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Volume 2, Issue 1
St. Francis Advocates
7346 Arkona Rd. PO Box 218
Arkona, ON, N0M 1B0
February, 2011
The St. Francis Advocate
Up on the Roof Top
By: Michael Boughner
Have you ever been so cold that you thought your toes were going to fall off? Or have your cheeks been so red you
would have thought you were part of Santa’s suit? And although all of these unpleasant things are happening to you,
you are in high spirits, screaming, laughing and singing at the top of your lungs! If YES then you already know what
I am talking about and if NO then I would like to welcome you to the St. Francis Advocates float for the Christmas
parade in Blenheim.
It was a very cold December night when several of us all bundled up really tight and we sang the
theme song for the parade:
Up on the roof top
except it was “Up on the flat bed” and
instead of
reindeers pause
, it was “hope you don”t fall off” We were cold but we sang,
laughed and screamed Merry Christmas to everyone but most importantly- WE had a blast!
Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn’t go!
Michael Boughner-Woodslee
A big thank you goes out to
everyone who helped organize the
float and to the great people at
Carey Leasing in Blenheim who,
once again, donated their trailer
and time for us to have such a great
night.
Busy Holiday Season
By: The Dresden Home
Dresden house is very excited
to submit our news to the St. Francis
Advocate. We had a very busy and
exciting holiday season which kicked
off with the St. Francis Christmas dinner.
We attended two other Christmas parties with out friends at the
Moose Lodge in Chatham and with
our friends from the Dresden Friendship club.
On December 19th we held our
Dresden Open House. Many of our
neighbours and people from our
church came to our home and we all
had a great visit.
A Note of Thanks
We had a special visit from
our friend Pat O’Bright. It is always
wonderful to spend time with Pat.
Over the holiday season we all
received either visits or phone calls
form our families. We are also very
thankful for the many special gifts we
received from family and friends over
the holidays. Great food, drinks and
many baked goods certainly helped us
all with our diets.
Happy 2011 Everyone
Dave, Bob, Russell and Dennis.
The Dresden Home
We just wanted to thank you for providing
staff during David's hospitalization. We saw how
important it was for David's safety and peace of
mind that familiar faces were there to support him
and stay with him. Once again we are realizing the
compassion and efficiency of St. Francis Advocates. We certainly appreciated how
Cheryl took charge and had everything under control. You are to be commended on your team approach.
We are truly thankful for the excellent care
David receives at St. Francis House.
Shirley & Werner
Nature Trail Clean Up—A Man on a Mission
By: Murray Stevenson
Adam Huffman has a love for nature and a passion to keep it clean for others to enjoy. For some time, Adam has
had a vision to initiate a project to clean
up garbage in his community. This vision started to become a reality this past
August, after Adam developed a Stepping
Stones plan to clean up the Howard Watson Nature Trail in Sarnia.
This goal began with research, purchasing materials such as gloves, garbage
bags and a trusty garbage picker. Adam
and Support Worker covered different
parts of the trail on repeated occasions and
still a couple bags of garbage and a bag of
recyclables were produced each time.
Part of the vision was to promote
and get others involved in cleaning up the
environment. Adam practiced and presented his appeal and presented it on 2
occasions. A group Clean- Up Event was
planned for November 13th 2010. Posters
were given out and invitations extended.
Adam was very encouraged to have a
group of 15 people come and work together to accomplish this goal. Everyone
met at Harvey’s, one team went in one
direction and another group went the other
way. More than nine garbage bags later,
everyone felt a sense of accomplishment
and a new appreciation for the clean trail.
Adam made this his mission because he believes in it and enjoys cleaning
up a mess; this in turn made an impact on
others in their concern for nature. Good
job Adam!
Submitted by Murray Stevenson,
Support Worker
Relationship Training
By: Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones Transition Planners, Anna & Julie and Patty from St
Francis Advocates offered a six week
relationship training session for ten participants from both Stepping Stones and
St. Francis Advocates. The “Circles”
material obtained from the St. Francis
Advocate’s library was adapted by the
leaders in the best interest of the people
attending the sessions. Activities were
interactive including cut and paste worksheets, role playing with props, relay
races, board game, matching pictures to
different categories, and video clips on
different styles of relationships and many
more. Each day finished with an opportunity to scrapbook pictures of their own
concrete relationships to reinforce the
theory learnt that day.
We would like to thank Constable
Vicki from the Petrolia Detachment and
Gisele from Sexual Assault Survivor’s,
Sarnia Lambton who assisted in discussions. Constable Vicki spoke to each individual’s responsibility in the community
and about appropriate behaviour and personal space with community people.
Gisele spoke to the group about personal
safety and how we can be safe and assist
others in the Community. We’d also like
to thank St. Luke’s Anglican Church for
the use of their space which they have
been so generous to share with us.
In the end the group made many
new social connections, learnt a lot about
relationships and self esteem and had a lot
of fun.
Reflections of participants:
Kyle – “Sign me up for the next one. I
definitely want to be a part of that again”
Frank – “Frank is in the Purple Private
CIRCLE”
Adam & Mom – “I wish it went on every
week forever, he liked it so much!”
Cory – “CIRCLES is good, you know!
There was a police officer there talking
about kids and not allowed to pass out
phone numbers, you know!”
Patty McDonald
Julie VanDerKant
Anna Sioson
Purple
Private
Blue Hug
Green Far
Away Hug
Yellow
Handshake
Orange Wave
Red Strange
Space
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1
Page 2
Keri’s Kolumn
By: Keri Ion’s
Wow, can you believe it! Time for
another edition of to the St. Francis Advocate. Since we last wrote our stories,
Charing Cross amongst others have enjoyed many exciting and interesting ventures.
Our summer camp was a great success. We all enjoyed the good times and
Doesn’t Derek look great too?
fun activities scheduled. The annual golf
I even got to spend time with my spetournament was a great success again this
cial friend Alfred during the party.
year. I heard J.P. wore a dress. Bet he
looked Scottish. Thanks to the committee
for your commitment. Everyone enjoyed
the fun and good times this year at the
Glenco fair.
Jeremy had fun too.
‘I Hope this doesn’t go too fast’
Our friends in Harrow invited us
to their home for a Halloween haunted
house. Thank you Harrow your party
was spooktacular!
Doug was getting right into the spirit.
Alfred???
I wonder if he’ll see some deer this year.
We have been very fortunate the
weather here has been fabulous. Our first
real storm came in January of this year.
Still not as much as our friends up North
received. Glad our home didn’t look like
the igloo Petrolia Farm did hehe.
On December 2, 2010 we enjoyed our
yearly Christmas gathering at Dresden.
Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely
and the food of course was great. Well
That cap has bling bling.
done to the coordinators of the event.
Ken did a wonderful job with the music,
and everyone danced the evening away.
P.S. Ken when your speaker squealed, so
did I.
December 3, 2010 we got together
to design and participate in the Blenheim
Parade. Up On the Roof Top was the
theme. Boy was it cold that night.
Sherry helped us stay warm with
cocoa and coffee.
On December 23, 2010 we celebrated our gift exchange since 2 of us
were going home to our family for the
holidays. Everyone had a wonderful
time. We also held a Christmas drop in
for friends, family and staff to help us
celebrate the holiday season. Yet again
the food was amazing.
Rick our DSW student helped us to
celebrate as well. We’ll miss him a lot,
good luck in the future. Soon it will be
time for our new student to arrive.
This past December 2, 2010 Derek
had some wonderful news. Derek’s Aunt
Anita is finally tying the knot. On December 30, 2010 Derek was the Best
Man for the Wedding. Derek looked
very dapper in his new dress suit. I am
not sure what to expect in the coming
months, but I am sure it will be fun and
exciting. Until next time.
- Keri Ions
I was Avatar!!!
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1
Page 3
Holidays
By: Alfred Haas—Harrow
We here in Harrow have been very
busy. We travelled to Niagara Falls at the
beginning of October looking to catch some
air on the rides at Marine land, unfortunately the day we went, the park was closed
because it was raining. But we did not let
the weather dampen our trip. We enjoyed
the Butterfly Conservatory instead and ate
really well on our trip. The Mandarin was
the highlight for me. The food was incredible and we all ate until we were about to
explode. I hope we plan to go to Marine
Land again because I want to see if David
will really go on the Roller Coaster or not.
In October we held our 2nd Annual
Haunted House Halloween Party. Bats flew
around our heads and spiders dropped from
above. There was even a corpse in a grave
yard which would pop and scare unsuspecting victims. It was hard work but we had a
lot of fun putting it together and the party
was worth it. The movies were creepy, the
costumes were spooktacular, the food was
gruesomely tasty and the activities were
‘Haunting.’ We look forward to new ways
of scaring our friends next Halloween.
The Festivities over the Christmas
Holidays were a blast. Gerry and David
both had members of their families meet up
with us in Dresden to enjoy the St. Francis
Christmas Dinner. The night was filled
with good food, lots of laughs and dancing.
The following Day we travelled to
Blenheim for their local Christmas Parade.
I did not go on the float itself but enjoyed
watching the parade from our
warm van, along
with Nick. Paul
and Gerry both
boarded the float
and David
walked the street
with Taffy, Crystal’s dog. Everyone had a great
time.
Dave,
Gerry and Nick all went to visit family for
the holidays but before they left we held
our gift exchange. We hold a Secret Santa
gift exchange, where one of us buys for
someone else in the house. Everyone enjoyed their Secret Santa gifts and all their
other presents. Paul and I remained home in
Harrow but we certainly kept busy. We had
visitors of our own to the house and also
went to visit our friends in BelleRiver.
We ‘rang in’ the New Year by going
out for supper and to the movie theatre to
see ‘Little Focker.’ It was a funny movie.
When we arrived home we had some ‘Party
drinks’ and snacks. It was a great way to
finish out a great year and the year ahead is
sure to be a busy one aswell.
From Airwaves to Print this is Fred
Haas signing out.
- Alfred Haas, Harrow House
Thedford Home By: Ruth Ann
Here we go again, stopping to catch our breath as we reflect on the final months of 2010. We’ve had wonderful days filled
with friends and laughter. Who could forget the taste of the cotton candy or the sound of the carnival music heard while experiencing
the breath taking thrills on the swirling rides at the fall fairs? There have been strolls through the bright coloured woods on crisp autumn days and late nights dancing until your feet hurt! Here in Thedford Melissa, Ian, John and I have been busy with these and other
activities.
Not only have we been out having a great time we’ve also been busy with other homes capturing the fall harvest. We’ve
canned delicious jars full of pickles and jams, put together warm cozy blankets and made other crafts that we have sold to raise funds
for our ESO program. Everyone has gathered together at ESO to celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving and of course Christmas.
I was very happy that the month of November finally arrived. After lots and lots and LOTS of saving all the plans came together and I was off on my vacation. I went on a Caribbean cruise with Travel Partners for a fabulous fun filled week. My favourite
pastimes were shopping, dancing and dressing up to go out to supper on the ship. I spent time with new friends and especially enjoyed dancing with Charles. Melissa also had a vacation. She spent a week with her Mom and Dad during Christmas break. She
returned to Thedford with a letter bursting with the news of all the great things she did while at her parents. John has been considering different ideas for his vacation that he is wanting to take in the spring.
Meanwhile here in Thedford we experienced that incredible snow storm along with everyone else in Lambton county but we
were all warm and safe. The arrival of the snow has given us the opportunity to enjoy winter activities and we look forward to going
snow tubing in St Mary’s in January. Next time we see everyone I hope to have pictures to share, take care.
Happy 2011 from the Forest Home! By: Adam
Well have made it through another busy Holiday Season! The guys and gal were able to enjoy many activities during the
holiday season including visits with family, turkey dinners and lots of presents. As usual people were pretty anxious during the
season but the staff team helped everyone get though it. We have welcomed a couple new part time staff in the last few months,
which have helped greatly with a lack of staff that we saw back the beginning of the Fall.
I’m helping our Health and Safety Rep continue to look at the household products used in the house to see what improvements we
can make now that we are using a new Fast Septic System.
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1
Page 4
Happy New Year Everyone from everyone at the
Arkona Home!!
The Arkona house has had some great holidays! Scott, Shannon and
Frank got a lot of great presents from Santa. We all had a wonderful time at
the St. Francis Advocates Christmas Party too!
Shannon has begun making homemade Jewellery and she has called
her business “Belleza”. She has been making bracelets and necklaces to
sell. She put a party on to sell her items in November and did very well!
Here is the business card she made: If anyone is interested in having her
make you something you can call Shannon or email the Arkona House.
Up-Coming Events:
— Co-ed Recreational Volleyball Tournament: April 2nd and 3rd, 2011, at the Huron
Oaks Golf Club. The tournament will start at 8 A.M. each day. The cost is $225.00 per
team and the registration and information forms can be found on-line at http://
www.stfrancisadvocates.net/events.php
— 3rd
Annual All-U-Can Eat Pasta Supper and Silent Auction: Come and join us, Thurs-
day, April 28th, 2011, at Club Lentina’s in Chatham, for good food and great fun. Doors are
open from 6pm to 9pm. Tickets are $20. The Pasta Buffet includes an assortment of pastas
and sauces. The dinner is being held at Club Lentina’s, 250 National Road, Chatham. The
Flyer can be located at the following Link: http://www.stfrancisadvocates.net/assets/2011%
20April%2028th,%20Pasta%20Supper%20Flyer.pdf
— 2011
Golf Tournament: “Save the Date”
- July 8, 2011 at Countryview Golf Club in Chatham
Movie Review
By: Harrow House
Joke for December:
“What do Santa’s elves learn in school?” ... The ELF-A-Bet!! Ha Ha Ha
Released on January 18, 2011, ‘The Switch’ is a comedic drama. Seven years
after swapping sperm samples, slightly neurotic stockbroker Wally (Jason Bateman) doesn’t know how to tell his friend Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) that her child,
who she thinks was fathered by another man, is actually his. Both Wally and the
young boy exhibit similar quirks along the way. Oh yeah, he also has to tell her
that he loves her, and yadda yadda yadda. It will make you laugh and maybe even
cry but it leaves you feeling like Wally wasn’t entirely wrong doing what he did.
Editors Note
By: Alfred Haas
The Submissions which were received
for this edition were a great read. This
edition is sure to get your toes tapping. It
‘Unstoppable’ is a drama about a runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemi- will make you laugh, maybe even cry but
cals. The engineer and his conductor are in a race against time. They’re chasing the it will certainly make you proud to be part
runaway train in a separate locomotive and need to bring it under control before it of St. Francis Advocates.
derails on a curve and causes a toxic spill that will decimate a town. Starring
Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, ‘Unstoppable’ is a non-stop action ride.
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1
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