Delarc's Nominee for the 2009 DSP Award

Margaret Condon, Assistant House Manager at one of Delarc’s community residences, has been nominated for a National Direct Support Professional Recognition Award, sponsored by ANCOR (American Network of Community Options and Resources.) This award gives organizations such as Delarc the opportunity to recognize its direct support workforce for their dedication, hard work and commitment to serve those with disabilities. Winners of the award will receive national recognition and be featured in a special photo-packed supplement to LINKS, ANCOR's monthly electronic newsletter.

Margaret is a phenomenal woman with over 21 years experience in the field. She wholeheartedly believes in our agency’s mission and ensures quality of life for those we serve. She’s consistent with her positive approach and those she cares for thrive as they feel nurtured, loved, and supported in their decisions. They in turn want to show care and love to others.

For example, one of the people Margaret supports is a woman who had lived in institutions a majority of her life. She came to our agency 13 years ago with a long history of severe outbursts which included biting, often resulting in injury to herself and others. Margaret was determined to develop a positive relationship with her and to teach her to care and respect herself. Margaret showed her that she loved her unconditionally, despite setbacks and at times aggression taken out directly at her. She taught her how to make her needs known without aggressive action. Today, her aggressive behaviors have nearly vanished, as she has learned to talk things through and to care for herself, develop self-esteem, and to take pride in her accomplishments. She has friends at her day program, as well as in the community where she attends a local church regularly. As a result of Margaret’s unwavering dedication to her success, this woman has experienced a remarkable transformation in her quality of life.

Throughout her DSP career, Margaret has inspired others with her unwavering dedication to those we serve and her commitment to excellence. In her most recent promotion to Assistant House Manager, Margaret not only provides direct care support to those we serve, she also supports and mentors other DSPs. Additionally, Margaret has helped teach proactive behavior management strategies to other agencies serving people with disabilities, alongside our CEO and Executive Staff.

Not only is Margaret an excellent role model for others in the field of Human Services, she has also been an inspirational role model to her children, Meaghan and Brandon, now young adults following in their mother’s footsteps with DSP careers.

Whether at work or at home, Margaret is helping to mold the next generation of DSP’s and we couldn’t pick a better person for the job. For these reasons, and many others, we are honored to nominate Margaret Condon for the 2009 Direct Support Professional Recognition Award.

Thank You Message from Delarc Employee

This started out as a quick thank you note to George and turned into a reminder of what a huge impact so many people @ Delarc have had in my development. It's impossible to thank just one person, when we work for such a great agency. Thought you all would enjoy!

Hope Townsend
Program Director
The Arc of Delaware County
Community Living Skills, Arkville


George,

Thank you very much for the recognition of CLS-Arkville’s growth, at the Admin. Meeting yesterday. I truly appreciate all that this wonderful organization has done to assist with my development. I left the meeting thinking about all the support that has been provided to me and all the individual staff members who have assisted in my growth over the years. Each one of them should be deeply thanked and recognized. Without everyone’s support, none of this would have been possible. I drove home and then began making a list of everyone who deserves recognition. My list grew extremely rapidly.

Thanks to Molly L. and the CLS-Walton staff for my awesome start with Delaware County ARC. Thanks to my first supervisor at Del. ARC- Margaret Condon. The classroom support and training I am able to provide to staff was learned during my time at CLS-Walton. Also, I recognized my commitment to the organization while in Walton. Very early on, I noticed the tremendous support that all levels of staff members are willing to provide to each other.

Thanks to Lisa N. who motivated me to work hard to achieve. Lisa’s positive attitude and commitment to a challenging classroom/individual was very inspirational to me. This made me strive to be successful working with this same group.

Thanks to Christine F. Chris taught me leadership skills. She gave me a new level of self-confidence. Chris challenged me to be more independent with decision making and she trusted my judgments as a new supervisor.
Thanks to the Elm Street staff that I supervised. What a pleasant team! This group taught me a very important leadership lesson: never ask anyone to complete something you wouldn’t complete yourself. This group trusted my supervision and we all worked together to achieve.

Thanks to all the Program Directors. You have answered many questions for me, provided me with tools and are always willing to assist.

Thanks to Annette P. and Joe G. who always provided encouragement and fun to me during my residential years.

Thanks to Terri B. for all the trainings and work she has done with CLS-Arkville staff. Terri is the finest classroom trainer! Every time Terri provides training, staff are very appreciative.

Thanks to the current CLS-Arkville team. This team’s future is so promising. I get very excited when I think about Arkville’s potential. I witness lots of dedication and hard work daily. I also recognize each staff’s openness to new learning, especially while we prepare to meet 2009 OPTS milestones. What an exciting year it will be for all of us!
Thanks to all the individuals we serve. I have learned so much from them. They make my job fun and rewarding daily.
Thanks to my family for always supporting me, and my sometimes lengthy working hours. My son recently said, “He hopes when he gets older, he will like his job like I do.”

Thanks to the agency as a whole. When I interviewed for the Program Director position, I was asked what tools I felt I would need to be successful at CLS-Arkville. I responded time and support. I felt that I needed to train staff members in every classroom and provide a fresh start to the program. I needed to get to know everyone and build relationships with all. Del ARC has been committed to my success. Each program has given up their time to allow
Barbara to work with me and the CLS-team. I am certain that there is not another organization that would be able to or willing to devote their COO to one program for the length of time and energy that Barbara has put into our program development.

The biggest thanks goes to Barbara! She has been such an inspiration to me. She is so dedicated to my own and the program’s development. Barb has so many gifts. There has never been a day when I haven’t learned something new from Barb! All CLS-Arkville staff and I recognize and praise Barb for everything she has done and continues to do. Del ARC could have not selected a better person to support me and the CLS program. Barb deserves all the credit for CLS-Arkville’s success. Words can not express how grateful I am to Barb and Delaware County ARC.

Thanks to you George, and everyone else who has encouraged, trusted and supported me and my professional growth. I look forward to many more years with Del ARC.