GCS Newsletter THE LEAFLET Issue MAR/APR 2023

Garden Center Services

The View From My Chair

half decades, individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities continue their struggle to live their lives with the same access to those experiences and prospects that we all expect.

Sunny, Chris & Gerry

It’s been thirty-six years since President Reagan recognized March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month to increase “public awareness of the needs and the potential of Americans with developmental disabilities” and to provide the “encouragement and opportunities they need to lead productive lives and to achieve their full potential.” Though there have been strides made over the last three and a

I am very pleased with our agency’s mission statement because I believe it identifies those desires that we all share in hoping that our time on this planet will make a difference; we all want to have connections, we want to believe that we have made contributions, and we need our lives to have meaning! This is the

life we want for each of our participants and for every one of our employees as well. I guess the dream would be that at some point in the future we won’t need a special month dedicated to disability awareness.

To make this happen however, takes a certain amount of resources, and until just the last few years the state of Illinois lagged far behind in authorizing the revenue necessary to implement creative, flexible, quality supports for the persons we serve. Even with the increases of the past few years we are still playing catch up. In today’s economy with its’ workforce crisis that many health service providers are experiencing, it’s imperative that we are able to offer our staff a decent living wage! Why is it that our state still

One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.

-John F. Kennedy

A MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GARDEN CENTER FAMILY

MARCH IS DEVELOPMENTAL

DISABILITY AWARENESS MONTH!

In 1987, President Reagan proclaimed March as Developmental Disability Awareness month. Since then, each year during the month of March, Garden Center and other organizations that support people with intellectual disabilities across the country, work to raise awareness about the ways people with and without disabilities work together to create strong communities.

This March, help us spread the word by sharing our Awareness Month social media posts and the posts we share from our partners with your social media network using the hashtag #DDawareness2023.

FOLLOW US TO OUR NEW FACEBOOK PAGES!

A few months ago we shared with you that our Facebook pages had been compromised. Although we are still able to post to those pages, we lost the full administrative access we need to effectively manage both the Garden Center and Second Chance Thrift Shoppe Facebook accounts. As we have been unable to resolve this issue with Facebook, we have created new pages for Second Chance and Garden Center. Starting mid to late March we will no longer post to our original Facebook pages.

Please join us in the move to our new Facebook homes by liking and following both of the new pages.

Hope to see you around our new spaces soon!

Garden

Second Chance Thrift Shoppe page link: www.facebook.com/gcsSecondChanceThrift

TENDING OUR GARDEN

If you have supported Garden Center by participating in the AmazonSmile program, you likely received an email recently explaining that Amazon is retiring the Smile donation program. Although we are sad to see AmazonSmile go, there is still a way you can support Garden Center Services when you shop.

For every new user who joins now through Mar. 31st and makes a purchase, GCS will get an extra $5 donation!

iGive works with over 2300 of the most popular stores you shop online. Just go to igive.com and register. Each time you shop online at stores like Walmart, Kohls, Crate & Barrel, PetCo., Best Buy, etc., those stores will donate a percentage of your purchase to GCS at no cost to you! Shopping iGive even SAVES YOU MONEY! Watch iGive for coupons from all your favorite stores.

Visit www.iGive.com/GardenCenter to get started.

Garden Center’s commitment to advancing lives of connection, contribution, and meaning for those we serve is more fully realized because of the support of our many dedicated volunteers. In honor of them, and in recognition that April is National Volunteer Month, we’d like to introduce you to two of the people who help Garden Center fulfill our commitment to excellent services for the people we serve every day.

SECOND CHANCE THRIFT SHOPPE VOLUNTEER - DOROTHY BALLIS

Dorothy, whose daughter Stacey, attends Garden Center programs, joined the team at Second Chance as soon as it opened this past June. She loved to visit the store when it was in Lemont, but said this location has made it possible for her to volunteer and she couldn’t be happier. Dorothy’s typical time at the thrift includes going through donations as they come in, and sorting clothes by size and season to get them ready to put out on the floor. Dorothy said she loves everything she does at the Thrift, but especially loves all the great friends she has made. When asked what advice she would give to someone who was thinking about joining the volunteer team, Dorothy said, “Definitely do it! If you’ve got the time and want to have fun, it’s a great way to meet people. It gets me out of the house. There is always work to get done at home, this is a fun diversion.”

COMMUNITY DAY SERVICES VOLUNTEER - SISTER MARIA ZEIMEN

Sister Maria helped establish L’Arche Chicago, part of an international organization that supports individuals with disabilities, in 2000. She has a deep love for this community and has volunteered with Garden Center for more than ten years (and has served on the Garden Center Board of Directors since 2020). Sister Maria prefers to spend time with the people she serves one-on-one, so she can completely focus on each individual and their unique interests. She enjoys weekly sing-a-longs with Robbie, works on reading with Nancy, collects stickers with Veronica, and spends time just chatting with Krista and Jeremiah. Her calm, joyful spirit is a welcome addition and a comfort to all who spend time with her. When asked what she would tell someone thinking about volunteering in the Community Day Services Program, Sister Maria said, “I would tell them after they do it a while, they’ll just look forward to that day; to be with people who are so engaged in their interests that they make you interested in those things too.”

Join Sister Maria and Dorothy to make a difference not only in the lives of the people we support, but in your own too! For more information, contact Michele Hula, Director of Recruitment and Retention by phone at 773-941-4151 Ext. 212 or by email at mhula@GardenCenterServices.org.

calendar...your

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for the 2nd Annual Sunny Smash Co-Ed Softball Tournament. Get your team roster together now to get in on the tournament or just mark your calendar to enjoy some sunshine and root on the players.

NEW THIS YEAR! Teams will choose between two brackets:

• Competitive Bracket: for teams who play in a league and will compete for a cash prize

• Just for Fun Bracket: for teams who do not play competitively in a league and just want to play for fun. (There is no cash prize for the winner of this bracket)

EVENT DETAILS

2nd Annual Sunny Smash

June 3 First game starts at 8am St. Christina Fields

11149 S. Central Park Chicago www.GardenCenterServices.org

Dorothy Ballis

Sr. Maria Zeimen with Nancy

Growing dignity and independence

APR ALL MONTH ALL LINENS are 50% OFF!

General Store Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 4pm

Donation Hours: Thursdays & Saturdays 10am to 2pm

We need you! Any time you can help is appreciated. If you can sign up for one fourhour shift a week, that would be terrific! Visit our website and follow the THRIFT link for more information OR reach out to Gerry directly at 708-560-4400.

Internship Dedication in honor of Andy Torres

On March 18th, Still Point Theatre Collective honored our dear friend, Andy Torres, with a dedication event naming an internship in his honor.

From the event announcement: “Andy Torres was a spectacular actor. For over 20 years, beginning in 1991, he was part of Still Point’s Imagination Workshop at Esperanza Community Services. He loved directing, and would often co-lead Still Point workshops. We will never forget his portrayal of the Phantom- a performance piece that he fully imbued with his heart and soul.”

What a wonderful tribute to an amazing person.

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has too many developmental centers that they operate where the annual cost of serving an individual approaches $400,000! To serve that same individual in one of our settings we would be paid approximately 80 to 90,000 dollars. So when you receive notice from us asking that you contact your legislators, please do so. It’s really true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I would like to share some incredibly good news with you. Just this last Friday the Illinois Housing Development Authority awarded Garden Center Services the funding necessary to move forward with our plans to develop a much needed 16 unit Permanent Supportive Housing apartment building that will provide adults with disabilities the opportunity to lease their own home. “Garden Apartments” will not be like our other group living alternatives as it is targeted for those individuals that can live independently with just minimal assistance. I am very proud that our agency’s application was approved for funding as this is a statement about Garden Center’s financial stability and the constancy of our adherence to all the state’s rules and regulations. I am very grateful to our Board of Directors for their support of this initiative and to all the staff that assisted with the application process. Doing everything we can to assist all persons with disabilities is the true spirit of Garden Center Services!

In closing, I want to wish each of you a joyful Easter and sun kissed Spring! Peace,