Week of November 16th, 2020
"With gratitude, optimism is sustainable"
— Michael J. Fox
November is National Family Caregivers Month. CLI would like to celebrate and thank all the caregivers of the individuals we work with. Your dedication and hard work does not go unnoticed and you are all truly appreciated. If you have an amazing caregiver that you would like to be featured in our upcoming newsletters throughout November, then please provide John with a picture and some information about them.
The Good Cafe has been busy this week, but still found time to celebrate Jill's birthday with Breakfast at the Greenwich Waffle House. Just a reminder that this free lunch program is open to all and is 100% donation-based. Speaking of which, the group received a $40 donation this week!
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
— Thomas Jefferson
John's Usual Excuses & Apologies--

We've had some questions about the 2 grants that CLI was awarded by DODD. While these are 2 separate grants with 2 separate outcomes, both are directly related to CLI's strategic plan.

The first grant was awarded to expand STEPS services by creating new Direct Staff Professional (DSP) positions to develop, coordinate and manage these new programs. CLI believes that STEPS is the future of Adult Day Services, but we know that we have to design these services to better fit what our clients need.

CLI was awarded the second grant to continue the separation of CLI & Firelands Local LLC with the goal of each company being 100% separate by January 2024. This is partly because being both the provider and the employer is a conflict of interest-- but the real ambition is to enable each company to be stronger. Splitting our focus between a person-centered provider business and a high-volume production-oriented business has meant that there are times where we haven't been able to excel at either. We think that this split will allow both entities to achieve more-- and we los big results for both CLI and Firelands Local. We look forward to continuing to work together in the future as equal partners.

We will be reaching out to you for input. Please be brutally honest. It's 100% ok to have a different opinion from me or any other CLI staff. I believe that that the product is best when you build a design that takes all of the challenges in consideration.
On the COVID front-- CLI continues to be very concerned about Ohio and Huron County's numbers. We were orange on Ohio's grading system last week and most likely re-categorized as red this week. CLI has doubled down on our safety measures to isolate cross-exposure between individuals, groups, and staff. This means that CLI has had to pull out of some important community activities. The most recent is our planned Shop Local Saturday with Boozy Hot Chocolate at 16 West Main Street Thanksgiving Weekend. We will be looking for other ways to stay connected and relevant, but right now we feel the wiser choice is to limit our face-to-face contacts and do everything we can to keep our bubbles small.

Luckily we've gotten better at the virtual Zoom stuff. People are having a great time! Please reach out to CLI if you are stuck at home and would like to participate-- either using your own device or internet-- or have CLI drop off a sanitized smart phone with internet that you can use.

This offer is open for people isolating at home with their families and people served by other agency staff. CLI does offer billable virtual services-- and if you need our hardware-- we'd eventually need to get some money back-- BUT if you have internet and just want to play along-- that is FREE. We are all better together. The more groups we have to play with one another, the more fun and meaningful this will be. It's going to be a long winter. Let's all work together so that it doesn't have to be quite as lonely.

Hang in their. We'll get through this. Find safe ways to enjoy your week, stay active, keep yourself safe & wash your hands!
John
“Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.”
— Bruce Lee
Lots of us spent lots of time outdoors this past week, taking advantage of the tail end of warm weather. 70 degree sunshine in November? We'll take it!
“It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand.”
―Randy Pausch
Football season is in full swing at CLI. While most of our tribe goes for the Browns and Buckeyes, there may be a few deviants that prefer maize & blue and/or black & gold. Got some good game face pics of your own? Send 'em in!
The Jens & Jill met up with long-time friend, Sarah. Like everyone else, we haven't been able to connect in person with people as much as we'd like.

Hopefully, we can all get in front of the recent spread so that we are still able to meet up with each other!
“The words you speak become the house you live in.”
— Hafiz
Mark, Deanna & Sarah are volunteering remotely-- picking up donated bulk dogfood from the Humane Society, bagging it, then delivering those smaller bundles to the Huron County Non-Food Bank.
CLI has other able volunteers looking to give back to our community, so please leit us know if we can help your charitable cause!
Speaking of Masks & other PPE-- We haven't gotten any new pictures of YOUR COVID Leisure Wear! Send Pics!
Firelands Local LLC Update:
James Johnson
419-921-6400
From James Johnson, GM
I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes for my son and his bride. It was a great weekend.
 
It was brought to my attention that the majority of the information I provide relates to shredding. As many of you know we do a lot more than that. On the production side of things, we have been quite busy in the last 2 weeks. We have worked on or completed 16 different projects. We have completed over 160,000 units, ranging from buckets to brackets. While that sounds like a lot, and it is, we still have large amounts of work still ahead.
 
Winter weather-- I know you do not want to hear about it…..it is coming though. I want to remind folks that Fireland Local operates separately from CLI. There may be times this winter where we do not have the same schedule or the same delays or cancelations.
If you are working at the workshop, then you will follow the CLI calendar and winter weather information. If you are working at MTD, we will try to follow MTD's schedule. I am your contact person for any weather delays or cancellations for MTD too. The MTD group will be off both Thanksgiving day and that Friday. We will resume back on Monday 11/30 as usual. MTD normally has a shutdown period around Christmas, and I am waiting to finalize those details. I will forward them as soon as they are available.
 
Pictures-- The winner from the last picture was….Jen S. for the second time. The picture was taken from the boat ramp at the Willard reservoir and facing East.
 
I hope you enjoy this week's picture. Not only is it beautiful, it is very meaningful.
‘Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.’―Paulo Coelho
Who says there's NO FREE LUNCH? We know people--
How is CLI able to afford giving away free food when we (and everybody else is hustling to break-even)?

It's a good question. The answer is that CLI invested a (very) small amount of seed money in April to open up a new checking account just for the Good Works Cafe. After that, it's been 100% funded by donations.

Our on-going investment now is just time. CLI is always looking to help people give to their local community. Got an idea of something that a small group can to do to help? Let us know!
The FREE Good Works Cafe will runs every Friday at 11:30 am until they run out of meals.
If you or a friend want a delicious meal but cannot get transportation, we can deliver to you for a $20 donation!

*Donations are accepted & 100% go to future Fridays.*
The Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) has been posting quite a few new videos lately that are worth checking out. This is a link to one of the director getting a flu shot and a link to the main webpage.

Spread the word!