Volume 33 Issue 10
www.cosmoindustries.com
October 2013
OVER 4 MILLION PENNIES FOR COSMO!
Mayor Atchison with Peter and
representatives from the Nutana Legion
Betty Anne Fisher, Les Large, Peter Gerrard, Corrine Lees, and Sharlene Duquette
The ‘Penny For Your Thoughts’
campaign ended with an amazing flourish at the September
28th windup held at Market Mall.
Thanks to a last minute $5,000
donation from Airline Hotels, the
effort raised over $44,000 for the
development of a new area for
Community Enriched Supports. It
is due to a large number of caring
people that the Cosmo Renewal
Project is getting off to such a
good beginning. Although there is
still a long way to go in this three
year 1.3 million dollar project, the
grand opening of our new area for
Noah of the Saskatoon Lasers Swim Club
with Pat and Peter
Sheila and Paul of Prairie Sailors provide entertainment with a few small volunteers
CES will be on December 6th. Many
thanks go to those in the community
who worked on our behalf, Betty Anne at
Market Mall, Corrine from BMO Bank of
Montreal, Mayor Atchison for being our
number 1 fan, everyone who worked on
the Nutana Legion pancake breakfast,
the participants who rolled bags and
bags of pennies. Thank you to all the
generous people in the city who dug into
their pockets and cleaned out their coin
collections so that Cosmo can continue
to grow.
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The Cosmo Communicator
COSMO SURPASSES GOAL
Meet Lenore & Winnie, our volunteers
for the Pet Therapy program!
Lenore & Winnie will be with us every
Monday in Seniors and Pathways.
Welcome to Cosmo!
Since their inception in 1959, the
United Way of Saskatoon and Area has
invested more than $80 million back
into the community.
The United Way thrives on bettering
communities and many lives by focusing on three areas: “From poverty to
possibility”, “Healthy people, strong
communities” and “All that kids can
be”. The United Way builds strong
partnerships that engage members of
the community to offer resources that
are sustainable for those in need.
Cosmo has benefitted from this investment as we are one of the many
United Way funded agencies with two
positions being partially funded by
this opportunity. The United Way
hosts their annual Campaign in the
fall , and as a thank you, Cosmo participates in the Campaign by asking staff
members for a donation of their
choice. In 2012, Cosmo raised $3,400
and this year, we surpassed our goal of
$4,000 by raising $4,950.08. The Campaign is the largest fundraiser for the
United Way and last year, the Campaign raised $5.4 million to generously
give back to the community.
Thank you to all donors who made a
donation towards this year’s United
Way Community Campaign!
Chantal Gosselin
Coordinator of Volunteer Services
Rhythm Band would like to
extend a big thank you to
Roger & Marie Jolly,
owners of Yamaha Piano
Centre, for their recent
donation of a piano peddle.
YAMAHA PIANO
CENTRE
1011 Broadway Avenue
GALON TREATS COSMO TO CRASH-FILLED DAY
Welcome to our newest
volunteers:
Amin Achanyang
Adam Buchko
Miranda Akateh
Alyssa Postnikoff
Amandeep Sandhu
Chantal Bremner
David Diakuw
David McDonald
Denise Leduc
Dionne Chypiska
Eric Andre
Kaylee Bodnarchuk
Kirstin Gowda
Marcel Mutarugera
Memunatu Kamara
Preslie Smith
Sydney Diemert
Taylor Amendt
Galon Insurance hosted Cosmo &
Elmwood in their Chalet at the Auto
Clearing Speedway on Saturday, September 28th. Several Cosmo participants, Elmwood residents and staff,
along with Cal, Chantal and Nicole representing Cosmo were fortunate to
have great seats and complimentary
treats thanks to Galon! Everyone enjoyed watching the cars crash into
each other for their last time of the
season. Many cars didn’t make it far in
the races, but those that did had the
chance to hit large barrels of water to
splash the crowd.
Jen & Jeff Galon treated the participants by purchasing t-shirts and flags.
We would like to extend a very large
THANK YOU to Jen, Jeff and their wonderful staff from Galon for treating us
to such a great time!
Chantal Gosselin
Coordinator of Volunteer Services
THANK YOU TO GALON INSURANCE
FOR
HOSTING THE HAUNTED HOUSE AT
COSMO OCT. 31ST!!
Page 3
Knock knock!
Whose there?
Witch.
Witch who?
Witch one of you can
fix my broomstick?
Why wasn’t the
vampire working?
He was on his
coffin break!!
A POEM
BY JOSHUA
WARD
Have you ever seen a monster white
Ready to suck your blood on Halloween?
Or a ghoulish face creepy and green?
Or a werewolf howling at the moon,
ready to attack…
Watch your back! Beware of its bite!
Watch out for Frankenstein rampaging
in the dark.
Cemeteries, gravestones, unholy
creatures of the night.
Zombies lurking for flesh and brains
hungry and insane!
On Halloween creatures walk for just
one day
But they wish it was forever and if
they had their way…
They might!!
The Cosmo Communicator
We are thankful for…
Richard Sayers (CWG) liked everything about Thanksgiving;
especially the pumpkin and apple pies with whipped cream.
Velmore Smith (Contracts) enjoyed roast duck and desserts.
He also expressed thanks for being on this Earth and
thankful for Cosmo.
Halloween Caramel
Apples Recipe
(makes 5)
-60 caramels
-4 Tbsp. water
(or cream)
-5 medium McIntosh
apples
-5 wooden sticks
Melt caramels with water in saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally until smooth. Insert sticks into washed and dried apples.
Dip into hot caramel and turn until coated. Place on greased
sheet and chill immediately until
serving time.
Cosmo will be closed on
Monday, November
11th in recognition of
Remembrance Day.
Lest we forget.
COSMO’S
ANNUAL
HALLOWEEN
DANCE
Thursday, Oct. 31st
from 1-3 pm
Dress up for a
spooktacular time!
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The Cosmo Communicator
Trade show/fundraiser for Cosmo
Wednesday Nov.13, 2013
4:00-5:30 Pm
Cosmo Vipond Auditorium
Come & purchase your Christmas gifts from venders such as:
Epicure, Mary Kay, Pamper Chef, Odd Duck Creations, Park
Avenue jewellery, Scentsy, Avon and others.
*A portion of the proceeds will be put towards Cosmo’s Renewal Project.
GREY CUP DANCE
PARTY!
Pathways would like to
invite everyone to bring in
their plastic rings that
hold multipacks together.
November 22nd in the afternoon
Featuring
entertainment by Lady Hawke
Wear your Rider gear to cheer
our favourite team on!
Rings can be dropped off
at Cosmo. Thanks!
ALOHA
For one week in October, it was a
special time for Cindy Draper, Cindy
Toews, Les Fernquist, and David
Bahnmann. For this memorable
week, Bev Brassard and I took the
four participants to the Hawaiian
Island of Maui courtesy of the Top
of the Rock fund. During this fun
filled time, we experienced beautiful scenery and many events. We
took in a Luau, aquarium, shopped,
Swap Meet (like a Farmers Market),
drove the Road to Hana (“68-mile
(109 km) stretch takes about 2.5
hours to drive when no stops are
made as the highway is very winding and narrow and passes over 59
bridges, 46 of which are only one
lane wide. There are approximately
620 curves”) which is a breath taking adventure that took us eight
hours to drive with many stops
along the way! We also saw a huge
Banyon Tree (“The tree was imported from India and was only 8
feet tall. It now stands over 60 feet
high, has 12 major trunks in addition to a huge core. It stretches over
a 200-foot area and shades 2/3 of
an acre”). We visited a sugar plantation, where Hawaii produces a major portion of sugar for the country,
and we took in a Maui Plantation
tour where we saw how they grow
and produce pineapples (which are
so yummy!), coconuts, papayas,
mangos and macadamia nuts.
Thank you to Top of the Rock
which made this trip of a lifetime
happen and one that will not be
soon forgotten!
Dave Parkalub, Recreation
Coordinator
Bev Brassard, Life and
Enrichment Division
New staff
Megan Santoro- Life Skills
Jeanette Mendez- Life Skills
Michelle Thorson- Contracts
Participants-Goodbye
Myles Classen
NOTICE TO PARENTS &
CAREGIVERS
Our annual Christmas Party for
participants only will be on Friday
December 6th.
Combo/Wheelchair Bus passengers will
be picked up 1.5 hours later than usual
and drop off time will be 30 minutes
later than usual.
Buses will pick up passengers 2.5 hours
later than usual, no change in drop off
time.
City bus travelers plan to arrive at
Cosmo for 11:30 am.
Private travelers plan to arrive at Cosmo
for 11:30 am.
*Please be sure to dress up!
If you have any questions, please call
Helen at 664-3158.
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The Cosmo Communicator
COSMO KIWANIS RHYTHM BAND CHOSEN
AS VOLUNTEER OF DISTINCTION AWARD RECIPIENTS
In April, SARC Member Agencies
were asked to submit candidates for
the Volunteer of Distinction Award.
This Award recognizes individuals who
excelled in assisting persons with disabilities to reach their potential and
enjoy full citizenship. Here at Cosmo,
we have a number of volunteers who
would have been great candidates for
the Award, although, we decided to
submit a unique application. We nominated the volunteer partnership of the
Cosmo Kiwanis Rhythm Band along
with Russ Regier, our conductor, and
Shirley MacLennan, our pianist, for
their initiative to lead the Band.
Several months later, we were
thrilled to hear that our nomination of
the Cosmo Kiwanis Rhythm Band had
been chosen to be the 2013 Volunteer
of Distinction Award Recipients. On
Wednesday, October 16th, our group of
volunteers along with representatives
from Kiwanis were
presented with the
award, and had the
opportunity to view
our interview with
SARC that was
filmed this summer.
It has been 29
years since the initial vision of our
instrumental band,
and it is with great
honour that we are
able to publicly recognize the support
we have received
from the Kiwanis Club of Saskatoon, as
well as our current leaders of the band
– Russ and Shirley. These volunteers
have given our participants the opportunity to be prideful to showcase their
musical talents throughout the community.
Congratulations to our volunteers!
Chantal Gosselin
Coordinator of Volunteer Services
JOEL BIRTLES RECEIVES AL MCGUIRE AWARD
Please join me in congratulating Joel
Birtles who is the recipient of the Al
McGuire Award for Transition to Employment! The Transition to Employment award is presented to an individual who has moved into an employment situation and has displayed a
strong work attitude and become more
independent as a
result.
The Al
McGuire Award was
created in memory
of the late Al
McGuire
who
served on the SARC
Board of Directors
and the award is
presented annually
to recognize and
celebrate
outstanding
efforts
toward
personal
growth by our individual who is supported by SARC
Member Agencies.
Joel was presented with a framed
certificate of achievement, a cheque
for $300, and a vignette-style video
created of his accomplishments and
why he was recognized for the award
at SARC’s 45th Anniversary Awards
Banquet held on Wednesday October
16, 2013.
He was joined by his parents Roger
and Eleanor, his brother Blaine and
many proud staff members from Dad’s
Organic Market, where Joel works, and
Cosmo staff who celebrated with him
on this great achievement!
Please take a moment to congratulate
him on this great accomplishment-he
has worked extremely hard to achieve
this.
The dedication by the Job
Coaches and the Staff at Dad’s for their
ongoing efforts and commitment to the
Community Based Work Program is
amazing and this support is critical to
ensure ongoing success!
Congratulations Joel and thank you
to all of the Job Coaches and staff at
Dad’s Organic Market! What a team!
Sharlene Duquette
Vocational Manager
Congratulations to our award recipients!