Community Connection

VOLUNTEERS are needed at Community Caring Council!

Our Reentry Opportunity Center is in need of volunteers to assist ex-offenders with employment-related services. Help is needed with cover letters, resumes, job searching, job applications, and interview preparation. We would like to have the Center open daily from 9am – 4pm if enough volunteers can be found. If you have any questions about this program, please call our Reentry Specialist, Randy Huffman, at 651-3746 ext. 117.

Volunteers are also needed to help with our Dental Screenings at area schools and daycares. Help with paperwork and with the fluoride varnish applications is needed. A short online training is required before volunteers can apply the fluoride varnish, but the process is very simple. Go to www.mohealthysmiles.com and click on Varnish Training to access the training. There is no cost for this training.  If you have any questions about this program, please call our Oral Health Coordinator, Dotty Gholson at 651-3746 ext. 119.

The Youth Access Survey is currently being distributed to teens in our community. Click here to access a copy of the survey. Completed copies may be mailed to Kay Azuma, YSAPC, 937 Broadway, Suite 306, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701.

This information collected through the surveys will assist local parents, businesses, law enforcement, civic organizations and churches in reducing the availability of harmful substances to local children. If you have access to a teen group and would like to help us distribute the surveys, please call Kay Azuma at 651-3747 x 104.

The Coalition will have a booth at the upcoming Parks and Recreation Day at Osage Centre and at Salvation Army’s Back to School Fair on August 5.  Surveys will be available at those sites for teens to complete.

More information regarding the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition can be found at www.mychildourfuture.org. The next Coalition meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 17 at 10:30am here at 937 Broadway, Suite 102. All interested persons are invited to attend.

The next Quarterly Case Managers’ Luncheon Meeting will be Wednesday, August 11 at 11:30 at Cape Public Library, 711 N. Clark Street, Cape Girardeau. The topic will be “Housing Programs and Assistance”. Presentations will be made by Community Caring Council, Habitat for Humanity, Safe House for Women, Hartle Development, East Missouri Action Agency and more.

No reservations are needed. You are welcome to bring your lunch/beverage with you.

The next meeting of the Financial Stability Partnership will be in September (date to be announced) at United Way, 430A Broadway, Cape Girardeau. The group will be brainstorming strategies to help community residents work toward self-sufficiency. All interested persons are invited to attend and provide input to our discussion. If you have any questions, please call John McGowan at 334-9634 or Denise Wimp at 334-4357.

The Quarterly Case Managers’ Luncheon Meeting was hosted by Cross Trails Medical Center on May 5, 2010.  The program highlighted services offered by Cross Trails and was presented by Denny Garner and Ginny Chapman.  Information-sharing and networking are the primary goals for these quarterly meetings.

The next meeting of the Financial Stability Partnership will be on Tuesday, June 8 at 3pm at United Way, 430A Broadway in Cape.  The group will be brainstorming strategies to help community residents work toward self-sufficiency.  All interested persons are invited to attend and provide input to our discussion.

The Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition has been awarded a grant from the Missouri Department of Mental Health, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the amount of $5000.  Funds will be used to survey youth in Cape Girardeau County to determine how teens gain access to alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and prescription drugs.  Focus groups with youth are presently being conducted to get youth input for development of the survey to be distributed.

This information will assist local parents, businesses, law enforcement, civic organizations and churches in reducing the availability of harmful substances to local children.  The Coalition hopes to start distributing the actual surveys to youth during the latter part of June.  If you have access to a teen group and would like to help us distribute the surveys, please call Kay Azuma at 651-3747 x 104.

More information regarding the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition can be found at www.mychildourfuture.org.  The next Coalition meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 15 at 10:30am here at 937 Broadway, Suite 102.  All interested persons are invited to attend.

The 5^th Annual Good Deals for a Good Cause Garage Sale was held on May 21 at Red Star Baptist Church.  Clothes, books, lamps, shoes, and more clothes were collected from the dorms on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University during Finals Week by members of the Family Transition Team and Community Caring Council. The items were then sold at the sale.  All profits will go to meeting the unmet needs of clients as identified by the Transition Team,

Thanks to Southeast Missouri State University Residence Life Hall Directors for organizing the collection points on campus.  A special thanks goes to Kerry Wallaert for leading this effort on campus for the Family Transition Team.

Clean your closets, your basement and your garage and donate unwanted treasures to the Community Caring Council’s Family Transition Team for their annual garage sale to be held on Friday, May 21 at Red Star Baptist Church Activity Center, 1316 N. Main Street in Cape Girardeau.

This is the 5^th Annual Good Deals for A Good Cause Garage Sale. All proceeds are used to provide unmet needs of families and individuals in our community. Referrals are received and processed by the Family Transition Team, a community committee made up of representatives from 15 or more agencies. Some of the needs met during the last year include transportation assistance, childcare assistance, medical supplies, baby supplies, special needs items, rental assistance, clothing, and head lice treatment.

Most of our donations come from Southeast Missouri State University students. As the students end the semester and pack up to move out, drop-off points for unwanted items are made available in each dormitory. Those items are then collected by Family Transition Team members and volunteers and sold at the sale.

If you have items to donate, please drop them by Red Star Activity Center on Wednesday, May 19 or Thursday, May 20 from 10am – 2pm. For more information, please call our office at 651-3747, ext 104 or 107.

Over 50 community members joined Community Caring Council staff members on April 23 at our Annual Breakfast, held this year in the meeting room at SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence.

The Mary Kasten Award was presented to Kathy Sweeney, KFVS12 News Anchor for her commitment to community issues and the Council’s involvement in those issues. During the past year, Kathy has featured the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, Missouri Reentry Program and employment barriers of returning offenders, homelessness and United Way’s Education Solutions Team. Kathy has been an active member of the Youth Substance Abuse Coalition; and she and her daughter are the spokeswomen for calling attention to youth in our community to lead healthy lifestyles and avoid substance use.

The Horizon Award was presented to Cheryl Ellis, Southeast Missourian editor and staff writer for her commitment to the work of the Council in several areas. The Southeast Missourian Jr. newspaper now includes a THRIVE Asset-Building feature each month. SE Parent magazine has had feature articles on Bullying and Childhood Depression, which were requested by our Mental Health Coalition. Cheryl has been an active member of our Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and the Mental Health Coalition. Thanks to Cheryl for getting us involved in Cape Parks and Recreation Day in July 2009 and for helping us to plan and host a Town Hall Meeting in March that brought attention to the use of alcohol and other drugs among youth in our community.

Two Community Partnership Awards were presented to KFVS12 and to the Southeast Missourian for their willingness to publish the community work accomplished by the Council and Council partners throughout the year. Accepting those awards were Kathy Sweeney for KFVS12 and Brian Miller for the Southeast Missourian.

Syd Egan, formerly of Child Care Resource and Referral, is the outgoing Council President. Eva Hillis, Love INC, is the incoming Council President and Gina Matysik, Chaffee Nursing Center, is the incoming Vice President. Many thanks for their willingness to lead our monthly partnership meetings. The next meeting will be Friday, May 21 at 7:30am here at the Kasten Community Development Center, 937 Broadway, Suite 102, Cape Girardeau. All are welcome to attend.

The Southeast Missouri Area Reentry Team (SMART) is sponsoring a Reentry Conference titled “Bridging the Gap”. It will be held at Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau on March 26. Click here for a flyer which includes the registration form. For your convenience registration can be completed one of two ways. It can be faxed, or completed on-line. Simply follow the directions on the registration form. When your registration has been received, you will receive confirmation by email within 24 hours.

Registration is limited to 150 attendees, so register today! There is no cost for this opportunity to learn more about reentry in our region of the state.

The Reentry Opportunity Center continues to be open daily (M-F) from 1 – 4 pm. Offenders are welcome to come in and use the available resources to compose a cover letter and resume, search for job openings and explore further education and job training opportunities.

Call Randy Huffman at (573) 651-3747 x 117 for more information on the Community Caring Council’s involvement with the Missouri Reentry Process. Or drop in and see our Reentry Opportunity Center at 937 Broadway, Suite 104.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS for Friday, March 19, 2010! That’s the date for our 2010 Annual Caring Conference. The location will be Glen Auditorium at Dempster Hall on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Click here for more information and for our online Conference Registration.

The United Way of Southeast Missouri convened the Education Solutions Team in February 2009. The Team has been chaired by Tom Davisson, the Executive Director of the Community Caring Council. The Team has begun to identify opportunities in the Cape Girardeau community to reengage the community with the schools and to identify individual opportunities that can impact the number of students ready for success in school, college, work and life. The current focus is the selection of goals and strategies that will hopefully improve school outcomes from Kindergarten through 12th grade. This is what will be presented for discussion and input at the Conference.

The title of the conference is Communities and Schools….A Model for Change. The key note speaker will be Martin Blank. According to the American Educator  Journal, “Marty is the president of the Institute for Educational Leadership, director of the Coalition for Community Schools, and author of numerous articles and reports on how schools and communities can work together to increase student learning.”

Joining Marty to lead one of the morning breakout sessions will be Brent Schondelmeyer, Communications Director at the Local Investment Commission in Kansas City, MO, and a proponent of community schools where “multiple partnerships work together to meet the academic, health and social services needs of STUDENTS and FAMILIES”.

The morning session will be from 8 – 11:45pm with a light breakfast provided. The lunch session will be a summary of the morning and will start at 12 noon and will include a sack lunch. Individuals should choose to attend only one session. Cost of either session is $10.00.

Please contact Kay at 651-3747 x 104 if you any immediate questions.