November Newsletter 2009 • Community Catalysts of California corporate corner 403(b) Plan If you are an employee of Community Catalysts of California and are at least 21 years of age, you are eligible to participate in CCC’s 403(b) Retirement Plan! Enrollment takes place upon hire or on January 1 or July 1 of each calendar year. Employees are able to defer taxes on the portion of the salary or wages that is invested in a 403b plan. Employees who have been employed for one year are eligible for the employer match contribution. For each dollar an employee has deducted from his/her paycheck, Community Catalysts of California matches with $0.25, not to exceed 16% of the employee’s pay. The employee becomes fully vested in Community Catalysts of California’s matching amount after five years of service. Once an employee enrolls, there are only two times a year (December or January of the next year and June for July of the same year), that the deduction amount can be changed. If you are interested in signing up for the plan or are just interested on finding out more information, please see your local Office Manager. Employee Satisfaction Survey Thank you to all of you who have completed the Employee Satisfaction Survey. In order to best serve you as our employees, we need your feedback and value your opinions. While not all requests or suggestions can be implemented right away, they are all taken into consideration for changes to be made for this upcoming year. We appreciate all you do for your consumers and for this company! Happy Thanksgiving! May your stuffing be tasty May your turkey plump, May your potatoes and gravy Have nary a lump. May your yams be delicious And your pies take the prize, And may your Thanksgiving dinner Stay off your thighs! -Anonymous employee anniversaries 17 Years Theresa Marich - ELC 15 Years Teri Geston - SM Jan Todd - MDO 11 Years Esperanza Rader - ELC 5 Years Bernice Bellinger - MDO Lucinda Fransham - UK 4 Years Maurilio Montanez - MDO 2 Years Briana Chambliss - PACE Jayme Ingram - CORP 1 Year Carol Aragon - FSO Stephanie Bravo - SC Sheila Grounds - STK Retta Jones - SD Alice Olsen - SM Heather Vara - MDO Central Valley Merced • Fresno merced Office Manager Sylvia Ruiz-Ortiz and Regional Manager Shelley Cook conducted a Community Catalysts of California booth at the Disability Awareness Day at the Merced Mall. The public participated in spinning the wheel to win a prize from CCC and learn more about services we provide in the Merced area. The entertainment/events consisted of the deaf and hearing impaired children presenting in American Sign Language and danced for everyone, wheelchair demonstrations, and a kids fun activity corner. The Merced Office would also like to congratulate Alex Underwood for receiving the P.R.I.D.E. Award for October! She deserved it! Also, congratulations to Phillip (Dion) Jenkins for completing his first year with CCC. Case Manager Nicole Dahlgren attended a Disability Awareness day at the park. She stated that it was a great turn out of consumers and staff. Quite a few cars honked to show their support! fresno Alex Underwood was surprised at a Safety/Fleet training by her peers as she was presented her P.R.I.D.E. Award: Leading by Example. She was presented with goodies and a gift card. Great Job for your diligence in the Fresno Office! Welcome Deliah H. (SLS Consumer) to the Community Catalysts of California family in Fresno. consumer anniversaries 19 Years Vera P. - SM 16 Years Chris D. - SD 13 Years Maya W. - FSO Eva H. - ELC 12 Years Ronald R. - ELC 11 Years Javier S. - FSO 8 Years Jesus Y. - MCD Christopher M . - STK Hayden H. - SM 7 Years Marie G. - STK Claudia G. - SAL 6 Years Shoua V. - FSO 5 Years Cecelia K . - SC Rachel T. - SC Tyesha T. - SC Jue Wanda T. - SC Jan B. - SD 4 Years John K. - MCD 3 Years Jeffrey S. - SM Patricia B. - SC Tracy H. - VIS Federico V. - SM Luis P . -SC 2 Years Tia M. - MCD Daniela R. - SD Alicia S. - SD Victor S. - SAL Diana V. - MCD Jasmine R. - SC Lisa T. - SC Edna D. - STK 1 Year Tim T. - FSO Geneva R. - MCD David S. - SD Central Valley Visalia visalia The Encina House (Supported Living Residential Services) had officially opened as of September 21, 2009 in the Visalia area. This facility is designed to serve consumers transitioning out of the Porterville Developmental Center into the community. Currently, we serve one consumer Patty and are in the process of moving in two more consumers and finalizing the last consumer placement early next year. This project has been a success with the support of community members, vendors, consumer foundation, Regional Center and Community Catalysts of California. Mijha Leasure and Shelley Cook would like to welcome the following team members to the CCC Family: Shanee Penbrooke, Alexander Pilkinton, Toni Thomas, Robin Kernen, Kimberly Dawson, Leonel Cortez, Pearl Gonzalez, Marcela Cabrera, Cher Xiong, Tina Brown, Brittany Ross, and Diana Peralta. It’s great to have you all as a part of our team and we look forward to working with each and every one of you! Redwood coast Ukiah • Plum House ukiah & plum house October was full of new staff joining the Ukiah office and Plum House. Welcome to Zak, Lee, Heidi and Nichole! We also want to welcome staff from August and September that we were not able to acknowledge last month: Sherri, Justin, Kristi, Tina, Beverly and Dawn. Welcome aboard! The month was busy with most of the staff being certified in CPR and First Aid. For many, this was the first time to attend these classes! For others, it was an opportunity to learn about the changes to CPR. Consumer Randy D. celebrated his birthday with a party at Round Table Pizza and had a great turn out! Other birthdays celebrated recently were for consumers David S. and Lloyd P. Consumers David S., Lloyd P., and Randy D. also had a fantastic time visiting the Oakland Zoo with staff Karen and Katie. They were able to enjoy the mild weather and look at all the different animals that live there. On October 30th, all of Ukiah and Plum House consumers and their staff were invited to a Halloween Party by People First of Ukiah. While Superman and Batman attended, there were also cowboys, clowns and just plain silly people all around to enjoy the food and fun festivities. southern california El Centro • San Diego so-cal Regional office We are excited to announce our 1st Annual End of Year Extravaganza! We are funding this event by donated items. These baskets and gift cards have been donated by some of our own staff members and by neighboring businesses. This event has brought funds from as far away as Wichita, Kansas and Henderson, Nevada. The tickets for this Opportunity Drawing are $1.00 each and the final drawing will be held on December 11, 2009. We have raised nearly $500 in the short time we have been working on this and we are expecting to see GREAT things come from this fund raising event for our Southern California Regional Office Staff. We want to “recognize” their hard work and dedication to a VERY worth while cause, the support of our wonderful consumers! We have a GREAT TEAM and we are successful because we ALL care to recognize hard work! el centro Friday, October 30th was our Halloween Luncheon and everyone had a GREAT time at the Golden Corral restaurant. Cari is our new consumer in our Day Program and we are glad to have her as a part of our group. Special Congratulation goes out to Bryseyda Luna (DSA) on her upcoming marriage on Saturday, November 14, 2009. san diego IL/SL Services The IL program continues to grow and we have an incredible group of staff providing the services for our consumers in IL/SL programs. Elise Romero, IL DSA, is one of our newer staff to the IL team that began just a couple of months ago. She is dedicated to the success of all the consumers on her case load and works hard to meet their needs to attain maximum independence. She is such a pleasure to work with and her enthusiasm is contagious. Keep up the great work Elise and the rest of IL/SL staff! We are very fortunate to have such a great group of individuals working together to empower others!!! We had a wonderful time on October 28th when we had several consumers join in on the fun at our Spooktacular Halloween party! Supported Employment The Supported Employment program is stronger than ever and receiving referrals, thanks to our outstanding Direct Service staff. Congrats to our SE consumer Alicia S. who begins her full-time state position on Monday, November 2nd! southern california San Marcos san marcos Advisory We had a Howling good time at our Halloween party! Over 30 clients and staff attended. There was an abundance of great food to be enjoyed by all. IL client Kelly (Marilyn Monroe) and SE client Christian (Whoopee Cushion) tied for BEST Costume. SL client Wayne and SE Staff Elizabeth Noel were arrested by SE client Steven for trying to hide extra cupcakes. A big THANK YOU to IL clients Kelly and John for hosting the party at their recreation room. Also, thank you to SL staff Jennifer Valdez and Kathy Hartman for all their help in cleaning up after the party. Our next event with be the Annual Benny Bowl held at the AMF Eagle Lanes on November 17th from 4-6PM. After bowling, we are having a party at the San Marcos office to celebrate our clients and show them how much they mean to us! We are looking forward to a great time! IL The IL program would like to welcome Emily Vallas as the newest DSA! We are happy to have her as a part of our team! Supported Employment We would like to welcome Steven Wolfson, our new Employment Coordinator on our SE team! SL Thank you Teri Geston and Kathy Hartland for taking the great pictures at the Halloween party! South Bay Santa Clara • Salinas Santa Clara Santa Clara is currently doing a calendar fundraiser in which the consumers have submitted artwork, poems and recipes. They will be sold for $10.00 each or 2 for $12.00. We had quite a few submissions and the calendar turned out beautiful thanks in part to Ann Marie’s talent for putting it all together. Our Consumer Thanksgiving potluck will be held here in our office on November 13th from 4-7PM and our Employee potluck will also be held here in the office on November 20th at 11AM. We are looking forward to some holiday food and fun! Congratulations to Denise Mansfield for the birth of her 3rd grandchild! Her daughter Kimberly gave birth to a healthy baby boy on October 15th. Welcome to Colleen Barragan, our newest DSA who joined our team on November 5th. Happy birthday to both Jennifer Mansfield and Laurie Cable who are our October babies. salinas It has been a couple of busy months here in Salinas! First, let us bid a fond farewell to the employees that have moved on and welcome aboard our new employees DSA’s Jose Ramon Pedroza, Elizabeth Uribe, and Elizabeth Rivera and our new Office Assistant Corrine Pedrozo. Also, best wishes to Karla Martinez who is now a part of the El Centro office. Congratulations to DSA Lydia Melendez who welcomed her new baby girl in September. On October 30th, CAC had a Halloween party for the consumers. Prizes were given out for best costume to Melissa O. and Andrew W. was able to beat out everyone else for all the other activity prizes. Way to go Andrew! Everyone enjoyed the games, contests, and especially the free food and candy. Consumers Miguel S. and Gilbert G. took on DSA’s Sorena H., Ramon P. and Case Manager Elena B. in a karaoake contest which entertained everyone! did you know? It was not until 1941, that congress declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday. It was declared to be the fourth • Thursday in November. Thomas Jefferson thought the concept of Thanksgiving was “the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.”• 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day. In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the • Thanksgiving celebrations. There is no official reason or declaration for the use of turkey. They just happened to be the most plentiful meat available at the time of the first Thanksgiving in 1621, starting the tradition. Every President since Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day. But in 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt • proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November to lengthen the holiday shopping season. This upset people. The Guinness Book of Records states that the greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lbs), • at the annual “heaviest turkey” competition held in London, England on December 12, 1989. The Plymouth Pilgrims dined with the Wampanoag Indians for the First Thanksgiving.• A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds • between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds. The North American holiday season (generally the holiday shopping season in the U.S.) traditionally begins • when Thanksgiving ends, on “Black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving); this tradition has held forth since at least the 1930s. holidays the healthy way magellan health services The holidays are in full swing, which means lots of family, fun and FOOD! But it doesn’t have to mean extra pounds. Even holiday treats can fit into a healthy eating plan. The key is balance and moderation. To avoid holiday weight gain, balance the calories you consume with the calories you burn. Physical activity and moderate food choices will help. The tips below are gifts you can give yourself and your family to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Let the holiday spirit move you! If you make your family time active, you will become healthier and have fun doing so. Be adventurous and try something new, but also choose something you enjoy. Stick to your regular exercise routine as much as possible. Especially during the holidays, plan your physical activity • routine in advance (don’t leave it up to chance). Mark it on the calendar and consider it as important as any other appointment. Get at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity daily, and more if possible. Cut back on your family’s television viewing time. Limit the number of hours your children spend playing video games. • Instead make a new holiday tradition. Take a brisk walk (or wheel) around the neighborhood to see the holiday decorations or grab your bike, walking shoes or snow shoes and head out to the nearest trails or national park. Play some backyard football or Frisbee with children and adults before the big holiday dinner or during football • half-time. Dance or exercise to your favorite holiday music. • Be physically active to avoid or relieve the holiday stress. • Healthy Holiday Eating Overcome the urge to overeat. Standing by the buffet table is temptation to overeat. Remember holiday parties are a • time to celebrate with family and friends, not just food. It’s easy to overindulge during the holidays. Make sure to watch portion sizes and select one or two of your favorites • from the host of tempting foods. Leave those extra calories behind-limit your intake of foods high in fat or added sugar. • If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation.• Holidays the Healthy Way The holidays are a great time to enjoy a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables. Bowls of fresh fruit are a festive and sweet substitute for candy or chocolates • Remember calories add up! This is especially true during the holidays when we snack more. For a healthy snack, • choose a piece of fresh fruit. You’ve tried the leftover turkey sandwich; now try the leftover turkey salad! Add a few pieces of turkey to a • generous portion of mixed greens, cucumbers, mushrooms, peppers, or any other vegetables you like. Sprinkle with dried cranberries for that authentic holiday taste. Check out http://www.cdc.gov/5aday for great ideas to serve your guests a variety of fruits and vegetables!• For more information, contact our Employee Assistance Program at toll free number 1-800-523-5668. Alexandria Underwood Community Catalysts of California is proud to announce that Alexandria Underwood was selected to receive the Catalyst P.R.I.D.E. Award~Leading by Example for October 2009. Alexandria has been with Community Catalysts of California for a year as the Office Manager and has been a huge help to the Fresno Office and Central Valley Region. Alexandria was recognized for her ongoing excellence and her great attitude. As the Office Manager, Safety Officer and Fleet Coordinator for her area, Alexandria has truly shown her ability to multitask and has exceptional skills in organization. Alexandria also maintains a great attitude and makes people feel welcome. Whether greeting someone on the phone, emailing or in person, she is friendly and willing to assist with anything. She is eager to help anywhere she is needed and consistently meets her deadlines for projects given to her by the Regional Manager or the Corporate office. Alexandria has gone above and beyond by providing administrative support to theVisalia office as well. She has excellent communication skills, is resourceful and maintains a high level of professionalism at all times. She is a great asset to the Fresno Office, the Central Valley Region and Community Catalysts of California as a whole. We appreciate the great service and dedication to the vision of Community Catalysts of California that Alexandria has provided and would like to recognize her for her hard work and for Leading by Example. Consumer Catalysts of the Month November 2009 Patricia Simons Patricia has been with Community Catalysts of California for over 10 years in the Independent Living Services program in the Santa Clara area. Patricia has done an excellent job meeting her goals! Within the last 4 months she has been working on her leg exercises, walking around her apartment complex or out in the community, and only uses her walker while she is with her DSA. Patricia has mastered her money management goal and now completes that task on her own. She is able to communicate with the bank independently when problems or concerns arise with her account. Patricia has also begun to advocate more for herself in expressing what she likes and dislikes and what she wants and doesn’t want. Her goals with Community Catalysts of California are accessing medical/dental services, home and community safety, communication/self advocacy and health maintenance and exercise. Patricia has come a long way with all the medical obstacles she has had to face within the last few years and she remains strong and determined. Patricia likes to collect stamps, use the computer to create labels and cards, attend sporting events and do arts and crafts. Every season she creates various center-pieces and sells them to friends and family. She also enjoys cooking and has gotten quite good at it. Patricia has come a long way in the past few months and this is why she has been chosen to be the Consumer of the Month for November! Congratulations Eva!