We kicked off April with our big Spring Fling with the Community Explores Club through Chattanooga Parks and Rec Services. It was a blast! We had our annual cookout where everyone had a fabulous time and got to chow down in some great food. In May, we participated in the Special Olympics where D&S was the loudest and proudest team! We had 6 athletes participate in 2 events each. Between the 6 of them, we racked up five 1st place awards, one 2nd place, and one 3rd place in the events of 100m dash and softball throw. Way to go!! October had lots of fun in store for us -we had our annual Halloween Party. Lots of games were set up and we even a dance-off competition. Everyone dressed up and danced for 2 hours. As you can see, we like to have fun at D&S Chattanooga. We love our celebrations here – especially birthdays. We always make sure to have a monthly birthday celebration complete with cupcakes.
Our Executive Director participated in a big job fair with the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. We celebrated Admin Assistant week, DSP week, and Program Supervisor week (yep, more celebrations!). Everyone received some great gifts and had their office decorated. We held a two-day training that we named “Bridging the Gap”. During this training, we developed strategies to communicate and collaborate to our greatest potential as a team. We started a “Caught Ya” award. This award goes to a staff member who is nominated by their peer for being caught in the act of doing something great. We gave our first award in October. The well-deserved recipient was Denzell Lowery. He won 2 tickets to see the comedian Kat Williams. Our Executive Director and Supported Employment Coordinator attended a “Career Crunch” with the local school system here to educate Middle Schools students about what jobs that can offer.
As you can see, we’ve been pretty busy here at D&S Chattanooga. From sporting events to career fairs we are always looking for ways to enrich the lives of the fantastic folks that we serve. We are honored to have the opportunity to work with such amazing individuals!
