This Week's Possibilities Newsletter is Here

Enjoying the Beautiful Long Weekend

We were so lucky to have beautiful summer weather in Essex County over the Civic Holiday! We hope you had a chance to get outdoors and enjoy it! Marlene took to the streets and explored her neighbourhood by bike, and John brought his drum outside to play in front of his house.

Next Generation of Caregivers Engaging the Provincial Government

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

With the support of Community Living Ontario and The Siblings Collaborative, youth advocates of siblings with a disability are leading a movement to increase awareness of how their own experiences as siblings have impacted their personal and professional lives.

These youth advocates have engaged other siblings who have similar experiences across Ontario and helped and supported them in finding a way forward in their lives.

As a result of these discussions, a series of recommendations were developed and presented to the provincial government.

Kelly Runnalls,

Parent Consultant, Ensemble

ensemble@communitylivingessex.org or 519-776-6483, ext. 225

Click Here For The Report and Recommendations from Siblings with a Cause

Free Online Mental Health and Wellness Support

Mental health is just as important as physical health. Learn about supports available to you, and how to get help when you need it.

iCBT is a practical, short-term program delivered online. It helps people develop skills and strategies to address symptoms of mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression. This is a free service available to anyone ages 16 and older in Ontario.

To learn more and get services, contact either:

Spotlight on Focus Accreditation

For over ten years FOCUS Accreditation has been helping human service organizations in Ontario improve their quality of services. Quality improvement and ongoing learning are at the heart of their accreditation process.

Endorsed by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services as a best practice, accreditation can help CLEC improve our quality of services and assist with meeting ministry standards. FOCUS takes a human-centric approach that evaluates the qualitative and quantitative aspects of our services, and most importantly, spends time with people supported.

This will be our third time pursuing accreditation with FOCUS Accreditation. Accreditation takes place every four years.

Learn More About FOCUS on Their Website

Congratulations to Our Early Bird Draw Winner!

A HUGE congratulations goes out to Cheryl Moffat, who was the lucky winner of our Early Bird Draw on Friday! Cheryl won a 60” Samsung Smart TV from Ernie’s TV in Kingsville & a Netflix gift card! Missed the live draw on Facebook? You can watch it here: https://fb.watch/79nNHYldEG/

You still have time to purchase tickets for the main draw, which will take place during our Virtual 60^th Anniversary celebrations on September 9^th!

There are only 4,000 tickets available, so be sure to order your raffle tickets before we sell out. Raffle tickets are $25 each or three tickets for $60. Ticket sales have officially begun and will continue until Labour Day, September 6^th.

The 60 for 60 Anniversary Raffle has an outstanding line-up of prizes including a Grand Prize of $10,000 cash, sixty $60 dollar gift cards from a variety of local restaurants, retailers and services from across Essex County and a Travel Gift Package valued at $1,400.

Click Here To Order Your Tickets Today!

60th Anniversary Time Capsule

As we prepare to celebrate Community Living Essex County’s 60^th Anniversary, we’re interested to know what specific small item you would place in a time capsule to commemorate this milestone for the agency? Let us know at the link below!

Click Here To Submit Your Suggestions

CORRECTION Re: Passport Program Changes Coming in September

In last week’s Update Friday, Community Living Ontario shared new Passport guidelines that will come into effect on September 1st. They also indicated that the temporary changes to the Passport Program made in April 2020 would also be ending then. They have since been contacted by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) to say this is NOT the case.

While the new guidelines will replace the ones from 2014, the temporary changes from April 2020 will continue to be in affect until MCCSS indicates otherwise.

CLO apologizes for any confusion this error may have caused.

Open Streets Kingsville

Open Streets in downtown Kingsville returns this summer! Enjoy all that Kingsville has to offer in the fresh, open spaces of the vibrant community. Head out to drink and dine on the extended patios and support local by buying from the small businesses. Open Streets runs every Saturday 4 – 10:30 pm from June 19 to September 11, Main Street, Kingsville!

We Want to Hear From You!

How Are You Staying Well and Keeping Positive During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Whether it’s a new hobby, healthy habit or a positive change to your daily routine, we want to hear about it! Let us know in the box below. These submissions will be featured in the weekly internal video updates sent out to employees by our Executive Director, Karen Bolger and may be included in upcoming editions of the Possibilities newsletter.

Click Here To Submit Ideas Or Suggestions

Binge Worthy TV

Superstore

At a big-box megastore in St. Louis, a group of employees with larger-than-life personalities put up with customers, day-to-day duties and each other. Five seasons are now streaming on Netflix.