Marathon Residential and Counseling Services, Inc. Monthly Newsletter October, 2016 Volume 16; Issue 10

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1 Marathon Residential and Counseling Services, Inc. Monthly Newsletter October, 2016 Volume 16; Issue 10 Featured Employee Hi my name is Yia and I have worked for MRCS as an overnight staff. I have been working with MRCS for over a month now. I m the first generation in my family to attend post-secondary school. I attend school at the University of Wisconsin-Steven Point, pursuing a degree in Sociology and Social Work. In my free time I like to play with my son, sew, play badminton and jog. What I enjoy most about working at MRCS are the residents, helping them with their challenges and helping them to make positive decisions. I also enjoy working with my friendly coworkers as they have guided me through since I started this job. I hope to continue this career and carry the skills I have learned. Labor Day Fun Prospect Place hosted a Labor Day picnic and many came to celebrate the day. Those who attended included: Heather, Justin, TJ, Rachel, Brittney, Juan, Crystal, Jackie, Mike S, Val, Jeff, Ellen, Sean, Todd, Aaron, Lee, and another Reynold s client. John took care of the grilling for lunch and Juan took on the job of waiter for the picnic and brought all the food to the table. After a wonderful lunch, everyone enjoyed socializing and spending time with friends. Several went to the Labor Day Parade afterward and enjoyed bringing home a bagful of goodies. Thanks to Prospect Place for hosting the holiday cookout and making it a great day!

2 7th Street Suites News On September 1 st, the Garden Club got together at the Monk Gardens in the kitchen garden. The club member s made refrigerator pickles out of some of the cucumbers they have been growing in the garden. The past two weeks 7 th Street Suites has made two different kinds of cucumber salad which most everyone has enjoyed. Justin and TJ from Prospect Place are having a good time at the garden club and are looking forward to next year s growing season already. Crystal and Jackie are going with the flow and are enjoying each week as it comes. After the cucumbers were done, everyone was looking forward to the tomatoes and miniature watermelons ripening. The Garden Cub is winding down for the season and the last meeting was the end of September. Earlier in the month, the club members bottled up some herb vinegar, dug up the carrots, picked some broccoli, peppers and miniature watermelon. Lynne guided everyone through making a salad dressing out of the vinegar. Lynne brought in different colored cherry tomatoes cut in half then they put the salad dressing on the tomatoes and it made an excellent tomato salad. Everyone got a bottle of vinegar to take home along with a recipe for the salad dressing and along with one for a creamy salad dressing. Everyone enjoyed the making and tasting of the salad dressing. Towards the end of the season we should be getting potatoes and pumpkins and making some fun yummy stuff out of them too. Crystal and Jackie went to the Medieval Adventure at the Monk Gardens. There were lots of booths and hands on activities for them to do. Crystal and Jackie participated in boat making, dice making, sparing and Celtic hand sewing. They also watched the medieval fighting, looked at the handmade garbs and listened to some story telling while sewing. There were a lot of other things to do, but they ran out of time. They are looking forward to going next year and hopefully being able to stay longer. They both really enjoyed sewing and would like to take a beginners sewing class. Jackie was able to take part in a one night stay at the Rainbow End Camp put on by Aspirus. She enjoyed crafts, games, music, movies and other activities with many of her friends. This is an annual event that she looks forward to each year. This year s theme was The Beach and she came home with some spectacular art projects. As the school year started, many of the 7 th Street residents enjoyed attending local sports. Mike P. of course will keep you up to date on all the local area sport teams. He took in many games at Wausau West including volleyball and football. Shawn and Crystal have also gone to a couple football games at Thom Field.

3 Matt continues working very hard and learning about the newest electronics. One day while working, Matt was tending to a customer that became disruptive and upset because the store no longer carried the phone the customer was looking for. Matt continued trying to help with the customer the best he could and apologized for the store not carrying the item. After the customer left, Matt was approached by another store s General Manger and was complimented on his wonderful customer services skills and was encouraged to apply at his store. Matt shared it was great to be acknowledged for his people skills, though reported his passion was with electronics. We were all so proud of Matt and happy to hear such a great story! Mike P went for an interview at a local grocery store this month. He was a little nervous but did well preparing for the interview and working on sample questions with staff and his family prior to the interview. We will keep our fingers crossed that it turns out well for him. Church group started again at Christian Assembly on Wednesday nights. Crystal enjoyed her first meeting stating that she liked talking about different topics like how God is always there for people during difficult situations. Jackie also joined Crystal at the meeting. Justin enjoys taking part in the men s group and getting more involved with his faith. Anyone is welcome to join on Wednesday nights so feel free to come and enjoy talking with others about different topics. Hope to see you there!! Yay for fall!!! Kronenwetter put on a Fall Festival and Car show. Shawn really enjoyed looking at all the beautiful classic cars and even got to talk with some of his car club members as well as many of the car owners. Crystal also enjoyed looking at the cars and taking many pictures of the ones she liked the most. Crystal also got free stuff from the fire department including a free smoke detector. Jackie enjoyed getting free goodies from the fire department too and also had a few pictures taken of cars she liked.

4 Reynold s News Fall is here we all have noticed the beauty of the orange, brown, red and gold leaves falling from above, the crisp air that blows against our faces, the time for hayrides, picking pumpkins and laughing around a camp fire while roasting s mores, visiting with friends and family, inviting others for an after dinner fall walk, stopping for hot cocoa. Everyone here at Reynolds Place has welcomed Fall. Karen, Lee, and Todd decorated the outside of Reynolds Place with fall decorations. Karen, and Todd planted red mums. What a warm welcome as you walk up to our front door! We even have nature that is enjoying our Mums. Aaron has reported seeing squirrels hiding their winter nuts in our mums! Cooking classes with Karen continue as the guys are starting to be open to new foods. Aaron will ask staff what we will be cooking. Lee is very curious as we prepare new food items. The most recent adventure was Italian lemon butter chicken. We were able to introduce some very different foods which were capers and artichokes. The guys had not experienced them before. When asked how dinner was, the vote was to cook this again. Lee, Aaron, Todd, and another client started to put on their chef hats and will be ready to host a fun dinner party to show off their cooking skills in the near future. Art is a good way to spend some time, relax, and be creative. Todd likes to color and put his efforts in doing some seasonal pictures. He likes to keep the door to his room decorated and has done a nice job on it. Lee is very much into cars, especially the General Lee. He put his drawing talents into that recently and made a large poster. Aaron has many interests in art and draws a variety of things. Recently he showed staff a picture of a loon that he made. Staff decided it was too nice of a picture to leave in a box in his room so it is now displayed in the living room of the house.

5 Hamilton News The leaves are starting to turn those beautiful fall colors but that isn t stopping everyone at Hamilton House from enjoying the last few days of wonderful weather we will have before it gets chilly! As the summer is coming to an end Jeff, Val, and Ellen wanted to see the city from the top of Rib Mountain, while it was still green. The view was beautiful! Ellen and Jeff climbed to the top of the lookout tower to get a better view. After taking in the sights of the city, everyone decided to hike a few different trails to see where they would lead them. The group is already talking about going back up to the tower when the leaves change and how colorful everything will be then! Val and Jeff had a blast at Marathon Fun days. They got to see many classic cars at the car show. Jeff had fun talking about the cars and pointing out his favorites. Val even loved looking at all the different cool cars they had. There was also a parade that both Val and Jeff enjoyed watching very much. They got to see the bands walk down the street along with the different floats. Val and Jeff loved collecting items that were being handed out during the parade. A hiking we will go, a hiking we will go. This month Sean, a Reynolds Place client, and Brandi decided to test their skills hiking at Eau Claire Dells. Sean talked about being afraid of heights, but conquered his fear and walked out on the rocks above the water. One of the guys stayed ahead of the group and would let everyone know when the path changed and would become rocky or have other obstacles. Everyone was extremely tired out after our 3 mile journey! Jeff and Val are getting into the Halloween spirit a little early and helped decorate the house with pumpkins, ghosts, and giant spider webs! Jeff, Sean, Val, Heather, Rachel, and Justin also did a spooktacular Halloween craft! Who doesn t love a good DIY project? Heather painted her mason jar with creepy crawly spiders! Eek! Rachel s Mason jar had a blood sucking vampire on it! Justin used his artistic skills and drew the most terrifying face you have ever seen on his jar! Val painted Jack from Nightmare before Christmas on her mason jar! Jeff painted the infamous Frankenstein on his mason jar! Sean painted a very batty vampire on his mason jar! Everyone is getting ready for the spooks and thrills of Halloween! Ellen really enjoys getting out and walking new areas. This month Ellen was able to walk Oak Island Park. She just loved the different bridges and the scenery. She said how beautiful it is there and wants to go back. We hope Ellen can enjoy Oak Island a few more times before the snow falls, and maybe even go to Monk Garden for a walk. Ellen also celebrated her birthday. She did not want anything special and was happy to enjoy a brownie treat with her housemates. Happy Birthday Ellen!

6 Prospect Place News September holds the first day of autumn, which means summer has come to a close. Everyone at Prospect Place is getting excited about all the upcoming holidays in the next few months. Halloween seems to be the favorite around here! Thomas, Heather, Rachel, and Justin were also invited over to Hamilton House to do the awesomely scary Halloween craft. Everyone s mason jars were a spooktacular sight with spiders, vampires and scary faces. Everyone at Prospect Place is getting into the Halloween spirit and is decorating the house with jack-o-lanterns, spiders, and other things that go bump in the night! Prospect Place seems to be the house with a bunch of rock stars! Everyone enjoys going out and bringing along a few friends like Todd, Jeff, Crystal, and Val for a night out! Justin usually plays pool with his buddy Jeff and occasionally sings a song. Rachel likes to sit and mingle with her peers and gets up on stage to sing her heart out, twice if you let her! Heather likes to sing songs from musicals like Grease or Frozen! TJ goes along to mingle with all his peers and have a good time! Justin, TJ, and Rachel went to Marathon Park once during the month with JoAnn. They enjoyed walking around the park and played around on some of the equipment there. Hopefully there will be a few more nice days to enjoy some autumn walks. Justin is always up for lending a hand! This month he volunteered at Hoof Beats of the Heart with Stable Hands. He spent the day before the event setting up the stables. The next day he went back and helped with anything he could. He enjoyed hanging out with the horses, and surprisingly, cleaning out their stables! Thank you Justin for volunteering and being a great citizen of the community! Justin also spent some time in the kitchen this month. He prepared a homemade pizza with a stuffed crust all from scratch! Everyone enjoyed the meal and we all are looking forward to Justin s next pizza. Rachel continues to search for a job in the area. This month she turned in some applications and had an interview at a local fast food restaurant. We are waiting to get a call back and hope that Rachel gets the job.

7 Special Olympics News Special Olympics sports and activities continue to be a very important part of several clients lives. This month flag football continued with some hard practices and tournaments. Crystal, Mike P, Justin, Heather, TJ, Aaron, Lee, and Sean all participate in the game. The group had one tournament in Manitowoc in September and everyone is looking forward to another tournament in Neenah in October. We wish these guys and gals luck with their tournaments. Special Olympics bowling is another hot sport this time of year. Justin, Heather, TJ, Jeff, Val, Sean, Todd, Crystal, and Shawn H continue to practice on Sundays for bowling. So many strikes and spares! TJ enjoys bowling and says that he has never bowled without bumpers but he is getting the hang of it! Jeff, Val and Sean have been excited that the Packers have been playing while they are bowling so they can root on their bowling team and their favorite football team at the same time. Marathon Residential and Counseling Services has long enjoyed a staff second to none in the business of providing personal care services. We are dedicating this space to honoring our employees as they reach longevity milestones with MRCS. We offer our sincere thanks and recognition to: Ken Knab 9 years 9/17/2007 Karen Caliendo 5 year 9/9/2011 Vacancy Announcements Please call Sue ( ) or Pam ( ) to discuss your placement and supportive home care needs. Additional information regarding our programs is available on our website or by brochure upon request. If at any time you would like to be removed from this mail list, please click REPLY and simply enter UNSUBSCRIBE and your address will be immediately removed from the mailing list.

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