Open Door Center

EVENTS AGENCY PICNIC: Open Door Center held a successful annual picnic at the Pavilion with several hundred people in attendance including individuals, staff, family and friends. We were able to recognize staff for years of service and present awards. STAFF RECOGNITION: We held a DSP appreciation week where we served lunch and snacks during the week, held daily drawings for prizes and also had various games and contests with prizes awarded.BENEFITS: Each year staff are able to donate up to 20 hours of their PTO to a reserve. Those hours are held for employees to use if they have to be away from work for an extended period of time for major illness or medical related issues.OPEN HOUSE: Open Houses were held at Thunderbird/Amberland Foods and Eagle's Nest bookstore. Eagle's Nest also participates in the annual community coffee/cocoa crawl and has a booth at the local Wintershow event center. Thunderbird/Amberland Foods held a recipe contest for staff and individuals to see who could come up with exciting and new ideas for their products.The Open Door Center choir sang at many events during the holiday season. COMMUNITY WORK: The Day Activity Center rang the Salvation Army Bell for Christmas. The Work Activity Center also donated to Special Olympics events and competitions. Many staff volunteer their time to coach various teams. The Center participated in Winter Show events and helped pick up litter from streets. They fold the newsletter for the local Eagles Organization and volunteer at the Chamber of Commerce. Many people attend church and assist with various church activities. The Children's Program waters the flowers on the city streets and assists with clean up at the City Golf Course. We have individuals that help out with Sheyenne Valley Friends of Animals to help promote adoption. LISBON PROGRAM: They participate in the parade, deliver meals on wheels and help with church activities and several other city activities including the local fair. The Thrift Store is providing jobs and vocational learning opportunities for our individual which include running the cash registers, hanging and sorting clothing and offering customer service. Clothing that doesn't sell is recycled into rags that we use for cleaning. PROPERTY IMPROVEMENTS: We made improvements to our property including new water heaters, new cabinets in our Day activity kitchen and one of the units in our 4-plex. Bathroom remodel to make it more handicap friendly. We had to do some roof repair to stop leaks in our Work Activity building. Our biggest improvement was at the Lisbon Thrift Store. We purchased a small piece of land behind the store. We paved the parking lot and new area behind the store. Added a paved sidewalk along the road and moved our garbage dumpster and recycling container to the back of the building to make the front of the store look cleaner and provide more parking spots.Amberland and Thunderbird: New mixers were ordered. New products were added including Jellies and Jams, bread and biscuit mixes and BBQ sauces. We purchased a couple of new vans for transporting individuals to work and appointments. All vehicles have been installed with chips that provide data on how drivers are operating the vehicles for an additional safety measure. Several new computers were purchased to replace outdated ones. The new computers are capable of securely connecting to the ODC server when staff are working from home. TRAINING: HIPPA, CPR, First Aid, Infection Control and Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation, Medication Administration are offered on a continual basis as mandated training. Fire Safety training was held for individuals and staff. Non-Violent Crisis Intervention is offered to all staff. Several staff attended the NDACP annual conference in Fargo as well as "new payment system" training.Dr. Gulkin, clinical psychologist, offers counseling to several individuals as well as consultation with staff twice a month. He also provided an in-service on the subject of "Power Struggles." Nutritional consultant, Sharon Buhr provided staff training as well as consultation with individuals. Great Plains offers assessment and repair for mobility devices that are crucial for individuals who do not walk. They schedule monthly visits. The Center has been active in On-the-Move by providing personal and financial resources for this physical fitness opportunity for staff, individuals and the community. Many individuals belong to the new Wellness Center and B-fit for exercising. AGENCY OWNED BUSINESSES: Eagle's Nest Bookstore continues to provide vocational opportunities for people who have a brain injury. It sells new and used books and gift items. It has participated in Crazy Days, Welcome of VCSU students, Holiday Preview, the Winter Show, Fall Festivals and Coffee/Cocoa crawl. This provides an awareness of Open Door Center services and the bookstore. Several new products have been added. Thunderbird Ranch Gourmet Foods offers training and employment for the individuals in the areas of packaging, mixing, crimping and boxing of soups, breads, dips, meat rubs and wine frappes. Thunderbird has added a new soup and dip this year. Amberland Foods/Dakota Seasonings continues to offer employment /training opportunities for the individuals we serve to make syrups, jellies and a BBQ sauce. They also produce soup, dips and a meat rub. The Lisbon Thrift Store employs several individuals. The Work Activity Center works with the agency owned business and several craft items that are good sellers. Other work opportunities include snow removal, lawn care, janitorial, Department of Transportation rag contract, VCSU, Burger King, Valley City Library, High School Activities Association, etc. The ARC contract employs several individuals to sort through donated items. Lisbon service recipients work at the Hospital, Fargo Assembly, the Thrift Store, and Pizza Ranch, & Saxrud. Volunteer work provided by individuals and staff include the following sites: Chamber of Commerce, Christmas in the Valley, Community Days, Salvation Army Bell Ringing, St Catherine's school and buttons. There are several individuals that are participating in the Open Door Center choir, also. OTHER ACCOLADES:The Executive Director continues to serve as a board member of the Barnes County-Valley City Economic Development Group, the Executive Board of NDACP and a board member of On-the-Move and she is President of the Church Council. Valley City State University re-elected her to the position of President of the VCSU Foundation. She has articles published regularly in the local newspaper on issues related to people with disabilities. The Human Resources staff person participates in the Human Resource Committee of North Dakota Association of Community Providers (NDACP) and the HR group in Fargo. She was most recently elected to the Valley City School Board.