2016 has gotten off to an exciting start here at the Jackson, TN office of D&S. We have had some very inspiring events take place over the past several months. In February, our CEO and President, Mickey Atkins and our Regional Director, Cindra Jones, came to our office to announce that Shawn McAlister, a Home Manager who won the George Davis Service Award had also been selected as 2016 Direct Support Professional of the year by ANCOR!! Shawn will travel to Chicago to receive this award in May. We are so proud of Shawn!
It has been our goal to become more involved in local community events that are directly related to our field. While Shawn has been warming things up with all this recognition, Ben Milligan Program Supervisor, volunteered to “take the plunge” to raise money for the Special Olympics. Ben took his mission seriously and dressed the part in a Superman shirt and rainbow tutu while he was “freezin for a reason”! Ben’s impressive diving skills earned Team D&S a trophy for best dive! D&S staff raised $240.00 for this great cause.
D&S Community Services has already began raising money for Autism Awareness in April 2016. So far we have raised $300.00 in donations for Arm (Autism Resources of the mid-south). This time Mike Snider, Program Director and Sam Kislow, Maintenance personnel, have volunteered themselves to get creamed in the face with a pie. Supporters who donate $10.00 get to cream either Mike or Sam in the face with a Pie on April 23rd 9a-12 at 4 Fun place in Jackson, Tn. That’s a lot of pie in the face.
D&S Jackson has created our own face book page to continue to let staff know of some of the awesome things we are doing. We have even had a drawing for everyone who liked our page within the first week with the winner receiving a $25.00 visit gift card. Al Holiday, Home Manager, won this prize. We appreciate Al and all our supporters of D&S Jackson. To find our local face book page, please click this link: www.facebook.com/DSCommunityJackson
We aren’t even half way through the year and have had so much fun finding ways to support individuals within our agency and community who have intellectual or developmental disabilities. We love that our staff enjoy being involved and we hope that our passion will continue to be contagious so that we can make the biggest impact possible in our communities. We can’t wait to see what is in store for the rest of the year and the years to come!
