Vanguard, Autumn 2000

Build a Fence

It was a fine sunny day, in fact a very hot sunny day, in September when members of the South Bay Sunrise Rotary Club took to the yard of Southwest House and replaced the old teetering fence with a brand new "dog-eared" variety. After several hours of carrying lumber back and forth, pounding nails and drinking water, the back yard sported a wonderful new look! The club also footed most of the bill for materials.

Many thanks to the members of the club who so generously gave of their time and energy to make this long-needed improvement a reality: John Kaper, Bob Dworkin, Ken Hovsepian, Ray Parcell, Dennis Chance, Joanne Sprecher, and Jim Beardsley. Special thanks go to Rotarian Steve Smith of Chester Smith & Associates, who gave many hours to project planning and preparation.

The Club "adopted" Southwest House in 1999, after completing an interior painting project. The club’s next project will be assisting with renovating the kitchen.

It was a Dark and Stormy Morning…

It was a hot sunny day when the fence got built, but it was cold and rainy and dark when CARF came. What is CARF? -- The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. The Arc-South Bay’s vocational program, Southwest Industries, was due for re-accreditation in October, a two-day intensive survey done by two professionals in the field. The survey consists of inspection of files and records, facility tours, and interviews with staff, consumers, parents and funding agencies.

Now, back to the cold, rainy day. Although it was not due to the weather, right in the middle of the first afternoon of the survey, all the electricity went out in the building. It came back on within seconds, but then went out again for more than an hour. Consumers on the production floor let out a uniform "Oh!", and people streamed out of the "non-window" offices, including the CARF surveyors. We were pleased to hear them say the next day that they had observed our emergency procedures in action and that we passed that test!

In approximately one month, we will receive the results of their survey: top "prize" is a three-year accreditation, which we have received the last two times.

ARC Gets Award from South Bay Group

The South Bay Workforce Investment Board presented a Recognition Award to the Arc for "contributing to the economic and business development in the South Bay Workforce Investment Area" on November 17 at Hollywood Park. This award was presented to us in the "Employer" category, as one who has hired individuals in a transitional or under-employed situation.

Mary Adams, Client Trainer at our ADC-Hermosa Beach, also received an award, hers for participating and excelling in the One-Stop Employment Program.

Congenital Toxoplasmosis can be Prevented

Toxoplasmosis is a very common infection that is caused by a tiny parasite known as the Toxoplasma gondii. In the United States, almost one-fourth of all teenagers and adults have laboratory evidence that they currently or previously have had the T. gondii infection. Most often, these infections are asymptomatic (without symptoms), or the person gets over the infection without receiving any treatment. In almost all of the cases, a person does not realize that they have even had the disease.

Infrequently the outcome can be fatal, but this form of Toxoplasmosis is rare. A very serious condition occurs whenever a pregnant woman contracts the disease. If a woman gets actively infected at any stage during her pregnancy, Toxoplasmosis may cause serious health problems for the fetus.

This form of the disease is referred to as Congenital Toxoplasmosis and may result in a miscarriage or in permanent damage to the unborn baby. The more serious components of this damage often include mental retardation, blindness and epilepsy.

Recent estimates suggest that within the state of California between 50 and 500 babies are born each year infected with (and probably damaged by) Congenital Toxoplasmosis. Given the above information, what can we do to reduce and perhaps even stop this potential cause of brain damage?

• Do wash your hands often.
• Do wash all cooking utensils and surfaces after preparing raw meat.
• Do cook your meat thoroughly – no traces of blood or pinkness.
• Do not drink or handle unpasteurized milk products of goats or sheep.
• Do wash fruits and vegetables.
• Do wear gloves when gardening.
• Do wash your hands after working with garden soil or with garden gloves.
• Do cover children’s sandboxes to prevent cats from using them.
• Do not handle cat litter.

GET YOUR SUPER BOWL TICKETS

Did you know…the first Super Bowl was played at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles in 1967? The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. And did you know that the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers have each had five Super Bowl wins? Did you also know, The Arc-South Bay has been holding Super Bowl Drawings for more than 16 years?

Which leads us to SUPER BOWL XXXV and Raffle 2001! No matter if you’re selling or if you’re purchasing, let’s "RUSH" to "TOUCH DOWN" and score points for this great fundraiser. All proceeds benefit the Arc-South Bay. One ticket, any ticket, could "CARRY" that lucky person and guest to Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Florida! The drawing will be on January 12th and the lucky winner of the Grand prize will receive two tickets to the Super Bowl game, roundtrip airfare for two, and four nights at the luxurious Holiday Inn in Tampa, Florida.

Tickets are selling for $1 each or $5 for a book of six. Don’t be left in the turf! For more information on how you can participate by selling or purchasing tickets, call the Arc-South Bay Administration office in Gardena at (310) 532-6333.

STAFF NOTES

Inie Bacayo returned to The Arc-South Bay and his post as Director of Finance after working for the Girl Scouts for eight years. (Inie was previously employed with The Arc-South Bay from June 1978 to June 1992). Inie has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration along with tremendous accounting experience and obviously a passion for the nonprofit world.

Carrie Coyle, Coordinator of Personnel and Administrative Services, was hired in September to assist Judy Senter, Director of Administrative Services, and Richard Pierce, Executive Director. Carrie majored in Kinesiology and comes to us with nine years of office administration experience. Her compassion for The Arc-South Bay’s population will benefit the organization.

Ernestine Dixon, who was a line supervisor at Southwest Industries from March of 1986 until May of 1999, passed away in October. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio and was the second of eight children. Our heartfelt sympathy is extended to her family.

NEWS FROM THE BEACH

Every year, Santa arrives at our Hermosa Beach Adult Development Center to deliver gifts to 40 of our consumers. Friday, December 22, 2000, Santa and Mrs. Claus will be distributing gifts at the annual Open House/Holiday party.

Mattel, Inc. has made a donation of gifts to Hermosa Beach ADC to help bring joy to our special people’s lives. Jolly Old St. Nick himself will arrive on a fire truck and pass out the presents. Not only will our consumers enjoy gifts, but delicious finger foods and goodies from parents, plus entertainment by The Eddie Watkins Jr. Band, who play music in the gym for rocking around the Christmas tree.

Santa usually arrives at 10:00 a.m. and festivities will carry on until 2:30 p.m. If you would like more information on how you could participate contact Mary Leuci, Program Manager, at the Hermosa Beach ADC (310) 318-9343.

Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Jimmie Colman for sponsoring a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving lunch at the Home Town Buffet for all our consumers and staffers at The Hermosa Beach ADC.

THANK YOU CORNER

We thank the following individuals and companies for their recent generosity:

Supreme Paint Decorating Center in Redondo Beach for donating 14 gallons of paint. This will help us maintain our buildings.

Allied Waste, Inc. (and Floyd Hathaway’s son, Pete) for a $5,000 donation toward the refurbishment of our Southwest House kitchen.

Pepsi Cola and Darryl Foster – three cases of soda for Halloween party at ADC-Hermosa Beach.

Georgio’s, 20 pizzas at $6.50 for ADC-Hermosa’s Halloween party.

Pacific Bell – "Bridging the Digital Divide" grant ($1500).

Mr and Mrs. John Sabo and Eva Straus and daughter: 40 trick or treat bags each for ADC-Hermosa.

Gary Kohatsu – One dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for CARF survey.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Keogh - $100 for ADC-Hermosa Special Events.

Polly Goutras - $200 for ADC –Hermosa.

Gardena Emblem Club – Quarterly donation of $150 for The Arc.

NEWS FROM ADC-GARDENA

There were no tricks at Gardena Adult Development Center for Halloween – only treats and fun! Part of the fun included dozens of pizzas, which were discounted to half price from the Pizza Hut on Rosecrans Avenue, near Vermont in Gardena.

Lots of fun costumes, decorations, and dancing were on tap for everyone’s enjoyment. Ann Grant, one of the parents, brought in individually wrapped candy packets for each consumer. Thank you, Mrs. Grant!

STATE GRANTS INCREASE

During the recent State budget negotiations, the State of California acknowledged the value of our Adult Development Center Instructors and Aides (known as direct service professionals) by authorizing a "wage pass - through" mandate. The rationale behind this mandate is that by paying our direct care staff an equitable salary we can retain our current staff while simultaneously providing an incentive to those who are considering a career working with people with special needs. We will be notified in mid-December of the actual amount of the wage increase for our hard-working employees.

Also in the rate department, our Southwest Industries received a 5% increase in the daily rate for program services for our work activity center consumers. This increase will help us meet the ever-increasing costs of operation.

While on the subject of money, please note that our Annual Financial Report (FY 1998-1999) is included as an insert to this Vanguard. This should not be confused with the FY 1999-2000, which just ended on September 30th. Preliminary and unaudited figures for 1999-2000 point toward a small surplus that can be attributed in part to increased enrollment in our programs. As always, consumer attendance is central to keeping the agency financially stable, and we appreciate the ongoing efforts of all concerned in seeing that consumers attend program as regularly as possible. (As we are allowed to bill in partial day increments, we are also thankful to those parents and careproviders who schedule appointments in a manner that allows the consumer to participate in a partial program day rather than miss a full day.)

"If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside."

Robert Cringely, "Infoworld"