are joining as singers with both groups on the 8th. One of them, Bea Mooney of Treadwell, said that “the opportunity was one that we wanted to be part of---when we heard about OUR SONG, we called and volunteered to help.”
Doug Anderson, RFI’s Program Director, said “We hope that the community will join us on the 8th for a free afternoon of great music, plus we have a couple of surprises in store for guests after the premier of the OUR SONG presentations, including stand-up comedy by Deposit’s Henry Kamp, and some special magic from Franklin’s Gavin Soccorso, a recently returned Marine Special Forces Lance Corporal, who served in Bosnia, Burma and South America. We will also be displaying a wide range of original artistic projects, from paintings to photographs and jewelry, some for sale. Light refreshments will be served at the end of the program.”
“Guests are also encouraged to bring donations for the Walton Food Bank, so desperately in need of food following the storms,” added Anderson. “Every can or box will help,” he added.
OUR SONG is funded in part by a grant from the New York Council on the Arts’ Decentralization Program, administered in Delaware County by The Roxbury Arts Group.
Anyone with questions can contact: Steve Finkel at 607-865-7126 or email to: s.finkel@delarc.org .

“Shawn Bowker- Achiever of Dreams”

Shawn Bowker was recently honored as The Arc of Delaware County’s 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award, for the THRIVE (Together Helping Reach Individual Victories Everyday) program. Jessica Baldi, Life Coach, set the tone of the award presentation referring to Shawn: “Few times in our lives, we find ourselves truly blessed and inspired by someone we know. Despite challenges and obstacles, that often times will set us back, it’s amazing to witness someone overcoming and succeeding in spite of those hurdles.“

Those that have the ability to inspire others share common traits such as courage, persistence, perseverance, willingness to try new things, showing an interest in the world and people around them. Through the voices of friends, community members, and coworkers, a picture of Shawn emerged as stories were shared, a slide show presentation, and videos were shown that inspired all in attendance.

Shawn has challenged himself and others by participating in activities that far exceeded any expectations that were set for him. For example, a few years ago Shawn started taking horseback riding lessons. His persistence paid off as he gained the skills and knowledge that were needed to win ribbons and trophies at several events throughout the summer. And those that know Shawn shared that he has no fear. Through adaptive ski equipment, he pursues his interest in skiing. He rides to the top of the highest mountain at Belleayre Mountain Ski Resort and skis the 3 miles down to the bottom- loving every minute of it.

When Shawn first came to the THRIVE program he said that he wanted to walk again. His determination and subsequent progress at achieving his goal has been noticed by his friends. Tina Cawley shared, “He never gives up even if he doesn’t feel good… He tells me,” You keep on going too.” “Another friend Jennifer Gugliotti said, “He motivates me in the different things that he does.”

Shawn serves as a role model to people in his community as well. He enjoys giving his time and sharing his knowledge by volunteering at Downsville Central School- his hometown high school. He has coached baseball and is continuing to coach basketball. He calls drills to the team, and presents awards to his team at their annual sports banquet.

Although people know Shawn in different ways, as student, community member, coach, mentor, and friend, all agreed “Shawn is a really nice, caring guy. He cares about other people.”

Opportunity Found Close to Home

Things fell into place for Marlana Volpe when a connection was made between The Arc of Delaware County and a preschool program located a few blocks away from Marlana’s home in Stamford, NY. Marlana had expressed an interest in working with children in a child care setting. For the past two years she began taking child care classes at Resources for Industry in Walton, NY. Marlana said, “I am more comfortable with kids… I like all of it (taking care of children)”.

The Kiddie Corner Preschool program is a nonprofit organization and serves approximately 18 children ages 3-4. Kris Anderson, one of the teachers at the center explained, “We are set up to be involved with community, and this is one of the ways to accomplish our goal.” So when Kiddie Corner was approached with the idea of having Marlana volunteer to assist in their preschool program, they were very receptive to the idea.

Marlana is well prepared when she arrives at Kiddie Corner Preschool. She brings songs, stories, and crafts she learns at RFI to share with the children. During snack time and circle time she assists the teachers and at the end of the day helps the children with their backpacks when they are getting ready to leave. She also helps with some of the administrative tasks of filing and preparing bulletin boards. “Marlana is always willing to do what I ask her. And if she hears me ask a child to do something, Marlana will make sure that the child follows through with what they were asked to do”, said Kris.

Marlana, and those that know her, have said that her involvement with Kiddie Corner has made her more confident, outgoing, and assertive. A former “homebody” who rarely left the house now enjoys going on field trips with the children and building friendships with those she works with.

When asked what she would say to others considering working with The Arc of Delaware County, Kris said, “It’s rewarding to all involved. You should definitely give it a try.”

The Arc of Delaware County is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to support people with disabilities in living personally fulfilling lives. To learn how you can help The Arc fulfill its mission, visit www.delarc.org.