In the world of agencies, societies and not-for-profit groups that provide services for persons who need support, Creston shines. Creston has many groups who have dedicated staff, administrators and volunteers who believe that everyone has the right to belong. We understand that our community is stronger and healthier because of inclusion.
Cresteramics has been working to include persons with developmental disabilities in their community for a long time and 2016 has been our most successful year ever. This is because of the support we receive from so many businesses, organizations and people.
Cresteramics received accreditation through the international agency called CARF. Accreditation means that we meet quality standards as a human service provider. We have demonstrated that our standards to serve persons with disabilities are among the best available. This process took hundreds of hours of work from our executive director Donna McCready, support and more hard work from Cresteramics staff and support from the board of directors.
Other accomplishments were for individual members. Four of our members travelled to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland to compete in the national finals of Special Olympics and won the silver medal in floor hockey. Another one of our members won the national gold medal in weight lifting. Our longest standing board member Shelagh Schmidt was acknowledged for her long history of volunteering with the Sovereign Medal for Volunteers from the Governor General.
Our members were involved with the Creston Valley Bird Festival last year and look forward to helping again in 2017. Several of our members decorated birdhouses that were sold to support Therapeutic Riding. At our store we have many new vendors and invite you to come in and have a look. Those who work in the courier program have new safety vests that local businesses purchased and that display their logos.
The Buddy Benches painted by the youth in our summer program are being used at four local schools. Creston’s Fall Fair Committee added categories that allowed our members to compete for ribbons. Thank you. The Town of Creston declared that October was officially Persons with Disabilities Month. Cresteramics is part of the Transition Team that assists youth finishing school to move into another group in the community and helped host a transition fair for families, youth and service providers.
Much advancement has been made in the area of employment. Cresteramics members work for twenty-nine different businesses. Those businesses now display a sign that says Support + Respect + Inclusion=Equality, our motto. Please look for it and support these businesses. Kootenay Employment Services is helping some of our members find employment and contributed laptop computers to us. We are excited about the new program starting in January at College of the Rockies Creston that will provide training specifically designed for persons with developmental disabilities.
We ended our year with a Christmas party complete with gifts and Santa. Thank you to the owners of Iron Kettle who donated and cooked a big roast for the dinner.
We thank you for your support this past year and look forward to contributing to our community in 2017.