An Artist’s Story

IN MEMORIAM SUPPORTED BY HAMMER RESIDENCES AND NORTHEAST RESIDENCE

We are saddened by the loss of our friends who have passed away over the last few months. We celebrate them and honor their memory and are thankful for all the ways they touched our lives.

Your gifts helped Jim, Lauren, Joel, and Elizabeth to lead a full life. Thank you.

HAMMER RESIDENCES

Jim Davis Queensland home January 19, 2022

NORTHEAST RESIDENCE

Joel Allen Loer

Arcade home October 27, 2021

Lauren Josie

Ive’s Lane & Unity homes May 15, 2022

Elizabeth (Liz) Nadeau Virginia home October 14, 2021

Kevin Byrnes celebrating his 25th anniversary at his favorite place, Snuffy’s Malt Shop!

Saido Ntakagero, 20 years

Lin Curran, 35 years

Hire Date Name, House Years

6/1/1977 Sue Walker, Central Office - Chief Program Officer

45 12/1/1982 Jill Kunze, Black Oaks 40 1/7/1997 Stacy Esposito, Stone Creek 25 5/19/1997 Kevin Byrnes, Central Office - Maintenance 25

1/7/1997 Stacy Esposito, Stone Creek - Assistant Program Manager 25 11/17/1997 Joe Esposito, Central Office - Finance 12/5/1997 Sara Husfeldt, Rockford 25 12/11/1997 William Mbu, Hampshire 25 12/2/2002 Saido Ntakagero, McGlinch 20 12/2/2002 Olufemi Wusu, Lawndale 20 1/8/2007 Doris Odon, Lawndale 15 2/5/2007 Katherine Bell, Central Office - Case Management 15 2/5/2007 Constance Duopu, Ridgeview 15 4/2/2007 Brenda Barthel, Rockford 15 5/14/2007 Saidu John, ReNew 15 Stacy Esposito and Joe Esposito, 25 years

Dorris Odon, 15 years Connie Duopu, 15 years

Brenda Barthel, 15 years

NORTHEAST RESIDENCE MILESTONE ANNIVERSARIES

Hire Date Name, House Years

3/26/1987 Lin Curran, Director of Program Operations, Central Office 35 4/17/2002 Kevin Heroff, Float Direct Support Professional 20 4/17/2002 Kyle Heroff, Direct Support Professional, Hugo B 20 10/21/2002 Brion Curran, Senior Human Resources Generalist 20

1/18/2007 Bonnie Connolly, Accounting Assistant, Central Office 1/23/2007 Traci Maruska, AP Specialist, Central Office 15

15

8/27/2007 Lynette Vickerman, Lead Direct Support Professional, Rollingview 15

9/12/2007 LeAnne Brotherton, Lead Direct Support Professional, Allen 15 Kyle Heroff, 20 years Kevin Heroff, 20 years

COOKS IN THE KITCHEN!

NEW VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY TO LEND A HELPING HAND

by Cathy Thoma, Director of Volunteer Resources

Doyou have a small team of friends, family, or coworkers who like to cook and are interested in a fun, quick, and easy volunteer opportunity? We have just the thing for you! Our new Cooks in the Kitchen program is a great way for a small team of volunteers to lend a big helping hand to some of our homes that are particularly short staffed, allowing them to spend more time on personal care for the individuals, rather than cooking.

“This is a nice way to give back,” says Hammer’s Director of Volunteer Services, Cathy Thoma. “It takes just four to six volunteers to prepare the meals. You come into our Hammer kitchen for about three hours and prepare two recipes that are delivered to four homes, which adds up to 80 individual meals.” As a thank you, each volunteer receives one of our specially designed Cooks in the Kitchen potholders.

No special culinary skills required!

The volunteer team is provided with the recipes and after some brief instruction, begins the prep, which can involve browning hamburger, or cooking chicken, along with chopping up lots of veggies. Hammer’s kitchen (on the lower level of the Central Office) is well stocked with all the utensils, tools, and pots and pans that are needed. The meals are cooked in the Hammer kitchen and then divided into large containers and put into special carrying containers.

Once the meals are completed, Central Office staff deliver them to four of our homes that have staffing shortages right now. “We’ve expanded to also support one of our NER homes and hope to add more,” Cathy says. “It’s one way we can lend a helping hand to our hardworking direct support staff, and they get to enjoy the meals as well.”

Thank you for the touch of love you put in besides the ingredients. —Abdul Qayyumi, Program Manager, McGlinch

Melissa Yajko, Director of Sales Strategy at Business Essentials

“We’ve done Cooks in the Kitchen three times,” Melissa says. “It’s great for team building and fun to work on doing something completely different. We wanted to start getting out there in the community. We wanted to find a way to give of our time and Hammer makes it easy, and we got to learn more about what they do. The recipes are there, things are ready to go. The whole process is very easy to just step into to help out. We look forward to doing it again.” These meals are absolutely fantastic. The chicken stew looked and tasted divine. Tell everyone to keep up the good job. Everyone loves them at Sheridan. You know the food is good when no one is talking because they are just eating. —Nicole Hollins, Program Manager, Sheridan

Jami Schaehrer, Production Manager and Media Development at Color Glo

“It feels like being in grandma's kitchen, having fun hanging out together,” says Jami. Her brother, Michael, happens to reside at one of the homes that receives the meals. “This experience provided our team with an opportunity to share more about their lives. I found out that others have family members with special needs. We also had a chance to go around the Central Office and learn more about the company that takes care of my brother. Everyone was so welcoming. It’s probably the most Minnesota nice company I’ve seen. When you walk in you get to see photos of the homes and the people you’re impacting. It’s a lovely program to go forward with.” The meals have gone over great! The Carlson home had the creamy chicken stew last night. Some of the guys were asking about having leftovers today, so you know it was delicious. —Anna Byro, Program Director