Unlimited Voices, Vol. 1

UNLIMITED VOICES Reflections and Stories from the Members of Envision Unlimited

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2021 Bright Futures Celebration

ENVISION NEWSLETTER GETS A MAKEOVER Hello! We are the authors of Unlimited Voices, which used to be called Envision Newsletter. We come up with stories, like event and activity coverage, recipes, current news events, and media

A Glance at Westtown

reviews. Writing makes us feel good. It's a fun hobby and we like working on our writing skills. We like sharing our articles with

Lewandowski Journalism Club

other people.

We have a new layout and different colors. We always have

Charles' TV Show Review

Memorial Tribute

new stories. We feel wonderful about the new name, because it means that people can hear our voices.

Please enjoy our new and improved newsletter,

Unlimited Voices.

U N L I M I T E D

V O I C E S

BRIGHT FUTURES CELEBRATION

by Charles A. It was fun! We set up the tables for the food and sanitized them, the big and little tables. They called us one at a time to get the food. I did strawberries for the cups. I poked them with a toothpick. It was easy. I wore gloves too. I did two boxes of strawberries, but we didn't do the other box. Me and Susan stood up there by the sign. She said what her job was at Westtown, then I said I did the strawberries. Then we did the toast with champagne. We had macaroni, chicken, salad, salad dressing, and cake. We watched the video on the TV about all the clients, about Westtown. That lady Tanja Babich was talking about us and all the staff and all the stuff that we do. Hannah won the sweepstake contest! I think she was nervous when she won. Then we had to clean up and put the chairs back. I like the pictures we took of all of us where the sign was. I wore a suit, everyone wore suits, and some girls wore dresses. Jamie and Rosa wore dresses. I had a great time.

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"It was really great!

I hope we have another party again."

-Lucy P.

U N L I M I T E D

V O I C E S

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FUTURE DAY

by Jamie P. On Friday March 5, 2021, we had an event: The Bright Futures Celebration for the gala. We had a great time and we had a good dinner, like a portion of chicken with salad and dessert and drink. Jimmy was holding the tablet to show everyone on the news about what we do at Envision. A lady on Zoom said they remembered I wore the same gray dress at the gala when I gave the speech. We had to watch what Envision did in the past. It was a really good day. I'm really happy about myself. I will lead a meeting about it.

Westtown/ Kruger Center Watch Party

by Lucy P. It was a good time. I wore my beautiful black and white dress. I know a lot of people in

"I love wearing my dress because I haven't dressed up in a long time since before Covid."

-Jamie P.

the video. The food was delicious. The entertainment was good. The champagne was good. I went home and went to sleep.

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CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

by Clonita, Charles, Christina, and Vahid We had a good time! The train was something good to look at. It was the first el train from the 18- or 1900s. Clonita says, "That was very good to see.

I was having a ball. I was reading aloud. Some of the words were kinda hard. I understand what they was talking about." Charles read aloud too.

They had an exhibit of things made in Chicago. We saw a barbecue grill behind glass because Weber is made here. We saw the Water Tower. We saw games like Mousetrap. We saw a wagon inside where the barbecue grill was at because Radio Flyer is made in Chicago. We saw the bikes and everything. At the Martin Luther King Jr. exhibit you could hear his voice.

They had the Bulls, the Bears, the Blackhawks, the Cubs, and the baseball jerseys from the World Series. We saw the Special Olympics. Where we went to go eat, they had the torch up there from the Special Olympics. It was real pretty the way they had it up there. We wish we could go back and visit again.

Redesigning the Zoom Email with Jimmy Kasandra, Charles, and John worked on the computer. Jimmy helped us to pick out the colors, the words, and the background.

Kasandra says, "I like to pick the colors, like blue, pink, and orange. Thank you Jimmy for helping us out and showing us how to do the computer! I would say it looks better."

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LEWANDOWSKI JOURNALISM CLUB The members of Lewandowski Center collaborate with local journalist Ruth Lopez to collectively write articles about current events.

The Inauguration

THE INAUGURATION | JANUARY 19, 2021 This weekend is the presidential inauguration. This one will be different. Because of the pandemic, and the violence at the Capitol on January 6 by President Trump supporters, the

The COVID Vaccine

public will not attend.

The new president will be Joe Biden and the vice president will be Kamala Harris. In place of the people who could not attend, there were 191,500 flags on the National Mall. The inauguration will be on television at 11am (CST).

The Snowstorm

THE COVID VACCINE | JANUARY 26, 2021 While we wait for the Covid vaccine, we will keep our masks on and stay healthy. In March, it will

Texas Weather Disaster

be a year since we have been socially distancing.

We miss hugging our family and friends. We miss high-fiving! We miss going out with friends. So, we are looking forward to everyone getting the vaccine so we can understand how it works. The vaccine has the medicine in it. The vaccine trains the immune system to fight off disease.

The first vaccine shipment arrived in Illinois on December 14. The next day, the vaccination of

Chicago Lakefront Reopens

health care workers began. Older people with health issues like diabetes and asthma will also get the vaccine first.

Essential workers are also among the first to get the vaccine. Essential workers include grocery store workers, teachers, police, firefighters, and bus drivers. Everyone can’t get the vaccine right away so we have to be patient.

LEWANDOWSKI JOURNALISM CLUB Continued...

THE SNOWSTORM | FEBRUARY 3, 2021 Chicago had its first big snowstorm of the year on Saturday, January 30. We got 11 inches. That’s a lot of snow. Now, less that a week later, we could have up to another 5 inches. “It’s like a carbon copy of 2011,” said Leland Husth, a Chicago resident.

Yesterday was Ground Hog Day. Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow. We are not surprised. On Sunday, it is projected that the temperature will get down to 7 degrees. If it gets that cold, we will remember to turn on the water a little bit so that the pipes don’t freeze.

The city has about 280 snow trucks. It also has 200 garbage trucks that it can equip with snow plows.

We have to be careful when walking in the snow so that we don’t slip on the ice. We have to be careful on stairs. But we have to look up as well as down because falling ice can be dangerous.

TEXAS WEATHER DISASTER | FEBRUARY 25, 2021 The people of Texas have experienced extreme weather conditions. Cold and snow have left people without heat and water. Vaccination sites have been turned into water distribution centers with very long lines of cars. Because of freezing weather conditions, many water pipes in homes froze and broke, leaving residents without running water and a big mess to clean up.

President Biden activated an emergency relief plan.

It’s never a good time for a storm like this, but during a pandemic it is especially bad. For instance, hospitals had been left without running water and health care workers could not wash their hands.

While the storm is over, it will take Texans months to recover.

CHICAGO LAKEFRONT REOPENS | MARCH 2, 2021 For the first time in almost a year, the Chicago lakefront has reopened. On March 22, 2020, Mayor Lori Lightfoot closed Chicago’s 18.5 mile-long front yard to the public. The lakefront and the bike and walking paths closed because people were not social distancing. Since the Covid rate has dropped in the city to its lowest point since the start of the pandemic, the Mayor reopened the lakefront. We are very happy that we can walk along the lake again. Now that the snow is finally melting, we are looking forward to having picnics in the park.

KNIGHT RIDER I like the characters. David Hasselhoff is Michael Knight. He's a good actor. I like the different clothes he wears. I like his leather jackets. He looks nice when he wears them. He did Baywatch. He played Mitch on that one. He's like a detective or something, solving murder cases, like who did what. Devon Miles is Michael's boss. He's a great boss. He has a big ol' truck with a symbol on the back, like a horse. I like Bonnie. She's nice, she wears different dresses, and she's a good person. She fixes KITT, the car. William Daniels in the voice of KITT. It's a good voice. I like when the car jumps. I like when he designs the car. The truck is the hiding place for KITT. KITT goes over to that ramp and goes inside of it. I like the truck they have on there. It's nice. They have guards around that car. You can't touch it. I've seen the car once at Universal Studios. They have security guards.

They'll really get mad. Stevie is a singer and she wears nice dresses. She reads her own script. I like the singing. She sings good.

I like the Pilot, "Knight of the Phoenix." Michael is a cop. There's a lady that tries to kill him. Wilton Knight finds Michael in the desert. They do surgery on Michael's face. Wilton dies.

The movie is Knight Rider 2000. Devon's in there too. KITT gets smashed. It's a good movie. I recommend everybody see it if you like crime shows.

CHARLES' ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW TRANFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986) I like the opening theme to it especially when their names go up. They’re walking and then they see Unicron who is played by Orson Wells. Then he destroys the city, then the credits go up. Megatron wanted a “ball” that you have to pull, then it blows up. Optimus Prime dies then he goes after the Matrix, which is a leader ship. Then they fought off the attack. My favorite one is when they go to the other planet and they have a lot of faces that I cannot remember the name of.

Then they go to the junk yard and they drive around, then attack the Autobots.

Ultra Madness tries to pull the Matrix to open it, but he couldn’t. He gets killed too. This is my favorite movie. I like the cars. My favorite is Hot Rod and Ronomus Prime. Galvatron takes the Matrix, then Hot Rod goes after him to take it away from him. Then he pulls it, and then the blue stuff comes out. That is my favorite part. Galvatron thought he was the leader of the Deceptacons, but he wasn’t.

He destroys Starscream. I like the ending part when they drive out of there, all of them. Then the credits come up. I rate this movie 5 out of 5 stars. Then they say “All for one!” and join hands. Unicron’s head comes up then you see the credits. I like the music on it. “The Touch” song is my favorite.

IN MEMORIAM Matthew M. remembers his mother, who recently passed in Februray.

THE LIFE OF MY MOM My mom's name is Marian McCurry. She was raised in Georgia and came to Chicago to live. She raised 3 children and had 2 grandchildren. She sung in the choir. She was a great cook. She did not take no crap from nobody. I'm going to really really miss her. When her birthday comes on August 13th 1952, I'll be hurt that she's gone.

OUR HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES GO OUT TO MATTHEW AND HIS FAMILY DURING THIS TIME OF LOSS.