CHAILITES Fall 2021

FALL 2021

Support CHAI during North Texas Giving Day 2021 IN THIS ISSUE

PLEASE SUPPORT CHAI NORTH TEXAS GIVING DAY

STAFF CHAILITE

RESIDENT CHAILITE

This year, on Thursday, September 23, 2021, CHAI is participating in Communities Foundation of Texas’ NTX Giving Day , a one-day online giving extravaganza for nonprofit organizations throughout the area. EARLY GIVING opened September 1, so you do not need to wait until the 23rd to give!

Last year, we were part of the success as Communities Foundation of Texas brought together over 3,200 local nonprofits like us to raise $58.8 million for our region.

VOLUNTEER CHAILITE

WE'RE STAYING BUSY

HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH!

STAFF CHAILITE

Erica Williams Winning Employee of the Year, celebrating with Paul CHAI Annual Meeting 2015

Erica Williams and Resident Sarah CHAI Spring Fling 2015

SPRING 2021

Erica Williams , HCS Program Manager, has a depth of experience at CHAI that makes her the ideal person to oversee the direct care staff and supervision of the Levy 1 and 2, Yale, Miller 1 and 2, Toub and Bauer homes. In this position she creates staff schedules, leads annual planning meetings and is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of clients. Erica has been a member of the CHAI team since starting as a part-time direct care staff member for Levy House in 2012. She transitioned to a full-time position working at Todd House before joining our Wolens Program Services staff as a Life Skills trainer in 2015. It was during her time in this position that she was awarded the honor of Employee of the Year for 2015. The following year CHAI created the Quality Assurance Manager position and Erica was the first person to have that job. She made sure all programs and services were in compliance with all regulations and was responsible for all staff training. She held this position until leaving CHAI in 2018, but she returned in 2020 as a caregiver and Residential Supervisor during the height of the Covid-19 quarantine. She is now doing incredible things in the key position of HCS Program Manager.

To Erica, family means everything. She likes to spend time with her family doing activities like bowling, family field days, family trips and going to brunch. The love she has for her family is shown through the amazing work she does for CHAI. When asked: “What is your favorite part about working for CHAI?” Erica answered: “Spending time with the consumers (residents), seeing their smiling faces and hearing their jokes when you visit with them.” Erica has very fond memories of dancing with the Levy ladies at all of our parties over the years and treasures those as some of her favorite CHAI memories. Her hope for CHAI is to continue to hire exceptional staff members to care for our residents and clients for many years to come.

RESIDENT CHAILITE

SPRING 2021

Raisa might be the newest resident at Levy 1, but she is NOT at all new to CHAI. As a young woman, she was one of the first residents of CHAI’s first group home, Miller House when it opened in the early 1980’s.

She later moved to Levy House and was there for a number of years before moving out to live more independently with her boyfriend, Gary, for more than 10 years. She continued to receive services from CHAI with regular visits from Wolens Program Services Life Skills trainers who assisted with medication management, budgeting, grocery shopping and other general support. Raisa and Gary regularly attended Club CHAI parties where she loved to dance and attend other activities where she could be with her friends.

This year due to advancing age and some health related issues, Raisa made the decision to move to Levy 1 to live in the retirement-like setting with her peers.

Although Raisa misses her cats, she is thriving and having a great time attending CHAI’s Day-Hab and being with her friends.

VOLUNTEER CHAILITE

SPRING 2021

Katy Crowe spent her free Fridays in July making challah with Day-Hab. She provided the dough, taught the residents how to knead and braid and rewarded them with their own challahs to take home for dinner.

The house smelled delicious and the Day-Hab participants left with a loaf and a new skill. What a great time these Fridays were. Thank you to Katy for "rising" to the occasion!! We hope to see you very soon.

Do you have a special skill or talent that you would like to share with the CHAI Residents? Contact Kathy Schneider at kchneider@chaidallas.org to become a volunteer!

WE'RE STAYING BUSY

SPRING 2021

Our CHAI residents have been staying busy enjoying outdoor outings and limited small group in-person visits. Now that the J’s summer day camp program has ended, they are staying active and happy in the gym and swimming pool during day-time hours when there are very few others in attendance.

The Sonny Joseph Central Office of CHAI will be closed September 7 for Rosh Hashanah and September 16 for Yom Kippur

THE SONNY JOSEPH CENTRAL OFFICE OF CHAI 11615 FOREST CENTRAL, SUITE 100 DALLAS, TX 75243 214.373.8600

WWW.CHAIDALLAS.ORG