Week of
March 15th
2021
Thanks to everyone who joined CLI at Kenilee Lanes Saturday to bowl & enjoy some Irish fare in good company! This event raised more than $700 to go to Norwalk's McGuan Park Project!

This was a big deal for CLI & Firelands Local. We haven't promoted any open bowling for more than a year because of COVID. Kenilee is a very small alley and we did our best to ensure social distancing.

In addition to what we made on lane rentals, CLI also was given a number of "day of" cash donations from the following community members:
Flickinger Insurance
Tammy & Jeremy Jamison.

Thank you!
For more information and contact information for all of the City of Norwalk Parks & Recreation Department-- including the Ernsthausen Excercise & Aquatics Center-- visit:

www.norwalkrec.com
Happy Birthday Jen Swicker -- from Jen & Sandy (and Cathy behind the lens). It' apparently been a hard 29 years . . .
Usual Excuses & Apologies:
Last week the governor made vaccinations available to people over 50. You can get on lists with the Huron County Health Department
(419-668-1652) or with a lot of retailers such as Meijer, Kroger, DrugMart, etc.

All of us at CLI are looking forward to this spring being a lot more fun than last fall was. FYI-- CLI is not going to let up on our safeguards (masks, social distancing, constant handwashing, etc.). But, with that in mind, we WILL be jumping back into the communities that we've largely absent from for the past year.
Speaking of social fun-- thanks to everyone who showed up to support CLI & Firelands Local's fundraiser for the McGuan Park Accessibility project! Kenilee Lanes almost completely filled all of our available time slots. It was nice to see friends that we haven't seen for a long time! We had quite a few people who use wheelchairs participate and it really made us excited about our plans to make Kenilee Lanes 100% wheelchair accessible! We are already 20% of the way there thanks to a donation that we'll be talking more about next week. Super exciting! Stay tuned for more info about that later this spring.

In the meantime, keep those masks up, hands clean, and friends (even the good ones) an arm's length away.
John
S.T.E.P. Services
Tabitha Wilkens coordinates client vocational services for CLI. Many of these services are funded through STEPS. Sometimes these are volunteer training opportunities, such as CLI's Good Works Cafe that passes out more than 80 free lunches every Friday to anyone in the community that needs it. Thanks to ongoing donations, after CLI's $200 seed money in March of 2020, the program's on-going food costs have been covered by donations. This community service provides lots of restaurant job training opportunities as well as independent living skills.
"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me."

-- Carol Burnett
Kudos to Kerrie and her crew for representing CLI in the St. Patrick’s Day themed window decorating contest amongst the Uptown Norwalk Business Group!
"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else"

-- Margaret Mead
Deana, Sarah & Mark took advantage of the warm, sunny weather this week to spend a little time walking around New London Reservoir Park. For more info about New London's Parks, visit nlreservoir.com
Would you like to join CLI for some fun virtual activities?
It's a bunch of loud fun!
“If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner"

-- Tallulah Bankhead
Firelands Local LLC Update:
James Johnson
419-921-6400
How incredible last week felt. I hope you were able to get a big vitamin D boost. Margaret, Roxanne and myself spent some time outside doing really hard and important stuff. It is amazing how some warm weather and that big orange thing in the sky can improve your attitude.
 
I would like to remind everyone that 3/26 from 10 – 5 will be our annual shred day. Your first 500 pounds are free. We will have plenty of people working and plenty of room to unload your documents to be destroyed.
 
We will also be donating the proceeds from our monthly drop off on 4/1 to the McGuan park project. That is no April Fools joke either.
 
Enjoy your St. Patrick’s day. Be safe and responsible.
 
Production: We completed 16,500 units and shredded 9,000 pounds of paper. We also collected 13,000 pounds of cardboard.
Tracey and her bug
strike again!
Figured with it being St. Patrick's Day (ish) AND the month which we recognized people with developmental disabilities-- it might be appropriate to feature some Irish self advocates. Gotta love youtube!
Need a little bit more Irish to get you in the mood for the big day on Wednesday?

Check out this cover of The Cranberries' "Dreams" by "Irish Women in Harmony".
The FREE Good Works Cafe runs every Friday at 11:30 am until they run out of food.


*Donations are accepted & 100% go to
future Fridays.*
The video link here features Tina Evans and Dr. Julie Gentile, professor and chair of psychiatry at Wright State University and director of the Ohio Telepsychiatry Project for DODD. They will introduce the recent initiatives Ohio is taking to support young adults.

You can find more videos by clicking on either the youtube or the DODD website buttons below.
www.CLIsupports.com