•Community Catalysts of California 2009• January Newsletter E mployee Anniversaries 14 Years Denise Mansfield - SC 11 Years May Moua - FSO 9 Years Sylvia Ortiz - MCD 8 Years Carole Uhlenhop - MDO Amy Moore - STK 7 Years Shawn Benson - STK 6 Years Rosa Vizcaino - STK 3 Years Annabell Saldana - MCD 2 Years Frank Rodriguez - SAL Clarissa Thomas - PH 1 Year Jesus Cantu - STK Elizabeth Espinoza - FSO Sarah Flowers - STK Loreley Salazar - SAL “Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” - Vince Lombardi Southern California San Diego, San Marcos & El Centro December was a month for a record setting amount of partying and eating! The San Diego and San Marcos offices got together at the San Diego office for our office holiday party. We had a fantastic pot luck with a great variety of food to choose from. The office was decorated with lights and garland. Besides our annual gift card exchange, Regional Manager Sherie Kainz brought along party poppers which had small surprise gifts and our silver crowns. In our San Marcos office, our Office Assistant Alice Olsen kept us supplied with some of the best desserts throughout the month and set up a fun cookie exchange. On December 23rd, many staff brought in dozens of cookies along with the recipes to share. Those involved went home with 9 different types of cookies. SE Direct Service Supervisor Josh Rohrabaugh made a creme brulee with boysenberry sauce to top it off. This was one treat that did not last to take any home! Consumers had their annual holiday party at Boomers Entertainment center. After a few holes of miniature golf, we ate pizza, salad and cake and then went off for more fun in the arcade. SE Employment Coordinator Krista Hribar and SL/SE consumer Jack had a great time racing on the motorcycles. Other consumers rode the go-carts and played the other video games. IL consumer Susan M. had a great time driving for the first time on both the video game and then the go-carts. No major crashes to report but a few carts did get stuck against the walls. SE Case Manager Teri Geston, who is also our local CPI instructor, held her largest class this month. Sixteen lucky staff members spent the day learning how to work with a consumer who is at various levels of behavior. Teri would like to thank the staff who attended and she hopes they will use these skills not only with our consumers, but in their everyday life. Remember, practice makes perfect! The El Centro office got into the holiday spirit by decorating the entire office and having a consumer potluck with lots of homemade delicious food and presents. The staff also celebrated by meeting for dinner at Johnny Carinos. El Centro would like to give SANDY a big THANK YOU for her safety visit in the office and with the consumers. We enjoy her knowledge and would like her to come to the El Centro office when ever she has an opportunity! Southern California Corporate The Corporate office had some holiday fun too! Every day for about a week and a half prior to Christmas, one person would be “Santa for the day” and brought everyone in the office a small gift. They also had a holiday pot luck where they ate to their hearts delight! They also did a gift exchange, or should I say, gift stealing session! Jayme had chosen a great gift which would be perfect in her new house, but alas, Pebbles could not resist stealing. Either way, everyone left with full tummies and great gifts! Melissa celebrated her birthday driving 9 hours from Seattle (terrible weather!) to Idaho. Luckily she got their safely and enjoyed her time in the snow with her family. Jayme went to Alaska to have her first white Christmas! She even attempted snow boarding and is reportedly still sore. It was a Christmas to remember...she came back engaged! Wendy held down the fort on the administrative end all by her lonesome. We would like to thank her for her committment to this company while her staff was off making snow angels :-) C onsumer Anniversaries 17 Years John R. - SM 15 Years Johnny J. - FSO 14 Years Linda W. - EC 13 Years Akito I. - EC Paul M. - EC 12 Years Chia L. - FSO Plai M. - FSO Sou T. - FSO 9 Years Everardo M. - EC Mark K. - SM 8 Years Cherly L. - SM 7 Years Steve G. - MCD Ray R. - MCD 6 Years Elva G. - COAL Susan M. - SM Maria G. - SAL Richard G. - STK Marie G. - UK Olivia A. - SC 5 Years Anthony A. - STK 4 Years Karen M. - SAL Steven R. - SD Fred H. - MCD 3 Years Michael T. - SC Jose G. - SAL Gian L. - SM 2 Years Parker G. - SM Patrick M. - STK Sharon H. - STK Roxann H. - SC Allona M. - FSO 1 Year Janice G. - SC Shirley C. - SC Eiis A. - SD Debrah L. - MDO Linda H. - VIS Jerri J. - MCD Leonard E. - MCD Cheryl E. - MCD North Valley Modesto The Modesto office had their annual Christmas party on December 18th at the Salida Library Conference room. Since we moved into a smaller office we could not accommodate all the staff and consumers. The added space made it much more comfortable and spacious. Good food and fun was had by all. Staff and consumers did karaoke for entertainment and we even had a visit from Santa. We also thought that since we had most of the staff and consumers together that it would be a good time to acknowledge consumer Travis B. for being December’s Consumer of the month. Modesto Program Leader, Jan Todd, presented Travis with his award and gifts. Congratulations Travis! North Valley Stockton On December 19th, the Stockton office held their holiday party for staff and consumers. It was a potluck with fun and games. We played musical chairs to holiday music, pin the bow on the candy cane, and also did a gift exchange with those who wanted to participate. We had a good turn out and everyone enjoyed themselves. We even had a surprise visit from Santa! We all got to sit on Santa’s lap to give him our wishes and to snap a quick photo with him before he had to head back to the North Pole to prepare for Christmas! Central Valley Fresno, Visalia & Merced Fresno would like to welcome the following staff: Susan Lutz (Personal Attendant), Alexandria Underwood (Office Manager), Carol Aragon (Personal Attendant), and Dawn Lampley (Personal Attendant). It’s nice to have all of you on the Fresno Team! Congratulations to Christian Clement on her marriage to her hubby and her promotion to Employment Specialist for the Fresno area. Chrissy placed three consumers: Donald and John at the SaveMart Center (very popular concert/sports site) and Tiffany was placed at Macy’s Department Store. Keep up the great work! The Fresno team celebrated their holiday party at the Fresno office with holiday décor and music. We played the white elephant game (lots of stealing of the many gifts that were brought), played bingo (Martha won the Mp3 player during black out), guessed how many chocolates candies were in the container (Deborah guessed the exact numbers, WOW she’s good), ate till our stomachs were content and was surrounded by great company. Thanks to Alex, Elizabeth, Shelley, Martha and David for the kind donations and help with clean up. You helped make this holiday party a success! The Social Recreation Program conducted a Talent Show and Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser for the Disneyland Trip. They rose close to $200.00 for this event, which was very memorable. The most talented consumers and staff showed their skills that night: Paul played piano/ synthesizer, Kenny played the piano and sang a song, Desiree danced to “Bye, Bye”, by Maria Carey, Rosemary and Maria sang “Jesus take the Wheel”, Adam (Elizabeth’s Fiancé) played guitar and sang “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and so many more! Thanks to all the consumers and staff who made this event so great! Visalia would like to welcome Esmeralda Lopez (DSA) and Mijha Leasure (PL) to the Visalia office. The Visalia team celebrated their holiday party at Sizzler’s. Secret Santa gifts were exchanged and opportunity drawings took place. We would like to thank our very special guest, Linda H. (SLS Consumer), as she joined us in this festive event. Congratulations to the Safety Incentive Winners from the Merced office. They were Lisa Resendez, who won the $150.00 Visa Card and Sylvia Ruiz-Ortiz who won the $25.00 gift card. Merced had their Employee End of the Year Bash on December 24th at the office. There was great food, games and prizes. Merced and Los Banos had the Consumer End of the Year Bash on December 27th. There was food, games, gifts and lots of dancing. A great time was had by all. Merced also had 5 winners in the Employee Opportunity Drawing. Congratulations! Redwood Coast & Southbay Ukiah, Plum House, & Salinas December was full of fun and festive activities. Some staff and consumers attended the Truckers Light Parade, rode the Holiday trolley, went caroling, and participated in a secret Santa gift exchange. Many of the consumers and staff attended the annual Black and White Ball. Everyone looked very festive and had a great time dancing the night away. Everyone at Plum House enjoyed decorating and baking for the Holidays. A couple of consumers got to spend time with family over the holiday while others hung out with friends. Randy D. took a vacation to Disneyland to see Goofy. He LOVED it. He started talking about going again as soon as he got off the plane. Staff Rodrigo Ruiz was in the Nutcracker. Allison J. and Darryl C. went and watched and had a great time! Congratulation to Ron A. our $25 gift card winner. He never misses a meeting! Happy Birthday to Clarissa T. and Lloyd P. The Salinas office would like to welcome Melissa Martinez as our new Direct Service Aide. We also want to wish Frank Rodriquez a very Happy Birthday! This months winner for the Safety Drawing was Jeannie Leauma. Congratulations! The Salinas office also held their annual CAC fundraising event at the Northridge Mall in which consumers and staff were able to participate in the gift-wrapping. Krista Hribar Community Catalysts of California is proud to announce that Krista Hribar had been selected to receive the Catalyst P.R.I.D.E. Award~Leading by Example for December 2008. Krista has been with Community Catalysts of California for about a year and a half as an Employment Coordinator for the San Marcos office. Krista was recognized for her on-going excellence and for going above and beyond her call of duty. She remains positive, professional, and flexible through each challenge that comes her way. Not only does she serve as an Employment Coordinator, but she also heads up the Consumer Advisory Committee and fills in for ILS when they need extra help. She is committed to her consumers and will do whatever it takes to assist them in meeting their goals and becoming more independent. She has even made cleaning a fun and enjoyable experience for a consumer who was previously living in an unsanitary environment! She is truly a dependable team player who continues to inspire those around her with her excellent leadership skills. We appreciate the great service and dedication to the vision of Community Catalysts of California that Krista has provided and would like to recognize her for her hard work and for Leading by Example. Thanks for Leading Us In the Right Direction! Consumer Catalysts of the Month January 2009 Leonel Sousa Leonel has been involved in our Stockton programs in the past, but has recently joined us in our SLS program again. Leonel has demonstrated patience, commitment and understanding as he has had to endure a roommate change shortly after moving in. Among all this, he has remained cooperative, cheerful and very dedicated. Recently Leonel has gone above and beyond by volunteering his time to help make the Stockton Halloween party a success. He spent the entire day at the office helping with decorating, organizing and anything else that needed to be done. Leonel does all this with a positive attitude and always with a smile and he has a great smile! Leonel is a father and loves spending time with his son. Leonel is a real car enthusiast and also enjoys movies, attending community events, participating in the Consumer Advisory activities and drawing pictures. He is a great artist! Leonel is a very easy going person and always fun to be around. He is compassionate and truly cares about those that are in his life. He is a great friend and a wonderful and caring father. These are just a few of the reasons why Leonel has been chosen as the Consumer of the Month for January. What a way to start off the new year! Congratulations Leonel!