They're Adorbs!

Thank you to Cathy Harvey, Administrative Assistant, for writing today's blog.

We are in the midst of all the holiday festivities, and I am excited. Being a basement stationery artist, I am attracted to the aisles of Christmas cards and wrapping paper tantalizing my creativity and mood for this special season. I enjoy the entire process involved in sending out cards: choosing just which card design and words speaks to my heart, taking a family photo, writing the notes, choosing the pen that fits my hand like a glove, listening to Christmas music while I write, addressing the envelopes and the feel of the the ink on paper as the cursive flows from my pen, and even deciding which Christmas stamp to use!

Every year since 2010, Shepherds College has designed a card to send to those who lives touch the college ministry and to whom we wish to send a special Christmas greeting. This year’s

a d o r a b l e card was designed by one of our upcoming graduates, Olya Porth, and I am excited to begin addressing the envelopes so I can send them out!

Besides the college card, one of our artistic residents, Melody Farr, used her God-given talents to draw three different designs for the ministry’s Christmas cards—also adorable! For only $10.00 for a package of 12, I scooped up three the first day I saw them. Even the back of the cards shares an important message. Placed around sweet little stars Melody drew and colored is this: “People with disabilities... are people with abilities too.” It aligns perfectly with our philosophy that each person is designed by God on purpose and for a purpose, and that our mission is to train for life. That tiny nugget on the back of each card blessed me, and I pray it will be noticed.

And if that weren’t enough, Melody also created very colorful designs that have been reprinted on recipe cards—so, so adorable (pardon my junior high-ish expressions) I literally squealed when I first saw them on the counter in the marketing department. I purchased four sets immediately!  Perfect stocking stuffers or gifts for all my “foodie” sisters and friends. They are only $5.00 a pack, so they fit perfectly for a casual, low-cost gift exchange too!

As I stood squealing my delight at the recipes, I could not hold back the cheer, “They are so adorable!” to which the Director of Marketing replied, “Yep! They’re adorbs!” Apparently that is the new lingo of the younger generation. Perhaps it stems from numerous abbreviated words used for text messaging, but “adorbs” hit the spot for these little masterpieces.

Check them out and feel free to order them by emailing sgriffis@shepherdscollege.edu with your contact and credit card information. You can also call 262-878-5620 to order, or mail your order with a check to:

Shepherds Ministries

1805 15th Ave

Union Grove, WI 53182

Attn: Susan Griffis

Because “They’re adorbs!”

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

The Office: An Easter Break

Thank you to Cathy Harvey, Administrative Assistant to Shepherds College, for writing today's blog.

It is not often that I attend the Wednesday chapel services for the residents of Shepherds Ministries, the parent organization to Shepherds College. But today Gloria Dahlberg, the Day Services Center Supervisor, announced an Easter production they had practiced and prepared.  Even though it is the week we process the students' report cards, I decided to pause for 30 minutes, attend this chapel, and support the residents in their efforts.

It continues to amaze me, the amount of care and intentional planning the Program and Day Services staff members take in planning special events for our residents.  All the Day Service residents were given parts, costumes, and props: 

a burst of sunshine, 

flowers covered in sparkle dust, 

butterfly masks, 

bumble bee cut-outs, 

a cross, 

a tree with a full green canopy, 

large pink hearts, 

and bunny ear headbands. 

The loving staff and faithful volunteers who helped are so copious in their care of these special folks who have made their home here for many years.

There were parts for narrating, numerous solos, holding up of props, and group songs that all focused on the Easter story. 

I was surprised that the residents knew so many songs by heart - precious hymns and choruses popular before contemporary Christian radio!   

Here are all the songs they used to sing their way through the Easter story:

Heavenly Sunshine

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Thank you Lord

Jesus Loves Me

His Name Is Wonderful

Oh How He Loves You and Me

For God So Loved the World (chorus)

My God Is So Big

He Is Able

Isn’t the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful

He Arose

Every Promise in the Book is Mine

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

The Old Rugged Cross

Praise Ye The Lord

He Lives

Happy Easter (sang to tune of Happy Birthday)

 

Toward the end of the program, my heart was touched by the beauty, simplicity, and sincerity of their efforts and heart message.  It brought tears to my eyes to imagine what the Lord thought as He viewed the love given and received in the making of this little production in Union Grove, Wisconsin.  I imagined their voices reaching heaven, and the Lord stopping all activity so the angels could listen to His special children singing His praises.

After the final prayer by a volunteer, the residents on stage all shouted “Happy Easter!” to the audience. 
  

Happy Easter indeed!

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

The Office: A Bouquet of High Fives

Written by Cathy Harvey, Administrative Assistant to Shepherds College

 

This semester, Tracy Terrill, Executive Director of the college, encouraged the staff to think about what each of us can do to intentionally “build the Shepherds College community.”  The larger community includes not only faculty, staff, and students, but also parents, professional partners, and all the other departments of Shepherds Ministries: nursing, maintenance, the business office, the kitchen staff, marketing, program, Shepherds Enterprise—you get the idea.

He gave us a start in our thinking by offering the first goal:

#1 – Build community with our words by

            a)  Avoiding unnecessary negativity and

            b)  If we think something good about someone, tell them!  We should not let the moment pass, but speak a work of kindness, send a note of encouragement, e-mail a word of praise.  It can be as simple as a sticky note on their desk - anything, but do it!

The second goal was left for us to craft.  He gave us a sheet of paper with a picture of a large brick to represent what we will do to help build community.  We had to fill in the following phrase and turn it in to him.

#2 – “In order to build the SC community, I will…” 

Here is one idea our Horticulture instructor, Leslie Leith, designed.  She calls it a Shepherds College P.A.T. Award which stands for “Positive Attitude Teamwork.”  It is a form anyone can use to show appreciation for someone who was caught demonstrating positive teamwork taking place in our community. 

The symbol is a flower pot with several different colored hands.  I like to think of it as giving a bouquet of high fives or a bouquet of applause.

There is also a place on the form to fill out for the person’s supervisor so the supervisor is aware of what  their team member accomplished.  It is a great way to honor someone’s “behind-the-scenes” contributions.

Here are a couple of examples of staff caught in the act of jobs well done.

Chef McCarthy was honored because he went over-and-above a request when a staff member asked if they could use the teaching kitchen table to put out food for a staff lunch.  When he learned that the food was going to be cold, he quickly assessed the logistics of how long it would take staff to wait in line at the microwave.  He offered to warm all the food up in advance.  Not only that, he then used it as a learning opportunity to involve the Culinary Arts students.  He added grated cheese, shredded lettuce, and sour cream to the meat, bean, and rice being served to round out the menu.  He then had the students set up lovely chafing dishes to warm all the food, and let the students practice their catering skills by serving all the staff as they came through.  The request for merely for using the table to lay out the food—Chef McCarthy went over and above!  High Fives to Chef!

Gloria Dahlberg of Day Services has always been so cheerful and flexible about giving up the gym for afternoons that the college needs it for Preview Days, student retreats, graduation, or any event where the college needs the gym.  She uses the gym daily for an hour after lunch so Day Service residents can exercise, but she never hesitates to make an alternate plan when we need the gym.  High Fives to Gloria!

 

Linda Manlick in the business office saves the college a lot of time by researching the cost for all the supplies we need to order so we get the best price.  She is quick and accurate and also offers alternative ideas so we can be as frugal as possible.  If we need a rush order, she is there for us and acts to service us with a spirit of helpfulness.  I feel a sense of teamwork from her as she treats our needs as important as she would hers.  High Fives to Linda!

Lily McCarthy, one of the college para instructors, cheerfully pitches in no matter what is needed.  Apart from her classroom responsibility, she recently spent hours ironing the creases out of 10 new flags purchased for graduation.  It is a small detail that probably no one will think about on graduation day, but she tackled it with such care and thoughtfulness, making sure she did not burn or damage the flags with too hot of an iron.  When finished, she hung them all carefully and tagged them so we could see that state or country each flag represented.  High Fives to Lily!

And on and on we could go.  It is not hard to find ways to use the P.A.T. award because Shepherds hires wonderful people who care.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

The Office: How It All Began

“Where are the 20-somethings?”

As I talked with Dr. Bill Amstutz, president of Shepherds Ministries, he repeated this question that he had voiced just a few years ago. The very inception of Shepherds College can be traced back to that simple question.

“Where are the 20-somethings?”

For the majority of Shepherds Ministries’ existence, the organization has been known as a residential home for adults with intellectual disabilities. But as Shepherds reached its 50^th anniversary, they realized they were not seeing growth within their program. Their residents did not appropriately represent the younger generations of people in their 20s and 30s. Shepherds wanted to find those people, but they realized they would have to create a new program to reach this age group.

Dr. Amstutz’s soft eyes seemed to twinkle as he told me how it all began.

As the administrators and board of directors met at a visioning summit, Dr. Amstutz asked that important question. Ideas were bounced around, and eventually, the group focused on instituting a program that would connect Shepherds back to their educational roots. Shepherds had begun as a boarding school for children with intellectual disabilities, and now the administrators designed plans to start a post-secondary school for students with intellectual disabilities.

This was new territory for everyone involved, and there wasn’t any other program like this that Shepherds could use as a model example. As the research was performed, Shepherds quickly recognized a nationwide lack of post-secondary options for students with intellectual disabilities. Shepherds College planned to combine education, vocational training, daily living skills, residential life, spiritual training, and lessons in appropriate independence to create their college, a combination that had never been instituted in an intellectual disability program before. This school would truly be the first of its kind.

As Shepherds College continued the development of their program, they realized that many young adults with intellectual disabilities struggle with transitions. These young people need help transitioning from school to work and from home to independence.  Shepherds understood that their school would have to successfully support the students throughout these transitions. It would be an essential element to their program.

Not only was Shepherds College designed to influence their students academically and socially, but also spiritually. You see, Shepherds does not want their ministry to simply offer a service. They want to equip their students to live a successful life by providing high quality education with a spiritual foundation. Shepherds College trains their students to have a meaningful relationship with Christ.

Nikki and Dr. Amstutz at the 2011 Commencement

Unlike Shepherds Ministries, Shepherds College does not anticipate making a long-term commitment with their students. Instead, Shepherds College looks to make a brief, but permanent imprint on their students’ hearts during their three years here. Dr. Amstutz refers to it as “a wonderful touch on their lives.” Shepherds College expects their students to take the next step in independence and go out in the world to wherever it is that God has called them, but to always keep Shepherds College in their hearts and minds.

Shepherds has finally found their “20-somethings,” and they’ve created a program that will help those 20-somethings succeed on multiple levels. Now, Shepherds Ministries is able to offer programs that attract adults of all ages.

And to think, it all started with just one question.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.org.