october newsletter community catalysts of california 2009 CEO Corner... The Value of Safety Community Catalysts is an organization of people serving people in the community. We don’t have a lot of facilities, equipment or things. When an accident happens, it means that one of our consumers or fellow employees has suffered an injury. October is Fire Safety Month. Both at home and at work we should ask ourselves if we have taken precautions to prevent and prepare for, not only fire emergencies, but the simple every day incidents that can occur. You are our most valuable asset! Take care of yourself, your family and our consumers. Jim Jenkins, CEO …employee anniversaries… 17 years Margie White - SM 8 years Randy Denton - UK 7 years Jennifer Mansfield - SC 6 years JoAnn Holliday - UK Patricia Hazen - MDO 4 years Lydia Melendez - SAL 3 years Bradley White - STK 2 years Maria Lopez - FSO Rocio Renteria - EC Timothy Gaston - SC 1 year Darlene Matthews - SC Alexandria Underwood - FSO Jonathan Torres - SD Jami Sisson - SD Phillip Jenkins - MCD Lori Harvey - SC corporate we moved! The Corporate Office has moved! In September, we packed up our office into what seemed like hundreds of crates and moved them over to our new location. Everyone is settling into their new space and making it their own. It already feels like home! On October 9th we had our Open House. A few Board Members and some of our SOCAL staff stopped in to take a look around. A big thank you to each person in the corporate office who has helped to make our move a success. Also, thank you to everyone for your patience as we continue to settle in and get everything back up and running. Our new office address is: 3760 Convoy Street, Suite 344 San Diego, CA 92111 Main Line: 858-292-2020 Main Fax: 858-292-2033 For direct lines to the corporate staff, please see your Office Manager. …consumer anniversaries… 19 years Martin P. - SM 17 years Chris A. - SM Jack B. - SM 13 years Soua Y. - FSO 11 years Jeffrey S. - SC Rebecca C. - FSO 7 years Tracy M. - STK 6 years Angela A. - SD 5 years Lucinda J. - MCD 4 years Katherine B. - SD 3 years David R. - MCD Debra M. - STK 2 years Rudolfo U. - SD Aidie E. - SAL Rebecca B. - SC Christina L. - EC Raymond R. - EC Rachel M. - SC Trisha C. - MCD 1 year Dora A. - MCD Nyssa D. - SC Wendy G. - SC Wendy W. - MDO Jacob D. - SD Jonathan T. - SD Jose U. - SD Kathleen M. - FSO Phillip T. - MCD Richard C. - VIS Rachelle R. - MCD Kyle H. - SD Thomas B. - SC central valley merced We’d like to thank all of our Social Rec. staff: Stephanie Hernandez, Lisa Resendez, Annabell Saldana and Vanessa Salazar for doing such a great job with our consumers throughout the years. They certainly made a difference in the consumers lives. We celebrated with our Social Rec. consumers by having a Luau Party. Everyone had a great time. We ate, danced and reminisced about the past events. Most of our consumers gave a speech on how the program helped them and how much they were going to miss it. It was quite a sad moment. We will miss our consumers and our staff. We wish them all the best. We would also like to thank Serena and Monique Resendez for all their hard work in decorating and providing the music for our party. They did an awesome job. north valley stockton, modesto, pace & ray hyde On September 16, 2009, the Stockton office, Modesto office, Ray Hyde House and PACE House got together at Oak Park in Stockton for a Consumer/Staff Appreciation Barbeque. We had a very good turn out with consumer attendance as well as staff attendance. Besides eating the delicious food that was provided by staff, we also enjoyed each others company playing games, volleyball, singing and dancing. The management team was also able to give recognition to all consumers and staff with a certificate for all their hard work and achievements. We also sent invitations to VMRC to attend and had a few of their staff join us as well. A great time was had by all! north valley modesto The Modesto office staff and consumers visited Dell’Osso Family Farm on October 2, 2009 in Tracy, CA to kick-off the Fall Season. The farm features a corn maze, hay ride, train ride, pumpkin patches and snow! …halloween crossword puzzle… southern california el centro & san diego el centro Welcome Ana Cruz, El Centro’s newest Personal Attendant for the Supported Living Program. BABY NEWS!!!!! Tara Ramirez welcomes son, Jonathan Robert Piseno born September 17, 2009 at 10:41am. He was 7lbs 4oz and 20½in long! Congratulations Tara! The Padre’s Game Event on September 13th was a HUGE success. Our Staff, Luz Olmos and Teresa Marich and consumers enjoyed the game as well hot dogs with all the fixin’s. A great time was had by all. Several of our staff celebrated one of our consumers birthday with a luncheon and had a wonderful time! san diego A message from Sherie Kainz, Regional Manager: I would like to send a big “Thank You” to our San Diego Program Leader, Evelyn Bardales. When Evelyn is posed with a referral that brings many challenges, she is always thinking about “how we can make this work”. She is solution oriented and says YES! YES! YES! to every referral. As a result she is doing a fabulous job building the Independent Living Program in San Diego. Way to go Evelyn. Keep up the great work! IL/SL Program Leader Evelyn Bardales would like to recognize a couple of staff in the IL/SL program that have been doing an overall great job. Elise Romero and Eula Wilburn joined our team a couple of months ago and both have really gone above and beyond what has been asked of them to meet the needs of their consumers. We welcome Ashley Cox, our new Personal Attendant for our SL Program. SE In SE, the Coffee Cart Supervisor Matthew Brady has stepped up to his new responsibilities by conjuring up creative new ways to increase sales and profits at our consumer-operated Coffee Cart. We continue to receive referrals on a weekly basis and look forward to watching the SE program grow before our eyes! southern california san marcos Advisory: The October event is our Halloween Party! It will be on October 28, 2009 at 5PM and we are all looking forward to it! Also, thank you Krista for organizing the Padre’s Game outing for all our clients and thank you to all who attended and staff who assisted our clients. IL The San Marcos IL program would like to welcome Cheryll Rittenhouse as the newest Direct Service Aide! We are happy to have her as a part of our team! SE We would like to welcome Justin Holmes, our new Employment Coordinator on our San Marcos SE Team. We’ve had 3 referrals and 2 assessments. A consumer was able to increase his hours at his job site, Boomers. Another Consumer took a test for the San Marcos Unified School District for an instructional aid and he passed. Although he didn’t get the job he is now eager to pursue a career in Teaching and/or a Teachers Aid. A salon has taken on one of our consumers as part of their team and we are excited for her new opportunities. The Padre’s Game was a TOTAL success. San Marcos SE and IL team enjoyed the game while eating hot dogs and candy. SL During a recent outing, SL consumers Wayne and Shelley needed to wear sweaters and light weight coats while cheering on SL consumer Jack as he played softball on a Sunday afternoon for Special Olympics. Jack’s comment was “I’m glad it’s not so hot”. Jack got a 2 base hit! stacy meyer Community Catalysts of California is proud to announce that Stacy Meyer was selected to receive the Catalyst P.R.I.D.E. Award~Leading by Example for September 2009. Stacy has been with Community Catalysts of California for a little over a year and has been recently promoted to the Direct Services Supervisor position for the ILS program in San Marcos. Stacy was recognized for going above and beyond her call of duty, taking initiative and for her on-going excellence. She is extremely resourceful, pro-active and is someone who truly cares about her consumers.Whether it is helping consumers find dental packages they can afford in this difficult economy or contacting the Dept. of Housing to have the consumer’s responsibility for rent decreased, Stacy has shown that she will do anything she can to help consumers improve the quality of their lives. She has excellent communication skills, and is able to get even the most closed off consumers to open up and speak up for themselves. She also has very open and professional communication with her managers and co-workers. Stacy empowers each consumer to strive for maximum independence and overall is a great asset to the San Marcos office and ILS team. We appreciate the great service and dedication to the vision of Community Catalysts of California that Stacy has provided and would like to recognize her for her hard work and for Leading by Example. Consumer Catalysts of the Month October 2009 Eva Hack Eva has been with Community Catalysts of California for 10 years in the Supported Living program in the El Centro area. She is a very independent, friendly and brave woman. Eva recently had surgery and was very cooperative before and after the process. She has a great sense of humor and the ability to problem solve. Eva likes to listen to music and dance and she also enjoys taking walks around her apartment complex. She is so friendly that she is well known wherever she goes; at the grocery store, the banks and all around her neighborhood. Eva loves cooking her own meals, doing house chores, and redecorating her home when she has the chance. She is very feminine and loves painting her own nails and dancing to “Las Cumbias”. Eva’s favorite food is Chinese food. Eva has come a long way in the time she has been in our program. We are especially impressed with how she handled her recent surgery and that is why she has been chosen as the Consumer of the Month for October. Congratulations Eva!