End of Summer and onto new exciting things...

September 5th, 2017

It's been and exciting and busy summer here at the center! We have just finished up our summer outings and trips. We had a wonderful summer with some great students. We were lucky enough to have Jazmin and Lacey with us again this summer. The clients and staff will miss those girls and all the energy and ideas they brought to us.
Peggy and Carrie took Britni, Rosie and Marilena to PEI for a 2 night stay a couple of weeks ago. They all had a great time and each of them got to try some new things. The most exciting part for Brini was meeting Chef Michael Smith from Chop Canada. We all got a signed cook book and got to be Michael's guests for Oyster hour.

 We did many things on our vacation from roller coasters, swimming, eating lots of seafood, shopping and just exploring the beautiful island.

Here we are enjoying the Oyster hour with Chef Michael. It was a dream come true for Brini as you can see from her face.

 The girls in Chef Michaels sunflower garden. The property was absolutely beautiful and everyone treated us like royalty.

We of course couldn't leave the island without having cows ice cream and a pic of the incredible bridge.

We ended our summer with our annual, New River Beach trip. This year we wanted to honor our friend Corey, as this was his favorite trip every year. So we all tie dyed shirts in his memory along with his dad Basil. We will have some pics of those shirts in our next entry. I think Corey would have loved seeing us all doing something together that he enjoyed so much.

So now that summer is winding down and all the kids are back to school, its time for us to get back in full force.

We are very excited to announce that we are an Employment first agency, which means that for all of the individuals that want to find employment; we will be training and finding them employment within our great community.

So to prepare for all of this we have even done some construction at the center to make it more accommodating for training. Stop by when you get a chance to say, "Hi" and check it out!

We will be holding an information meeting at the St. Mark's Church, September the 13th at 6pm, to answer any questions anyone may have about the project. Everyone is welcome to attend.

It is sometimes scary when we are faced with change but together we can make this a great learning opportunity for staff and clients alike. We are a great group and together I know we are going to rock this project.  

Well that is all for now! We all wish you a easy transition into those hectic fall routines. 

Yesterday, July 6th we enjoyed an afternoon at Phees farm. We started off by seeing the beautiful farm cat. Loretta was particularly thrilled as she loves cat. She gave it lots of cuddles and kisses.

We then moved on to see the goats. We even met a goat named Rosie. Early that day we cut up apples as a class to feed to the goats. We enjoyed feeding the goats pieces of apples. It tickled and some were a bit nervous but everyone got the hang of it in the end.

We then got a really special treat and got to meet and pet a three month old goat named Miss Linda. She was absolutely precious. Everyone loved her. And of course a group picture was needed.

After we spent time with the goats we walked down the hill to the field to see the donkeys. As soon as we got there one of the donkeys greeted us with a large heeeee hoooooonnnn. It was so startling and so funny. There were two donkeys and they were named Snickers and Oh Henry. We had some apples left to feed the donkeys. It was a little more difficult to feed the donkeys as everyone seemed a bit more timid. We watched the donkeys roll in the dirt and roam around. We learned lots of facts about the donkeys from Phee. 

After spending time with the donkeys we relaxed on chairs and benches as some visited Phees soap shop. Phee makes and sells goats milk soap. She even gave everyone a little piece to take home.

We had a fantastic afternoon at Phees farm. We learned so much. We hope to return again soon! Thank you Phee!

Things we have been up to....

We have been really busy here at the center these past few weeks. A group of us went to the Irving Nature Park in Saint John for a day trip. We explored some of the trails and had a picnic lunch. It was really great to see everyone enjoying nature and having a great time together. We ended the day with exploration of the two mazes they have on the outskirts of the park. There were lots of laughs and some of us even got a little lost...lol.

We have also had a successful fundraising yard sale here at the center. A big thank you to everyone that supported us by either donating or buying. We couldn't have been successful without you.



Some of the yummy food donated by family members and volunteers:

                            Marilena's Mum Maricella's yummy donations. These didn't last long!

Marilena and Nathan working the food table:

We have been busy planning our summer outings and a couple of our bigger trips. Peggy has taken Kristy, Andy and Bill to Halifax. They left yesterday and seem to be having a great time. We will update when they are back and get all the details.  We are also going to PEI in August with dates not yet determined. 

Also, we will be making some more Yardzee's starting next week.

Disability Awareness Week was May 29th -June 3rd.

To highlight some of our events from DAW:  Carrie took Andy, Debbie and Sherry to the Legislative breakfast in Fredericton. We stayed at the Delta and enjoyed a wonderful meal and presentations. It was a great learning experience. We even had a chance to hear the Premier of New Brunswick speak. 

Back at the center everyone else took part in DAW activities, games and a BBQ. 

The theme for this years Disability Awareness week was, "We Want In" Representing the facts that everyone regardless of ability want and need access to buildings, employment and community. We are very lucky to live in such an inclusive community as St. George. We have many employers who employ many of us throughout the community.

Here is a picture of Melinda working at The Guardian Pharmacy:

 

 We had a great turn out for our annual rock and roll. We walked from the center to Pete's for ice cream.

Kim taking some of the ladies for drive through town in style.

 Rick Doucet joined us again this year for our walk. We always enjoy his visits and really appreciate him taking time to spend with us.

                                                         
                                                               Joyce enjoying the day!

                                            Liz and Sherri enjoying one of Pete's yummy treats!

                                               

                                                          Kim's rides were a big hit!

                             
                                                           

Well that's about it for today! We hope you all enjoyed the update and look forward to updating again soon with some exciting news. Stay tuned

Moving Right Along

Work was well under way in these photos to complete the 30 Yardzee orders that the fundraisers have received so far.  They worked diligently every spare minute they had to sand, stain and place the dots on the dice and did an excellent job.  As planned, all orders were complete within 2 weeks and are now ready to be picked up.  Thanks Brooke and Brandon for donating space in your garage so they had a dry space to work. Thanks to Donald McCurdy for lending us his saw and to Paul Richard for cutting the blocks.  A big thanks to Basil and Susan Branscomb for their donation of pails to help us out!  We have a few more orders now trickling in and in the next week will begin the process over again.  All the workers are anxiously awaiting more orders as they enjoy being productive and have gained so much self confidence from the experience.

Other activities our group has been up to is having a great time learning to play a new game called "Marbles".  Its a combination of games like Trouble, Sorry and Aggravation played with two decks of cards instead of dice.  The goal is to get your men around the board and into your home first, while sending the others back to start whenever possible.  Lots of laughs and great for strategy building skills!

I believe it is similar to game called Tuck or Took from this area.  Not sure about the spelling of that game.

Our fundraising group would also like to make these boards to sell for anyone who is interested.  Just comment below and we will add it to our list of possibilities!

When we aren't busy fundraising and having fun some of the folks decided to hire themselves out to do yard work to make some extra spending cash.  They charge minimum wage and work hard.  If you need a hand give us a call or comment below, you will be surprised at the list of skills we have!

Some things coming up in the month of May:

Making more Yardzee games

Town wide yard sale May 27th...our table will be in the CLC/Foodbank parking lot

Chase the Ace where some of us get together to play marbles Thursdays 6pm at the Magaguadavic Center

If you would like to order a Yardzee game, wish to hire some hard workers or want to donate items to our yard sale table please call Peggy Bacher at 754-6432 or The Community Living Center at 755-3730.

Also if you have some free time and a skill that you would be willing to share we would love to hear from you.

All funds from the fundraisers are going towards their individual goals to so some travelling this summer!

Proud Community Workers

Carrie Rogers, our employment coordinator at the Community Living Center has been working hard finding gainful employment for our clients within their community.  The people we have employed at this time are doing great in their positions, some have even been awarded by their employer for outstanding dedication and service!

 A huge thank you goes out to our current employers for being so supportive in hiring!!

BIRCHES

GUARDIAN

PHARMACHOICE

TOWN OF ST GEORGE

SUBWAY

CHARLOTTE COUNTY REFRIGERATION

We are always looking for new employers and job opportunities.  If you have a business or know of a business that is in need of some help please give Carrie a call at 755-3730 or email jobstars@bellaliant.com.