Taking Flight Newsletter June 2019

June 2019

t

h lig

F g in

k

Birthdays Tianajo Kane (11th Avenue) Josh (In-Home) Kari Jerikovsky (Harmony) Kyle (In-Home) Nikita (In-Home) Edward (Dayton) Jeffrey Hager (Plato) Debra Hofbauer (Skycroft) Jonathan Miller (In-Home) Odunola Adele (1250 Hoyt) Venus Kamara-Sirleaf (Aurora) Jean-Claude Nanga (Demont) Catherine (Casey) (11th Avenue) Joe (In-Home) Stanley Asbell (Maintenance) Thomas Herbst (Maintenance) Mary Ann (Thomas) Wehso Nyella (29th Avenue) Charles (29th Avenue) Patricia (Wentworth) Diamond Dixon (In-Home) Luda (In-Home) Margaret Reynolds (Skillman) Teresa (16th Avenue)

1 2 3 3 3 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 10 10 10 12 12 13 15

Ta

Brian Dolenc (In-Home) Carol Flaherty (Plato) Reyvana Howard (11th Avenue) Michael (1489 Hoyt) Victoria Nash (Woodbridge/17th Street) Lurall Buckingham-Austin (48th Circle) Phyllis Lee (Sheridan) Bernard Fonkwa (Harmony) Mary Hall (In-Home) Mangwi Loknjinu (Troseth) Patricia Masters (In-Home) Anthony (Tony) (Groveland) Jacqueline Spande (In-Home) Vilma (In-Home) Kevin (Colfax) Rachel Glebus (In-Home) Lori Mason (Oakland) Tammy Lefrooth (Demont) Victor Littlejohn (In-Home) Steve Chinatu (Portland Avenue) Adeoye Roberts (Woodbridge/17th Street) Bolanie Fadahunsi (Skillman) Micheal Brannan (Plato)

16 16 16 17 17 19 19 20 20 20 21 22 23 24 25 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 29

Anniversaries Niconia Horace (Harmony) 1 yr, Emilie Huber Rodriguez (Woodbridge/17th Street) 1 yr, Tammy Lefrooth (Demont) 1 yr, Lori Reineke (Fairview) 1 yr, Andrew Schultz (Harmony) 1 yr, Annette Springfield (In-Home) 3 yrs, Abigail Akyigyina (1250 Hoyt) 6 yrs, Joel Olaniyi (Thomas Avenue) 6 yrs, Maycee Dougba (Portland Avenue) 7 yrs, Susan Teibowei (Portland Avenue) 7 yrs, Margaret Kurtz (Aurora) 9 yrs, Bilikisu Lawal (Skillman) 9 yrs, Jacqueline Schultz (Portland Our House) 9 yrs, Tammy Caldron (Wentworth) 10 yrs, Taoreed Majekodunmi (29th Avenue) 10 yrs, Edzier Vincent (16th Avenue) 12 yrs, Titilola Oni (Woodbridge/17th Street) 13 yrs, Mary Austin (1489 Hoyt) 20 yrs, Frank Merril (Plato) 32 yrs, Maureen Merrill (Plato) 45 yrs! Totalling 203 years! Congratulations everyone!

Unique Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis In May Sherilyn (In-Home) toured the Walker Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis. She enjoyed walking around the garden looking at all of the beautiful art. Here she poses between the blue chicken and the Minneapolis famous cherry on a spoon. Sherry said she had always wanted to visit the sculpture garden, so she and her staff took and an hour out of their day to soak up some rays and get a little exercise in a place of unusual beauty. ~Karen Nelson~

Easter Celebration Bill and Patrick (In-Home) enjoyed Easter brunch together. Both of these gentlemen receive services through Wingspan’s In-Home program, they both live alone, and became friends about 7 years ago. Now they spend almost every Easter having brunch together. It makes their celebration of the holiday happier for both of them to be able to spend time with each other and their staff. Bill said not having to cook for himself on Easter is a treat!

Patrick enjoys not having to do dishes. Staff said, “I was blessed to be in their happy company.” ~Karen Nelson~

Job Recruitment Wingspan, like other service providers, has been hit hard by the shortage of workers available in this economy.

Two hopeful new initiatives may improve our recruiting efforts, though.

Caribou Coffee stores in the metro have agreed to let us post DSP job openings on their bulletin boards. Caribou allows this only to non-profits. Three Supported Employment clients, Julie, Angie and Sherilyn—with their job coach, will begin to post these flyers at local Caribous as part of their paid jobs once or twice a week.

We will be able to pinpoint the houses that have the most needs, and direct them to the local Caribou Coffee shops in their neighborhoods. They will have flyers with Wingspan contact info, and a letter for the manager introducing themselves.

As this project gets off the ground, we hope to see more applicants for the sites most needed. Carol Hanson (In-Home) and Chris Thorson (Human Resources) also spent a day at a job fair at the Rondo Library in May. They received six inquiries and a couple of applications. More job fairs are planned for the future. We love our staff. We hope this helps us make their jobs a bit easier. ~Maureen Merrill~ NON PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 991 TWIN CITIES MN

30 East Plato Blvd.

St. Paul, MN 55107 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Taking Flight

is published monthly by Wingspan Life Resources Executive Director Therese Davis Editor Pam Carlson The mission of Wingspan Life Resources is to help people who are challenged by age, ability or health to realize their own unique gifts, talents and dreams. We fulfill this mission by providing individualized support services that promote personal choice, independence, dignity and fellowship with the community.

Please email us your changes to mailing address or email address: Contact mbrannan@wingspanlife.org

Please Welcome Camille moved into our Sheridan home in May. She likes to go to Burger King and McDonald’s. Camille loves steak and hamburgers, and her favorite movies are ones with animals and scary ones. Her favorite color is red and her favorite drink is Coke. She also has a cat she named Maggie. Welcome, Camille! ~Tia Mitchell~

Fun at the Zoo! Jennifer Blomberg takes Scott to visit the Como Conservatory and Zoo often so he can see the animals, the plants and of course ride the carousel! ~Karen Nelson~

Empowering Abilities. Nurturing Spirits. Caring For Life.