Twin Rivers Developmental Supports, Inc.

TWIN RIVERS DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORTS, INC.

PO Box 133
Strother Field - 22179 D Street Phone: (620)442-3575 or (620)221-6140
Arkansas City, KS 67005 Fax: (620)442-6438 or (620)221-1410

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"Hear" what's happening "here" at Twin Rivers

October 2011 - December 2011

Arkalalah Float Awarded First Place

We are pleased to announce that the Twin Rivers float entry was awarded first place in the Saturday parade. In addition the float was also chosen Queen’s choice. We would also like to say congratulations to staff member Gina Riggs on winning the Arkalalah artwork contest this year.

The theme for the Arkalalah festivities this year was Totally 80’s. Therefore the consumers decided to create memorable items for the float from that time period.

The front of the float featured the space shuttle Discovery which, is one of the retired orbiters of the NASA Space Shuttle Program. Discovery made it’s maiden flight on August 30, 1984. It made its final touch down at Kennedy Space Center on March 9, 2011.

Second on the float was a huge rotating Rubik’s Cube. The toy was sold by Ideal Toy Corp. beginning in 1980. It won the German Game of the Year special award for best puzzle that year. As of January 2009 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide.

In the middle of the float was E.T. riding in the bicycle basket. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 science fiction film co-produced and directed by Stephen Spielberg. It tells the story of Elliott, a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, E.T., who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help E.T. to return home. At the back of the float we created a section of the Berlin Wall which was in the process of being torn down. Construction of the wall began in August of 1961. The fall of the wall began in 1989. Everyone worked long and hard on the float this year with many hours being spent on the Discovery Shuttle alone. We would like to thank everyone one who worked so hard to make the float a success. Not only did everyone have a super time we learned a lot too.

Consumer Spotlight

Cynthia

Cynthia joined the Twin Rivers day and residential programs in November 2009. She attends the day program during the week where she works on screen printing and other contract jobs. Cynthia said her favorite thing about the day program was seeing her friends and earning a pay check. Cynthia resides in Winfield where she shares a home with three other ladies. She enjoys living at a site with all girls although they sometimes disagree she said they always work it out. She tends to be on the shy side but has a very bubbly personality once you get to know her. Cynthia absolutely loves country music. She is a big fan of Keith Anderson and Tim McGraw. She is also a fan of OU football. Enjoys going to dances, movies and shopping. In the evenings and on weekends she just enjoys being with her friends and playing bingo. She participates in Special Olympics events with volleyball being her favorite sport. Cynthia helped with the Arkalalah float and walked in the parade handing out candy to the kids this October She also helped with the assembly of the Isle of Lights in Winfield and the gingerbread house this year. Cynthia will be going home for Christmas to spend the holiday with her family. They are all very important to her and are a big part of her support system. Cynthia has set a goal to get an apartment of her own one day in Arkansas City.

Gingerbread Festival

This year the consumers with the help of Tina Bailey, HSO created a gingerbread house for the William Newton Healthcare Foundation Gingerbread Festival fundraiser. All aspects of the house had to be made from edible items. The yellow two story house featured a wrap around porch and was decorated for the holidays. The house was covered with fondant which was made to look like siding. The shingles on the roof were made from sticks of gum. Hedges were made from rice crispy treats and the trees were sugar ice cream cones. The home featured a chocolate rock candy fireplace and sidewalk. While the house did not win an award it was purchased in the auction. We hope that it brings some holiday cheer to the new owner. The individuals who participated in the creation of the project are pictured at right.

Staff Spotlight

Carol

Carol Books has been employed with Twin Rivers for over 10 years. She is currently working as a Community Living Trainer at the Kansas Avenue location where she is responsible for as-sisting seven consumers who live in an apartment complex. Carol assists the individuals with meal panning which they do on Monday evenings during their weekly meetings. She also as-sists them with their shopping and maintaining their apartments to mention a few things. The group enjoys going on ac-tivities such as bowling, danc-ing, rodeos, art shows etc. Sev-eral years ago they visited the Cowboy Hall of Fame where everyone had a laugh when one individual pretended he was a cowboy and was going to “hold up” Carol. “It’s things like this that make my job so fun, who doesn’t like having fun.” Carol has two children. A daughter Fran who has three boys with her husband. They re-side between Blackwell and Ponca City. They are involved in FFA, 4-H and play football, baseball and basketball. She tries to attend as many games as pos-sible. Her son Shan lives west of Winfield. He has one son and daughter which is the only grand-daughter. Carol tries to spend as much time with her family as possible and is very proud of them.

Branson Trip November 14th through 18th John Block, Joe Sligh and George McKenzie took a trip to Branson with the assistance of John Stickel, CLAM. During their visit they stayed at the Wilderness Cabins. While there they saw the Oak Ridge Boys, Dixie Stampede and Todd Oliver and Friends Shows. They also visited the Titanic Museum, Silver Dollar City and the World’s Largest Toy Museum.

2012 HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

February 20th - President's Day

April 6th - Good Friday

May 28th - Memorial Day

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