In This Issue:  Thank You Annual Meeting Awards Jon's Corner Conference Photos Kile's Corner

September 2022 Newsletter Another Conference has come and gone. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we were only able to have one conference in Northern Maine this year. We look forward to next year where we can all be back together in one conference. Mark your Calendar for Sept 19 through 21, 2023 for our 30th year conference celebration!

Thank You to the Caribou Inn and Convention Center We wish to thank the Caribou Inn and Convention Center for their gracious hospitality for our Northern Maine Conference. They welcomed SUFU staff, Self-Advocates, and all our presenters. The food was wonderful, and the atmosphere was exciting. Betty and her staff were gracious hosts.

Annual Meeting and Awards On August 30th we held our Annual Meeting and Awards presentation on our statewide meeting. Please see the photos below of all our award winners!

A Thank You to our Outgoing Board Members. We thank Stace and Bobby for their dedication to the board of directors over the last six years!

Welcome New Board Members We are excited to announce the following individuals have been elected to the 2022-2023 board of directors. Serving on their first term:

Returning Board Members for their second term:

Marcia Rosen Award Winners Each chapter is able to choose a Marcia Rosen Award winner. This is given to a member of the chapter that speaks up, is dedicated to their growth as a self-advocate, encourages other chapter members, or in some way shows what being a self-advocate is about. Each chapter votes on this in their chapter meeting. We congratulate this year's award winners!

Director's Choice Each Year Monique Stairs, Executive Director gives out the Director's Choice award. This award is given to the individual(s) who represent SUFU well and the mission. This year the Director's Choice award went to Eric McVay and Robert Reynolds. Eric has represented SUFU and self-advocates on many boards not just in Maine but also at the national level. We thank him for his years of service. Robert is new to Speaking Up For Us but has jumped in without hesitation to be a leader in self-advocacy, his chapter and on the board of directors.

Paige Barton Award Each year the Paige Barton award is given to one self-advocate who represents the organization well. This year's Paige Barton Award winner is Kile Pelletier. Kile has been active in advocating for the end of the marriage penalty, has served on various stakeholder groups, including self-directed services. We thank Kile for all his hard work this past year.

Jon's Corner  Hi Everyone Going up to Caribou for the second time in a long time was nice and quiet. Working at the SUFU Conference this year was a blast and having Marco Orlando, Stephanie Pelletier and Maryann Preble helping us out was fantastic. It made the SUFU Conference go smoothly. On a big note, we had 13 Members go to the SUFU Conference for the first time and loved it and said they would come back. In the Career Exploration Workshop that Janet May did was really good. There were more members then support staff the workshop. It was a hands-on workshop and it worked well for everyone. Members also praised Monique for all the hard work she does and for SUFU. It was great when Kile got the Paige Barton Award as a Staff Person. Kile got a standing ovation from the members. Kile gave a speech and said this award is for all the members out there and that’s what keeps Kile and me going.  Maryann Preble arrived on September 6th from the Presque Isle Bus Station in a Stretch Limo. She stopped to get dinner at the Arby’s Drive Thru and up to the Caribou Inn. Her arrival in the limo scared Marco, Stephanie, and my pants off.  I want to know what your Experience was at this year's SUFU Conference.

Here are a few of the photos from the conference!

Kile's Corner Hi guys, this Kile with a another Kile’s Corner for September.   Wow what a busy two days that we have had at the SUFU Conference that we had at Caribou Inn Convention Center.  I Just want to say thank you to the people that come out, the awesome team that made this happen, and to the SUFU members that stayed overnight on Tuesday night to help with our setup Wednesday morning. You guys were such a big help. Thank you to all the people that presented a workshop, without you there would no conference.   We had close to 75 people that attended the Caribou Conference, 11 different workshops with 5 sessions that Jon and I had get the feedback papers filled out. I got some cool things in a SUFU bag and a new t-shirt with a new color.   The Caribou Inn staff did awesome, they took us in last minute, and they served awesome food. The band/ DJ, Crunk Witch, that we had was awesome that played for us.   All the people that got Awards great job and keep it up. It made me smile with a happy face to see all the people stand when I received the Paige Barton award, it made me start to cry with happiness and that is why I love this job. It shows me the love that makes me feel good and keeps me going. I know all the things I do makes a difference and I see that people are listening. I hope to see more people speak up and tell Kile and all SUFU staff that they are doing a fantastic job. I want to continue speak out and along with other members to be a good role model.

What's on the blog? Our Blog is a space where Self-Advocates share their stories. We invite you to check them out here. If you are a self-advocate that would like to submit an entry for our blog please reach out to Laurie Coldwell or Jon McGovern.

Finally We invite you to check out our website . Read our most recent blog post and subscribe to future blogs. You can also find the list of our chapter meetings, or follow us on Facebook. If you are a SUFU member we want you to join our members only Facebook Group. To do that please email Laurie Coldwell or Jon McGovern. We don't want you to miss anything.

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Have an Idea for Something to be in The Connector? Contact: Laurie Coldwell Program Manager (207) 956-1004 / Ext. 4 lcoldwell@sufumaine.org

SUFU CONNECTOR Speaking Up For Us of Maine 207-956-1004 www.sufumaine.org