Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Community Living Mattawa

Vision Statement

That all persons live in a state of dignity, have the opportunity for individual choice, and live and participate as valued members of the community.

Mission Statement

To support people with development disabilities to know, understand and practice their rights and responsibilities as citizens, and to participate fully in their community

CLM NEWSLETTER – JUNE TO OCTOBER 2016 UPDATES & EVENTS

Introduction

Welcome to Community Living Mattawa’s Fall Newsletter. This newsletter highlights the many activities that have taken place within the organization over the past few months.

In this edition you will find stories on the activities in which the consumers have been involved; an introduction to 2 new support workers; a recount of Community Living Mattawa’s summer fundraising activities; an invitation to support CLM through the purchase of a membership; an update on the Strategic direction of CLM; and finally an invitation to attend CLM’s Annual General Meeting scheduled for November 23, 2016.

I hope you enjoy the newsletter and if you have any comments about the newsletter or CLM as a whole, please contact me at david@communitylivingmattawa.org or by calling 705-744-3030.

Best Regards,

David Spencer, Executive Director

Consumer News

Camping Trip

On August 20th and 21st, 2016 David, Larry, and Melissa went

on a camping trip to Algonquin/Brent Park. David and

Larry were very excited to be going on this adventure.

They both said they enjoyed the peace and quiet of their

scenic campsite. Activities for the weekend included boat

rides on the lake, sitting by the campfire cooking s’mores, and stretching out on the hammock. The highlight of the

weekend was seeing the various types of wildlife including

a bear in the distance. They were all excited to share their adventure story when they returned. Everyone said they

would love to go camping again next summer.

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Consumer News (Cont’d)

Happy Birthday Community Living Mattawa had the honour of celebrating Mary’s 66th Birthday on June 8, 2016. Mary celebrated with her friends. They all had a great time.

Community Living Mattawa had the honour of celebrating Cindy’s 30th Birthday on July 21, 2016 at Myrt’s Restaurant. Cindy celebrated with all her friends. They all had a great time.

Community Living Mattawa had the honour of celebrating Ron’s 50th Birthday on July 29, 2016 at Myrt’s Restaurant. Ron celebrated with all his friends and family. They all had a great time.

Community Living Mattawa had the honour of celebrating Antoinette’s 67th Birthday on August 26, 2016. Antoinette celebrated with all her friends. They all had a great time.

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Consumer News cont’d

Happy Birthday

Community Living Mattawa had the honour of celebrating Dan’s 68th Birthday on September 15, 2016. Antoinette celebrated with all her friends. They all had a great time.

Community Living Mattawa had the honour of celebrating Gordon’s 55th Birthday on September 16, 2016. Gordon celebrated with his friend and his family joined us at CPS for a BBQ. It was a lovely day and everyone had a great time.

Men’s Night - June 21st

Men’s Night was an idea that was brought forward by a few of the men supported by CLM. Their idea was to create a men’s group that would meet to hang out, do a variety of activities together, and discuss things of interest to them. The nights have been very well attended so far, with the last night being held on June 21st. On this night the men chose to do Karaoke. There were lots of laughs from those in attendance. The friendships within the group continue to grow and the goal of the program is to eventually fade all staffing support in order for the participants to run their own group.

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Consumer News cont’d

Canada Day at Bissett

On July 1st, 2016, the residents at Bissett decided to do something extra special on a rainy

Canada Day. Despite the weather, they still wanted to celebrate Canada’s birthday and did

not want the rain to dampen their Canadian spirit.

They decorated their home with Canada Day flags and symbolic Canadian pictures and finished off the festivities by painting their faces and their nails in Canadian colours.

The dreary day was brightened by everyone’s Canadian Pride.

Christmas in July

On July 12th, 2016 Community Living Mattawa held its

Annual Christmas in July celebration. The Tenth

Street building was decorated for Christmas and

included a giant 12 foot Santa.

The party started with a pizza party that included pizza, garlic bread, salad and drinks. Following

dinner there was Karaoke singing and dancing. The

evening concluded with a visit from Santa. Everyone

in attendance had a great time.

A special thank you goes to all of the people that helped put the party together: Mike, Gord, Dan, Ron, Scott, Sharon, Joan,

David W., Jennifer S., and Shelly.

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Consumer News cont’d

It is with sadness that we recognize the passing of a long-time consumer. Greg Butler passed away on August 1, 2016 peacefully in his home. Community Living Mattawa, as a whole, wishes to extend their condolences to the family and to everyone who knew Greg. A Celebration of Life took place on Saturday August 6th at the Mattawa Legion where family and friends gathered to remember Greg.

Fundraising

Community Barbeques

Community Living Mattawa held two community barbeques throughout the summer months, one on the Friday of the Voyager Weekend and one at the end of August. The funds raised were put toward Community Living Mattawa’s vehicle fund in order to purchase a new vehicle in the near future. The July barbeque raised $413.24 and the August barbeque raised $474.00 plus $115.75 in donations. Community Living Mattawa thanks the community for supporting the barbeques and gives a special thank you to Rob and Toby Gravelle, owners of the Mattawa Foodland, who graciously hosted the barbeques, donated food, and provided the barbeque. Thank you as well to the volunteers that came out to help with the barbeques. The community barbeques are really a great way for Community Living Mattawa to promote our mission within the community.

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Fundraising (Cont’d) 50/50 Draw

Community Living Mattawa held a 50/50 draw this past summer. The draw was held at our August Community barbeque and the winner was Jennifer Skiffington of Mattawa. The winning prize was $1,160.50 and CLM raised $543.47 towards its vehicle fund.

Yard Sale

Community Living Mattawa held a fall yard sale on Saturday October 8th. The yard sale was selling the remaining items from the spring yard sale. The yard sale raised $102.00. Thank you to Jennifer S., Cindy L., Isaac, Ben, and Monique A. for their assistance with the yard sale.

Membership Drive

Community Living Mattawa has launched is fall Membership Drive in September. Membership in the Association is an opportunity for people to show support for the vision and mission of Community Living Mattawa through a financial means. Funds raised through membership are used for consumer activities that are not covered by our Ministry funding. Membership is $10.00 for a personal membership and $50.00 for a corporate membership. Members receive the quarterly newsletter, the annual report along with an invitation to the Annual General Meeting, and an opportunity to volunteer with the agency at Board functions and even apply to be a member of the Board. Most importantly, membership shows a belief in Community Living Mattawa’s mission, “to support people with developmental disabilities to know, understand, and practice their rights and responsibilities as citizens and to participate fully in their community.

For information about membership or to become a member, please contact Tammy Lynn Larocque in the Administration office at (705) 744-2979 ext. 200 or at larocquet@communitylivingmattawa.org.

Board News

Annual General Meeting

Community Living Mattawa’s Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 23, 2016 at 7:00 pm at 533 Valois Drive. All are welcome to attend.

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Board News (Cont’d)

End of Term on Board of Directors

The Annual General Meeting marks the end of the Board term for Tracy Bellaire. Tracy has been a member of the Board since 2004, serving a full 12 year term on the Board. Tracy has been an extremely important member of the Board during her tenure. She served as Chair of the Board from 2010 – 2015 and in that time oversaw the hiring of a new Executive Director, the development of a new Strategic Plan for the organization, and the updating of the organizations by-laws and Letters of Patent. Tracy was a member of the Board during the time that the institutions for people with developmental disabilities within Ontario were closed and was supportive of bringing some of those residents to live in Mattawa. She was also a Board member when the legislation governing the developmental services sector was introduced and passed into law, which included the emergence of Developmental Services Ontario which is now the central application entity for Developmental Services. Finally, Tracy was a member of the Board during the launch of many of

Community Living Mattawa’s more recent programs, including the Foundations Transitional program, the Children’s Respite program, the separation of the Supported Independent Living program into its own stand-alone program, the development of Community Living Mattawa as the brokering agency for the regions urgent response funding, and the launch of the individualized funding program called Passport.

Tracy has been a dedicated volunteer to Community Living Mattawa and will be greatly missed on the Board of Directors.

Community Living Mattawa Strategic Plan Update

Community Living Mattawa’s Strategic Plan is due to be renewed in 2017. As a way to prepare for the launch of the agency’s updated Strategic Plan, consumers, family members, members, and employees will be asked what direction they feel the agency needs to be going in order to meet the Ministry’s mandate for inclusion for people with developmental disabilities in their communities. Questionnaires and information sharing sessions will be held throughout the fall to update stakeholders on the Ministry’s directives and to seek input on what services should look like for Community Living Mattawa over the next 3-5 years. Updates will be provided for when the information sessions will be held.

Consumer and Family Information Sessions

The process of sharing information about the Ministry’s transformation directives for the Developmental Services sector and how Community Living Mattawa is preparing to respond to that directive will begin in October with two information sessions for consumers and their family members. Employees of the agency are also welcome to attend. The sessions will be held on November 9th, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., at 250 10 Tenth Street. The sessions will provide an overview of the Ministry’s transformation initiative and directive for the Developmental Services sector and the changes that this directive will have on the Community Participation Supports program.

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

Employee News

New Employees

Community Living Mattawa welcomes two new employees to the team.

Tina-Marie Lebrun joined Community Living Mattawa as Support Worker 1 on June 21,

2016 and is working in a variety of program areas.

Jennifer Wall joined Community Living Mattawa as Support Worker 1 on June 21, 2016

and is working in a variety of program areas.

Please welcome Tina-Marie and Jennifer to Community Living Mattawa.

Student Placement Community Living Mattawa welcomes a new student to the team. Sue Bélanger began on September 15, 2016. Sue is a Developmental Services Worker student with Cambrian College and is working in the Community Participation Supports program. Please welcome Sue to CLM.

PICTURES

Community Living Mattawa October 2016

PICTURES (Cont’d)