Volume 12, Issue 9 July, 2014 K

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Helping People. Changing Lives. Serving Eastern Oklahoma Since 1968 K

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Helping Those Who Served

KI BOIS Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) has the opportunity to help many veterans and their families. Newly established in the Ardmore area, SSVF has proved to be a blessing for one city veteran and his family. Charles Bryant served in the U.S. Army from 2006 through 2011 and, like many veterans, worked to integrate himself into a new life outside of the service. But a medical condition placed him along with his wife Savannah and three children, in dire financial straits. With another child on the way Bryant turned to the veteran program and was able to receive much-needed help, which included a do-nated vehicle from Carter County Dodge. Bryant suffered a head injury while serving over-seas and, after a fainting spell, has been diagnosed with a cerebral metabolic block. “I have not been allowed to work anymore,” he said. “I started going to the VA Hospital in Oklahoma City and I told them I was about to lose my house because I couldn’t work. Bryant was told about the

(Continued on page 3)

Hope everyone enjoyed our

Country’s Birthday! July 4th

1776 - 2014

Carter County Dodge donated a van to Ardmore Veteran Charles Bry-ant through Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program . Left to right, Carter County Dodge General Manager Bo Wadell, Charles Bryant, Savannah Bryant, Tammy Randazzo and Stephanie Jefferson

From the Desk of the Executive Director / CEO

Page 2 KI BOIS News

KI BOIS News is published monthly by

KI BOIS Community Action Foundation, Inc.

200 Southeast “A” Street P.O. Box 727

Stigler, OK 74462 918-967-3325 800-299-4479

www.kibois.org

R. Carroll Huggins Executive Director / CEO

Tom Marlatt Associate Director / CFO

Larry Hall, Associate Director / COO

KI BOIS Community Action

Board of Directors Gene Bass, Board Chairperson

John Cook, 1st VP Kenneth Monroe, 2nd VP Jan Coplen, Sec/Treasurer

Cecil Williams, Parliamentarian Steve Carter, Member

Kay Box, Editor

918-967-3325, Ext. 131 kay.wood@kibois.org

July 2014

Calendar of Events KI BOIS Community

Action Board Meeting, Thursday, July 24th, 6:30 p.m. KI BOIS Ad-ministrative Building.

Effective leadership is the key to success of any agency. KI BOIS Community Action Foundation, Incorporated has been fortunate over the years to have good leadership at both the board of director level and staff level. This is no accident. Leadership is something that has to be continually improved. I encourage you to continue to develop your leadership skills and continue with your lifelong learning. The following are some facts on leadership that may be helpful to you:

Leadership is the art of influencing others to create positive change (transformation) in the community.

Leaders believe in……

* service to others

* hard work

* life-long learning

* their ability to succeed

Effective leaders……

* Lead from the future

* Communicate a clear vision & purpose

* Act with courage and integrity

* Empower followers

* Persevere with strong passion

* Engage conflict and controversy

* Hold themselves accountable

* Seek to understand before being understood

* Respect the dignity of others

* Keep commitments

Our KI BOIS Community Action leadership teams in each county work to improve training and inner agency communication for our mid-management staff. KI BOIS Community Action Associate Director/COO Larry Hall, CCAP works with our four KI BOIS Community Action County Office Managers to implement this effort. KI BOIS Project Directors also conduct staff training on their respective programs as needed. KI BOIS Community Action County Office Managers are: Haskell County, Linda Love, CCAP; Latimer County, Claudia Jeffrey; LeFlore County, Kenny Barnhart, CCAP; Pittsburg County, Rob Perryman; and Melissa Stub-blefield, Sequoyah County. Our goal is to improve customer service to our low-income Com-munity Action clients.

There is a big difference in being a boss and being an effective leader! Which are you?

Let’s work together to help people and change lives!

Carroll Huggins, CCAP

Executive Director / CEO

Carroll Huggins

Welcome Back Head Start staff ! Hope you have

A great

2014 –15 School Year!

Remember with these high temperatures….. check on the elderly!

Page 3 KI BOIS News

Helping Those….cont. from page 1

SSVF program and was able to make contact with Stephanie Jefferson, the case-worker in Ardmore, who was able to set them up with much-needed assistance to keep the family afloat in the face of a financial disaster. (Story and photo taken from The Daily Ardmorite, Michael Pineda, Writer.) Another veteran family located in Muskogee was able to make the move from being homeless to obtaining a home of their own through the assistance of SSVF

services. The Firestone family consists of an Iraq veteran his wife and their two very young daughters as well as two sons. Due to circum-stances the family found themselves suddenly with-out shelter and living in their car. Because of lim-ited income the veteran and his family were not able to provide the neces-sary funds to come up with all the needed deposits and startup expenses in obtain-ing permanent housing on their own. SSVF was able to provide emergency shel-ter and in less than two weeks SSVF was able to relocate the family into stable housing and provide deposits needed to acquire

utilities, rental deposits and first month’s rent. SSVF has since helped with providing beds, kitchen and cleaning supplies for the family and, through outreach and donations, the case manager working with the family was able to have a dining table and chairs donated as well as a mone-tary donation that purchased much needed living room furniture for the family who was starting over. To this point, the family has been very proactive in doing their part to ensure that services are a joint effort between the family as well as SSVF services. When Veteran Firestone was asked about the SSVF services and the assistance it provides, he stated that it was “amazing and fantastic and extremely helpful.” Firestone went on to say that “without its (SSVF) assistance he and his family would not have been able to accomplish the goal of obtaining housing.” SSVF continues to work with the family and through outlined goals and case manage-ment the family continues to receive assistance in resources as well as rental assis-tance while the family works to acquire some savings to help with future needs. If you know of a veteran or a veteran’s family who is struggling, contact

Tammy Randazzo, SSVF Program Director

918-681-7525

It’s a girl for……. Thomas and Elleshea Martin. Leslie Denise was born June 2 weighing 7lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/2 inch-es. This is the second granddaugh-ter for Head Start North Nutrition Coordinator Regina Martin.

The Firestone family: Leonard, Christina, Aalyah, Amaya, Jaydon and Trae.

William is a miracle baby! When my daughter, Julie, found out she was pregnant she and her husband were so excited. At her three month checkup the doctor found something wrong. His advice to Julie and her husband was an abortion. She refused! Julie went to the doctor every week and saw his pretty little face. Soon William was diagnosed with Arthgriposis, which causes arms, legs and hands and joints to be stiff. This wasn’t all though, he also had a huge mass on his kid-neys.

As time progressed so did William. At five months a miracle had happened and the mass was no longer there.

William came into our lives on February 1st, 2014 two months before his due date. He weighed four pounds and spent two months in the NICU unit.

Miracles are still happening. With the help of KI BOIS Community Action Executive Di-rector Carroll Huggins, we were able to get William into Shriners Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia, PA.

Thank you Mr. Huggins!

Janee Pottridge KI BOIS Community Care Case Manager

Our Miracle Baby

KI BOIS News Page 4

Head Start North ….lots of fun and training! Wednesday, May 28th Cherokee Landing

KI BOIS NEWS Page 5

Head Start South….lots of fun and training! Thursday, May 29th - Robbers Cave State Park

Page 6 KI BOI News

San Bois CASA, Inc. Serving Latimer, LeFlore

and Haskell Counties 918-647-3267

KI BOIS Cmmunity Action receptionist Tiffany Tolbert states, “I think we had an armadillo in our flower beds last night!” Little did she know the armadillo was Public Relations Director Kay Box.

Set Your thermostat as high as com-fortably possible in the summer. The smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill.

Avoid placing lamps or TV sets near your air-conditioning thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.

Consider using an interior fan in conjunc-tion with your air condition-er to spread the cooled air more effectively through your home without greatly increasing your power use.

Plant trees or shrubs to shade air con-ditioning units but not to block the air flow. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun.

Avoid setting your thermostat as a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. It will not cool your home any faster and could result in excessive cooling and, therefore, unnecessary expense.

Don’t Forget These Two Great Events…

Cooling Tips

Page 7 KI BOIS News

KI BOIS OAKS REHABILITATIVE SERVICES CENTER JOB TITLE: SUBSTANCE ABUSE TECH - FT (McAlester)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Assist Clinical Staff by providing logistical and suppor t services to residential clients. HS Diplo-ma/GED.

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77. Please be careful!' 'Heck,' said Herman, 'It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them!' Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards. One day, they were playing cards when one looked at the other and said, 'Now don't get mad at me ... I know we've been friends for a long time, but I just can't think of your name! I've thought and thought, but I can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is.." Her friend glared at her for at least three minutes and she just stared and glared at her. Finally she said, 'How soon do you need to know?'

A Few Laughs from Housing Director John Jones……………...

KI BOIS COMMUNITY CARE PROGRAM  JOB TITLE: ADVANTAGE CASE MANAGER - FT (2) (Choctaw County and Service Area)

Will provide Case Management within the Advantage Program.

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Requires B.S. in Social Work or related field with two years exper ience in human services. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted. Must be willing/available to complete other program train-ing as required.

KI BOIS DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES PROGRAM JOB TITLE: HABILITATION TRAINING SPECIALIST - PT/FT (Stigler Group Home, Poteau, McAlester, Ada, Ardmore, Pauls Valley and Sulphur)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Will serve as direct suppor t staff for consumers. Ability to handle sensitive issues while protect-ing others’ welfare. Able to exercise patience, understanding, creativity and flexibility. HS Diploma/GED, valid DL and auto insurance. Must complete Foundation, CPR and First Aid Training (and any other training as required/requested.) Must be able to lift a minimum of 50 lbs.

Posted July 10, 2014

Job Postings continued on page 8

These positions are open to KI BOIS Community Action Foundation Staff as well as to the public. (ALL POSITIONS SUBJECT TO CONTINUED PROJECT FUNDING.) Deadline for all openings: Until Filled. Current employees – please submit a letter of interest to Human Resources. Applications may be picked up at any KI BOIS Community Action Foundation, Inc. office or printed from the website, www.kibois.org. Applications should be returned to:

KI BOIS Community Action Foundation, Inc. P. O. Box 727, Stigler, OK 74462 Attention: Human Resources

Phone: 800.299.4479 Fax: 918.967.9100 KI BOIS COMMUNITY ACTION FOUNDATION, INC. IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

KI BOIS News Page 8

KI BOIS Community Action Notice of Job Posting www.kibois.org - July 10th’, 2014

KI BOIS AREA TRANSIT PROGRAM JOB TITLE: CLERK (Stigler)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Excellent office and data entry skills, good wr itten and verbal communication skills, must maintain good public relations with all participants, the community and have a high sense of integrity. Should be flexible and able to multi-task. Comprehension of policies, procedures and regulations. HS Diploma/GED.

JOB TITLE: TRANSIT DRIVERS (Contact local Transit Office to verify opening)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Maintain a valid dr iver ’s license. Good dr iving record. Must be physically able to assist passen-gers and their belongings while entering and exiting the vehicles. Must be able to lift a minimum of 50 lbs and provide wheel chair assistance. Should have knowledge of area resources and live within convenient distance of city where job opening is available.

KI BOIS HEAD START PROGRAMS SOUTH and NORTH  JOB TITLE: ASSISTANT FAMILY SERVICE WORKER - FT (Poteau and Jefferson)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Must have HS Diploma/GED and exper ience working with children.

JOB TITLE: ASSISTANT TEACHER - FT (Hartshorne, Kiowa, Panama, Poteau, Red Oak)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Must have CDA Credential or AA, or must complete within 2 years.

JOB TITLE: CERTIFIED TEACHER - FT (Roland and Keys)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: BA degree and cer tified in Ear ly Childhood Education.

JOB TITLE: DISABILITIES/MENTAL HEALTH COORDINATOR - FT (Head Start North - Tahlequah)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Bachelor 's Degree in Ear ly Childhood, Special Needs, Social Services, Management Education or related field or sixty (60) college hours; or Associate Degree in related field and three (3) years experience in Head Start or related Child Development experience; or combination of education and experience substituting two (2) years of qualifying experience for each year of the required education.

JOB TITLE: TEACHER'S AIDES AND SUBS - PT (Inquire at your local Head Start Center)

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Must have HS Diploma/GED and enjoy working with children.