Eric having a great time celebrating his birthday!!

 

Isabel has completed a few puzzles during isolation.

This one has, by far, been the most challenging!

Great job Isabel!!

Adam Boldt loves his opportunity to volunteer with the Arnprior Fire Department.

On Saturday he helped out at the car wash raising funds for Ride for Dad for prostate cancer awareness.

On April 20th I got to fulfill my goal of going to a tattoo parlor.

Liz McFarlane had arranged for me to go visit the Dog House Ink Tattoo parlor in Pembroke. Chris, the owner and his crew made me feel very welcome!! I got a tour of the parlor and got to watch Curtis get his fireman tattoo.

Chris surprised me by asking if I would like a tattoo drawn on me of a Tibetan Skull, since he noticed all the skulls I had on my shirt and hat he I thought I would like that!!! Of course, I said yes!!

I had to sit still for 40 minutes while Adam drew and colored my skull! I loved it!! I was lucky to get a tattoo without the needles and pain!!

Thanks to Chris and the gang of Dog House Ink for giving me an “outstanding” afternoon!!

by Travis Tachynsky

The easy things, the everyday things, the must do things like getting groceries is something that some of us might dread, while other people would tolerate it and then there are people like Heidi who love it!

The smells, the different textures, the colours and all the noises, make shopping a truly enjoyable experience for Heidi even with sensory deficits.

Sometimes we take for granted or even dread some of our regular activities and forget that some people wouldn’t be able to do these kinds of things without the help they get. Heidi is very fortunate to have a big circle of people that work with her to make these simple, everyday things possible!

So, a BIG thank you to Heidi’s team but also a BIG thank you to everyone who works, volunteers, advocates or is a family member of someone with a disability because we all play a part of someone’s life and without our little or big part their lives would not be the same.

by Miranda Hawkins

It’s been almost 30 years since a young Jennifer Cooke found a job placement in our community that gave her a sense of pride and importance amongst her peers. Under minimal supervision Jennifer found a way of ripping old clothes apart and cutting them into rags and helping the Salvation Army Thrift Store earn money from it.

Many of our local garages would buy up large garbage bags full of rags to help with their cleanup of greasy equipment and tools in their workplace. Jennifer is absolutely a “rag cutting expert” in our community. She has and continues to do this job with expertise like I have never witnessed. She has taken the skill and volunteers also at the Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church Thrift Store every Tuesday where they too support and encourage Jennifer’s skill and sell large garbage bags of rags to local garages.

I spoke to Jane Forrest (long time employee of the Salvation Army) and Linda Boldt (organizer at the Trinity-St. Andrew’s Thrift Store) about Jennifer’s contributions to both the stores and both ladies highly praised Jen’s abilities, her sense of pride and commitment and how they admire these qualities in Jen.

Jennifer has been a fountain of information for them at their store as far back as they can remember. They admire how many friends Jen has made volunteering, how she remembers everyone’s name and the birthdays of the staff. She is caring and compassionate in all aspects of her life.

Jane is quoted as saying “her sense of humour, laugh and wealth of knowledge is refreshing”.

Congratulations Jen! Job well done!

Written by Ruth Karras

Jesse Collins is part of the Outreach Program at Community Living Renfrew County South. Jesse wanted to be in Drama.

Our Drama Troupe had three workshops provided by Lawrence Mahusky which began in July of 2014.
Between those first days and 2016 Jesse performed as one of the lead characters in the plays “Ladies First, The Housework Commercial, and Mortimer”, performing at places like the Renfrew Recreation Centre, Opeongo High School, the Grove in Arnprior, and at the Annual General Meeting for Community Living Renfrew County South.
The stage has been shared with Lawrence Mahusky and the Tamira Choir from Ottawa.

Jesse’s dream has been “more drama” so we tried to find ways for him to be more involved.
A group of us have been taking in the Stone Fence Theatre productions throughout the Ottawa Valley for several years now.
Stone Fence provided the opportunity for Jesse to volunteer at their shows throughout 2017.
He helped set up tables and clear them off after meals. He was a stage hand, sold tickets for 50-50 draws, and did whatever else was asked, with enthusiasm.

On November 22, 2017, Jesse auditioned for the 2018 Stone Fence Theatre production and got the part.
He is so excited and we are looking forward to seeing Jesse in Stone Fence Theatre productions in our community and around the Valley.

Kudos Jesse

Those who know Jeff McClinton know he has a great passion for music; he loves to sing and plays a variety of musical instruments.

In October 2017, Jeff was introduced to Kyle who has generously donated his time to help Jeff expand his musical talents by teaching him the art of fiddle playing.

They meet weekly at Kyle’s studio and Jeff is always eager to show his improvement from the session before and tell Kyle what song he would like to work on next.

I believe Kyle told me the song list is at 5000 long. Kyle is a very positive and patient teacher, a great role model and a positive influence in Jeff’s life.