Friends Reunited

Old friends were reunited in March 2010. Ron Hutzler and Randy Vinnai were roommates for a long time, years ago. The pair lost touch when Randy moved away from Brantford to be closer to his family in the Simcoe area. At Ron’s request, Lynnwood staff did some searching and emailing, and was able to locate Randy. When Ron and Randy met up in Delhi, where Randy now lives, they were thrilled to see each other. (Continue)

Pursuing Excellence

Seven recipients of the Anne Stafford ‘Light Up the Future’ Bursary pose for a photo. The bursary provides financial assistance for people who have an intellectual disability who want to pursue personal development opportunities. Back row left to right: Paul Railosvuo, Nathaniel Hewett, and Jason Richardson. Front Row left to right: Laura Challice, Christina Judd, Anne Stafford, Kaleena Dyk and Jennifer Grol.

Congrats to Kaleena Dyk and Jason Richardson on winning the scholarship!

Ten Years Ago...

Ten years ago, this July, Seneca Henhawk began his employment at Food Basics, King George Road location in Brantford. Seneca began his job at Food Basics as a co-op student through Tollgate Technological Skills Centre and after graduation from high school he approached the manager of the store for an employment opportunity. Seneca had proven his skills and work ethic as a student and was offered a position working in the dairy department. Seneca takes a lot of pride in the work that he does every Friday and Saturday and says the dairy department just doesn’t look the same when he’s not there. (Continue)

RDSP Presentation

Community Living has been selected as one of the agencies across the province to host a RDSP Ontario Workshop presented by Brendon Pooran – a Toronto-based lawyer that provides advice on wills and estates planning, government benefits and disability law.  Funding for these information sessions is provided by the Government of Canada and being coordinated through Community Living Ontario.  This is a unique opportunity to learn more about this additional way to plan for the financial well-being for someone who has a disability.

A comprehensive information session is being held for interested people, families, and staff on June 24th form 2:00 pm to 3:30m.  This will be followed by a limited number of individual consultations for people supported by community Living Brant and their families.  AS well, Mr. Pooran will be the guest speaker at Community Living Brant’s Annual General Meeting that same evening.  Please find information for registering for the event here

A Barrel of Fun!

When Jim Cutler plans a vacation, he knows how to include a barrel of fun.  Jim, with the support of Donna Blackmore, planned an overnight trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario.  He invited some friends: Terry, David, Heather and Gary, chose a place to stay and decided which attractions that he would like to enjoy.

In order to get the most value for everyone’s money, Jim decided that the trip should take place in May – that way, the cost of hotel would be at an off season price.  We decided on the Hampton Inn North of the Falls, a very nice hotel with an indoor pool, whirlpool and hot breakfast included in the price. (Continue)

The Ontario Early Years Centre: Brant has been hosting an annual Early Learning and Child Care Conference since 1999 when they were the Professional Resource Centre for Child Care.  The 12th annual conference in April 2010 delivered over 1300 hours of professional development to over 300 delegates in the two day professional conference held the at Best Western in Brantford.

The OEYC: Brant is grateful for the ongoing support from local and provincial agencies, businesses and organizations that provide free items for delegate packages as well as door prizes.

The conference attracts professionals working with young children from throughout the province.  Planning is already underway for CHANGE 13!

http://www.brantnews.com/news.cfm?page=news&section=read&articleId=7411

Ratification of UN treaty will continue to drive change: Powell

At last disability is to be recognized as a matter of fundamental human rights, says CACL

Friday, March 12, 2010 -- Camille Jensen

Community Living Ontario executive director Keith Powell says Canada`s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities yesterday marks a historic moment that will continue to drive change within the province and its communities for decades to come.

Community Living Ontario and the 117 local Community Living associations are praising the Government of Canada for its leadership in signing the convention in New York March 11. (Continue)

The Value of Human Services

Men working in human services careers can make a difference.

That was the theme of the day at a "males in human services" event on Wednesday at Mohawk College. About 160 Grade 7 and Grade 8 boys from across Brantford gathered to learn about the human services industry – an industry typically dominated by woman. Steve Csordas, a support worker for Community Living Brant, and Special Olympian and service recipient of CL Brant Jason Richardson, were the keynote speakers at the event, which was organized by the Workforce Planning Board.   (Continue)

Beating the Winter Blues!

On January 28, 2010, ten fellows from different programs throughout Community Living Brant got together at Stealth Paintballing in Brantford to shoot out the winter blues. They had a blast! They spent the afternoon teamed up against each other playing out different scenarios.

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'Integral' Part of Hockey Operations

Brantford’s Golden Eagles are leading the Midwestern Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

On the ice, it is the players and coaches that steer the success of the team. But what people may not realize, is that the people behind the scenes allow the Eagles to play without worrying about what must be achieved off the ice.  For Golden Eagles’ coach Scott Rex, volunteers are vital to the everyday operations of any hockey team. (Continue)

Bridging The Gap

As part of Community Living Brant’s partnership with Abilities First our first event called “Bridging the Gap” was held on November 23, 2009.

This event was held at Wynfield Salvation Army Church.  The purpose of the event was recruitment of people to participate in the Ontario Disability Support Program- Employment Supports (ODSP-ES).  The invitation was extended to students, their families and professionals within the school system.  Booths were set up to provide information on supports available to help individuals with barriers to find employment, after high school or Post Secondary education. (Continue)

Helping Animals at the SPCA

Over the summer months, CL Brant raised funds from our Dress Down Fridays to support our local Brant SPCA.  Early in the summer one of our family members, Glenda Minard, had sponsored a golf team for people supported to attend a golf tournament that was raising funds for the SPCA.  We thought that it was fitting that the funds we raised would be a way to say thank you to Glenda and also support our community.  Many people expressed an interest in supporting the SPCA for all the amazing things they do for abandoned and abused animals.   (Continue)

Norma Celebrating with Family

Norma decided for her birthday this year she would like to invite her family to her house for a BBQ.  Norma invited several family members and planned a special menu which included Chocolate Messy Cake (her favorite).  To keep everyone entertained while the food was being prepared, Norma and her family played the M&M game. Each family member took as many M&M’s as they wanted and for each color a different question was asked.  After everyone had answered the questions staff assisted Norma to read out the answers and they had to guess who the person was.  (Continue)

Project Track Champion Comes to Town!

On June 27/09 Project Track Champion drove into Brantford for a day of fun and new experiences.  Project Track Champion is a fully accessible replica of a race car built from a 1991 Thunderbird.  The Project Track team is dedicated to breaking down barriers that prevent a person with a disability from participating in the racing world. Brantford’s own Russell Lye, Project Track Champion’s Assistant Pit Crew Chief, was a key player in bringing Project Track Champion to Brantford for an exciting day.  (Continue)

Ken Abreys Passion for Bowling

Ken Abreys’ passion is bowling, and he is very good at it!   Ken is an active member of two Brantford Men’s Ten Pin bowling teams –the Monday Night NFLers and the Thurs Night Fun Timers.  He has served as a valued player on these teams for over 12 years and bowls at the Brantford Bowlerama.   He enjoys the camaraderie of his team mates and consistently winning end- of-year awards for high single and high game.   A highlight achievement this past year was not only one, but two near- perfect games. Ken bowled 9 strikes in a row in each game.  What an amazing accomplishment!! (Continue)

Earl Hazlett's 65th Party

On Saturday June 28th Earl had a big celebration at the Dunn for his 65th Birthday.  Many members of Earl’s family came to share in his special day, with a big surprise at the end of his Open House. Earl’s new baby great niece Charlotte came with his niece and nephew!  Earl was very happy and lit up the room with his big smile for the whole afternoon. Earl was excited to see lots of people that have known him over the years; especially his friend Doug, a bus driver from Brantford Transit that Earl would ride around the city with. (Continue)

Self-Advocates Present

at Community LIving Ontario Conference

A group of us headed off to Kingston for the Community Living Ontario Conference from June 3-5, 2009.   We all went to take part in the sessions but some of us were there to work.  Gary Kusch, Diane Jones, and Debbie Cavers were giving a resentation at the conference.  The group’s presentation was called “Inspiring Your Voices to Make Change”.  About 50 people attended our session and lots of people asked for copies of our materials.  (Continue)

Jo-Anne McBurney Wins the “Anne Stafford Light Up the Future” Bursary

Jo-Anne McBurney has received a helping hand in achieving her dream to write a book.  On June 26, 2009, Jo-Anne was honoured at Community Living Brant’s Annual Meeting as a recipient of the “Anne Stafford Light Up the Future” bursary.  Each year Community Living Ontario awards the Anne Stafford bursary to a number of individuals across the province.  (Continue)

Community Living Ontario Elects a New President

Community Living Ontario elected a new President, Karen Gledhill.  Please visit Community Living Ontario's website for her greetings and listen to her discuss her vision for the federation in a video.  Further videocast messages and updates on initiatives from the President will come in the months ahead.

Sports Hall of Recognition

One of the newest members of the Brantford & Area Sports Hall of Recognition is Jason Richardson.  On Thursday, June 18, 2009, Jason attended the induction ceremony at the Best Western Brant Park Inn for his accomplishments as a weightlifter through Special Olympics.    In 2007, Jason, who was injured at the time, competed in the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai China where he won gold and two silver medals. His lower back injury was not going to get in the way of his determination to succeed. (Continue)

Agnes Hodge School Golf Tournament

On June 5, 2009 the Agnes Hodge Elementary School in Brantford hosted a fundraising golf tournament in support of the Brant County SPCA.  Through the generous sponsorship of a parent from CL Brant, Glenda Minard, four people had the opportunity to compete our first tournament  

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Celebrating Community

Living Through Photography

A picture tells a story!  Community Living Ontario found a way for pictures to tell stories that would create visual celebration of the many successes of people who receive support throughout its agencies across Ontario.   An unprecedented opportunity was created when Community Living Ontario joined with PhotoSensitive, a company that harnessed the power of the camera to achieve social goals by capturing the stories of people from across 28 Community Living agencies in Ontario.  (Continue)

Beautiful New Community Living Brant Wall Hanging

Community Living Brant was honoured to receive a special gift from Seneca Henhawk which will be proudly displayed in our main office.  Seneca is an expert at designing and completing rug hooking projects.  Seneca approached the Association and offered his expertise in creating a wall hanging to reflect the new Community Living logo and colours. (Continue)

Workshop aims to engage people who self-advocate in policy change

REACH Out group hoping provide people with information to take back to their communities

Friday, May 15, 2009 -- Deron Hamel

A workshop being held at the upcoming 56th annual Community Living Ontario conference is aimed at engaging people who advocate on behalf of themselves and others in ways to make changes to policies and practices at their local associations.

Representatives from Community Living Brant will lead the charge in the session, entitled Systems on Edge:  Demands of Social Inclusion Act — Complaints Process and Investigations, which will examine the successes of REACH Out, a group of people who self advocate. REACH is an acronym for respect, empower, advocate, courage, honour. (Continue)

Listen Up Brant!

Listen Up Brant! is a quarterly publication celebrating the goals and accomplishments of people who receive support through Community Living Brant. It is a forum for people to share their stories and what they value in their lives. Anyone who receives support through Community Living Brant, in any capacity, is welcome and encouraged to submit an article.  You can find this newsletter by clicking on the Newsletter tab on the left hand side of our home page. For more information or to submit your article, poem, artwork, pictures, etc. please contact Susan Walters.  To view the most current issue, click here.

Why Not Be You Theatre Forum

Why Not City Missions , Laurier University Brantford and Community Living Brant shared a passion to create a diverse and accepting community in Brantford. A partnership began back in May of 2008. As we came together and talked about what was needed by Wilfred Laurier University students enrolled in the Community Research and Participation course , Why Not City Missions. Youth and people involved with Community Living Brant, the more we realized we all had the same inspirations and dreams; to be respected, encouraged and feel that sense of belonging.  (Continue)

“Let’s Celebrate Freedom"

When the Ontario government made a commitment to close all institutions by 2009, Gary Kusch was adamant that we would need a celebration to mark this historic event.  Planning for the event began with Gary, Dave Jordan, and Maryanne Drago.  As planning began, we enlisted the support of some young people (Chris Taverner and Donny Tobicoe) involved in the Transitions Program. (Continue)

How 3 Countries Helped a Young Man Fulfill a Dream!

This is a story about how a group of agencies from 3 different countries joined together to make a dream come true for one young man.  Approximately three years ago Community Living Brant became involved in a collaboration with other community and international partners to provide a unique opportunity for a young man from the Turks and Caicos Islands to attend the W. Ross Mac Donald school.  (Continue)

Some Fun in the Sun

Al and his friend Val recently experienced the trip of a lifetime.  In January, they travelled to Walt Disney World in Floriday for six days.  It was the first time Al had been on a plane and he was certainly more relaxed than his company.  (Continue reading Images, Page 11)

Four Generations-

Four Approaches To Work

On March 30 and 31, 2009 Community Living Brant hosted workshops on understanding and working in a multi-generational workforce. The workshop was conducted by Nancy Regan of n-gen People Performance Inc which is a company that designs and implements performance solutions by tackling the root causes of people performance issues from a generational perspective. (Continue)