Creating opportunities for adults with disabilities since 1974
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APRIL 2022 E-NEWSLETTER

A MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Greetings Friends of Vocational Visions,

In just two short months, I will be retiring from Vocational Visions and I want to use these last couple of newsletter opportunities to reach out to you with a couple of parting messages.

Here is what I want you to know. Our Direct Service Professionals, the dedicated individuals who, day in and day out, provide care to our program participants are simply amazing! Vocational Visions is not fully staffed, and we are not perfect, but the staff we have are mighty. Much has been asked of them since we reopened and they have responded with robust enthusiasm and flexibility. When asked, they do what is necessary to make sure our program participants receive the support they need. I have profound respect for their challenging work and dedication.

I often hear stories of how our employees go beyond the call of duty, but I am certain that I do not hear them all. I am truly thankful to each one of these fine people for the difference they make! I hope you, too, will offer thanks to them when you have the chance to do so.
APRIL IS NATIONAL VOLUNTEER MONTH
April is National Volunteer Month. Volunteers come in all shapes and sizes. They pick a cause and make a difference in someone’s life. Sometimes, the difference is a drop in the bucket. Other times, it creates a tidal wave of change. It matters not the size of the difference. We want to send a great big thank you shout-out to all of our awesome volunteers who picked our cause to make that difference.

"Helping others is the secret sauce to a happy life." - Todd Stocker
EMPOWERING POSSIBILITIES OC FUNDRAISER
MAY 11, 2022
24 HOURS
13 OUTSTANDING ORGANIZATIONS
1 AMAZING CAUSE ❤️

On Wednesday May 11, 2022, Vocational Visions, along with 12 other leading nonprofit organizations are coming together to raise $150,000 in support of our OC neighbors with disabilities.
 
Donations accepted from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm on May 11th only.
 
We are honored to be invited to participate in this annual fundraiser sponsored by Orange County Community Foundation. Our organization is hoping to raise $15,000 of the total $150,000 goal. We are blessed to have a $5,000 match opportunity from board member Hilary Hurt and her company Electron Beam Engineering, Inc. Will you help us meet our goal?
 
Why help?
 
There are over 250,000 people with disabilities living in Orange County and our organizations bring people together to advocate for and serve this vulnerable population.
 
If you want to create your own fundraising team for this event to share with your friends and family so you can raise money as a group, you may do that now by clicking on the button below and then select the 'Fundraise' button to set up your fundraiser within the fundraiser. It really is a lot of fun to work as a team towards a common goal.
 
Don’t forget to save May 11th on your calendar! 
PARTICIPANT SPOTLIGHT
JAMES MARTIN

This month, we are shining our participant spotlight on ADP program participant James (Jim) Martin who joined VV in 2016. James appreciates living independently here in Mission Viejo and he is just a 15-minute walk from our organization. Let's get to know a bit more about him here.
Here is a picture of Jim and his favorite aunt Sharon taken at his apartment in front of his cool King Kong movie poster.
James' favorite drink is green tea. Most days, he stops off for his green tea drink at Starbucks or Kona Loa Coffee. Whether he gets it hot or cold depends on the weather and his mood.
James worked at three different Trader Joe's over the course of 13 years. While he would like to work again one day, it's not his top priority right now.

Jim's life is pretty full and busy. He has a fairly extensive media collection at home. He has over 100 music CDs - mostly jazz and country music. His favorite country artist is Willie Nelson. He also enjoys a little R&B music including artists like Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle. The only music he really isn't a big fan of is heavy metal music which his apartment neighbors probably appreciate. When it comes to movies, he enjoys movies with Cary Grant (like Bringing up Baby), Humphrey Bogart and Sean Connery. James is also a big fan of books on CDs. His favorite authors are definitely James Patterson and Michael Crichton. While he loves to look at the music, books and movies in stores, he is smart with his money and reserves many of them for checkout at the library.
James goes to the library almost every day. There are three different libraries he likes to visit so he never gets bored. If he's not walking, he's riding his bike or taking the bus. Here's a picture of him with his bike and with the family dog Sophie who is an Australian Shepherd.

James is very fortunate to have his mom Jan and stepdad Michael nearby. He visits them at least two times per week and helps them out around the house and with the gardening. He also has a stepbrother named Chad who comes down from LA often. James has cousins who live in Hawaii (on Oahu) and he has yet to travel there. Hopefully, he gets the opportunity to go some day. He is a big fan of places with warm climates.

Check out this picture of Jim with his family taken back in 1992.
Below is a picture taken earlier this year of him and his stepdad. The shirts they are wearing are in celebration of his grandmother's 99th birthday. Sophie joined in on the celebration too. James' grandmother lives in Nebraska and his advice about Nebraska is "Don't visit in the wintertime unless you like cold weather."
James is celebrating 6 years at VV and he says the people here have always been very nice - participants and employees alike. He really enjoys going out into the community with his VV group partners (Bailey, David and Esperanza) and his community coach Ghasem. His favorite thing about Ghasem is his great sense of humor. He appreciates this because he also tries to have a sense of humor about life. "It's important to make others smile and feel happy", he says and he strives to do this every day.

Thanks so much James for giving us a look into your busy independent life and for being a good role model for others.
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
JESSIE ANCHETA

Our organization is blessed to have a super staff of Direct Support Professionals who are committed to enhancing the lives of our participants. This month, Chelsae Mansfield, our DTAC Pala program manager, nominated Jessie Ancheta to be spotlighted. Jessie is an Instructional Assistant who joined our organization in 2017.

Question: How did you first find out about VV?

Answer: Believe it or not, I had walked by the building and was curious so I popped in to learn what it was about.
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Question: If someone has never heard of VV, what would you share with them to help them to understand what VV is about?

Answer: I would describe VV as an essential part of our community where we help and care for our wonderful clients with disabilities.
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Question: What is your favorite part of your job at VV?

Answer: I really like working with my group and being able to assist with community outings. Providing care is something I enjoy. I like to have fun with the participants too. Here's me in my Halloween mask during a Halloween celebration for the clients.
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Question: What is something that could be added, removed or changed to make VV better?

Answer: Getting more of our participants jobs in the community so they can earn a paycheck, especially since we recently discontinued the in-house work activity component of our DTAC Pala program.
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Question: Did you volunteer or work with people who are uniquely abled before working at VV?

Answer: I do have experience volunteering with disabled people, as well as working with senior citizens. Anyone who needs care requires patience and I am very patient.
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Question: Are there any interesting, unique or fun facts about you that you would like to share with us?

Answer: My father served in the U.S. military and I spent 28 years in the Philippine Army which is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. I taught Reserve Training courses at the college and university level in the Philippines (up to 1,000 students at a time). Another interesting job I had is that I was a bodyguard for politicians. Here's a couple of pictures of me in my military days.
I have been married since 1983. I have 8 children total, six are in the Philippines and two are here in the United States with me. Here's a picture of me, my wife and five of my kids circa 1990s. My family grew by three more children after this photo was taken. I moved to the U.S. in 2013.
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Question: What is your motto for life or a quote that really resonates with you?

“Make the right thing to do the easy thing to do!”
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Thank you Jessie for letting us learn a bit more about you. You have some really neat life experiences and lots of interesting stories to tell. We appreciate your caring service to our DTAC Pala participants.
CALENDAR
National Volunteer Month
National Autism Awareness Month
Brain Injury Awareness Month
World Autism Awareness Day
World Health Day
VV Board of Directors Meeting
EE Committee Meetings
Entire Month
Entire Month
Entire Month
April 2, 2022
April 7, 2022
April 27, 2022
April 27, 2022
SHOP FOR MOM & EARN DONATIONS FOR VV
Click on this link to smile.amazon.com to go right to the page to select Vocational Visions as your charity for Amazon purchases.

Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to us.

Click here for instructions to activate AmazonSmile on your Amazon mobile app.
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BUY GROCERIES AT RALPHS
EARN DONATIONS FOR VV
Link your Ralphs Grocery Store shopper's card to Vocational Visions:


Then, swipe your shopper's card, or enter your associated phone number, whenever you shop at Ralphs and Ralphs will make a quarterly donation to us.