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dFs News 5454 East State Street Editor: Nancy J. Tusinac, M.Ed., Program Director P.O. Box 1027 Layout Design: Chris Maurice Hermitage, PA 16148 724-346-2123

www.diversifiedfamily.org Spring 2010

Diversified Family Services- The Early Years 1985-1992

By Marilyn Klemens

As part of our 25th Anniversary Celebration I’ve been asked to write a history of dFs. You might wonder what a picture of 3 babies has to do with dFs, but they were actually the impetus for the beginning. In the early 1980’s Andrea Davidson, Diane Fiore and I were friends and co-workers at LMC, a social service agency. We all left employment in 83-84 due to the birth of our three children: Angie, Katie and Kenny. We had all enjoyed working with people with intellectual disabilities, but none of us wanted treturn working for LMC.

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We approached the county MH/MR Administrator, Chuck Hahn,

to see if there were any additional services which were needed, and how we could formally submit a proposal to do those services. He explained that the county could not contract with us as individuals, so we formed a partnership in April, 1985 which we named Diversified Family Services. I can still remember leaving the law offices of Attorney Moses in such high spirits. We were in business! Our Original Logo After our partnership was formed we again met with Chuck Hahn to submit our proposals for services. Andrea laughs when she reminisces about that meeting, “I remember Chuck saying, ‘This was printed on a dot-matrix printer. Somebody has a computer!” (PC’s were just beginning to be used in the workplace at that time and he seemed impressed that one of us knew how to use one.)From April – June, 1985 we had a contract with Mercer County MH/MR for $7,000 to work on a few projects. One of the projects was a county-wide needs assessment to identify underserved individuals and determine what additional services individuals and their families needed. We developed a survey & traveled around the county conducting focus groups & interviewing families. We then compiled the results and presented them to MH/MR. Another task was to publish the first edition of a quarterly newsletter, “The Mercer County Outreach.” The third project was to develop a program of weekend social & recreational activities. With no budget to rent office space, all three of us worked out of our homes. Mercer County MH/MR was satisfied with our efforts and for the July 1985- June 1986 fiscal year increased our contract to $20,000. Our assignments for that year included continuing the quarterly newsletter and implementing Saturday recreation programs at both the Greenville and Grove City Recreation Centers. (One of our current residential clients actually attended this program as a young girl!) We hired two part time employees to assist at the recreation program.

In This Issue

The Early Years 1985-1992 ........................... 2 Drop in Center Schedule .......................................... 5 The Early Years 1985-1992 ........................... 3 Star of the Month ..................................................... 6 Robin Kralevich Memorial ........................... 4 Welcome New Employees ....................................... 6 Go Red .......................................................... 4 Anniversary Calendar ............................................... 7 dFs Calendar Sale .......................................... 4

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We also received a new assignment to develop a videotape library on different topics about mental retardation. We were the writers, actors, and camera crew. I remember one video was about how to use forward and backward chaining to teach someone a new skill. We invested in our first company “assets” that year and we each received one item: a chair for Diane, a desk lamp for Andrea and a calculator for me. Taking inventory was a snap!

Toward the end of 85-86 Mercer County MH/MR invited us to submit proposals for the same services that LMC had been providing. Our proposals were accepted. Andrea decided to leave the partnership at the end of the year for personal reasons. Because we were a partnership, we had to “buy” Andrea’s interest in the partnership. She let Diane and I purchase her share for $1 each.

On July 1, 1986 we moved into our first office which was room 203 of the Applegate Building on Sharpsville Avenue in Sharon. We assumed the space that LMC had leased. We also interviewed the LMC employees and decided to hire some of them. This took dFs up to 9.5 full time employees. Two of the “keepers” were Lorena Shephard, a direct care worker and secretary, Leslie Jackson, who are still members of our dFs family. We needed additional office furniture for Diane and me. Diane loved to shop, so she offered to buy our equipment. When they moved the furniture in she was so excited. She wanted to show me how great the chairs were. She demonstrated how our chairs actually rotated and they could tilt, too. She managed to tilt hers so hard she completely tipped over! It was fun and exciting moving into our office, but we had a lot of increased responsibility. Effective July 1st, we assumed responsibility for two Children’s Residential Behavior Shaping Group Homes. We also were responsible for the Core Team (Core Team was the beginning of today’s individual service team) and Community Behavior Shaping services. On January 16, 1987 as I approached the office building I noticed that someone had put up a sign “Happy Birthday Marilyn” in the office window. I thought that was nice. When I stepped into the stairwell there was construction paper

footprints printed with, “Take these steps to a Happy Birthday.” There was a “Happy Birthday Bossette” sign on the door. When I opened the door the first thing that caught my eye was a balloon bouquet. The second was a ransacked office. Desks had been broken into and papers were all over the floor. Later the police informed us that several offices in our building had been broken into that night, probably by teens looking for money. We all had a good laugh about the idea that someone broke into dFs looking for money! In March of 1987 we opened an Adult Waiver CLA for 3 women, two of them returning back to our community from Mayview State Hospital. When Diane went to purchase furniture for the new group home (I told you she was the shopper) she met Ginny Greer. She liked Ginny so much that she recruited her to work for us. In April of 1987 Diane interviewed and hired a new Core Team caseworker, Nancy Boldish (now Tusinac). Diane had good hiring instincts because both Ginny and Nancy continue at dFs. By the end of the fiscal year dFs employed twenty and our budget was $365,000.00 In July, 1987 we moved our office to 15 Vine Avenue, Sharon. We bought our first agency computer. It was so slow you could turn it on, go get a cup of coffee and eat a doughnut, and when you got back it was still booting up. But we were high tech! In April of 1988 we opened an Adult Maximum Supervision Home for men. During the 87-88 year Diane decided she would be leaving the partnership to accept a position where she would receive higher financial compensation. We decided to dissolve the partnership and Diversified Family Services, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, was formed. I continued on as the Executive Director and I have been in that position since. Nancy Boldish became the Residential Program Director. During 88-89 dFs opened our first Family Living home. We were the first provider agency in the region to try this new method of providing services. The providers were Donna & Ed Sternthal. In January of 1989 Kim Gadola, direct care professional, was hired.

We were such a small group in the office back then -- we kept things very informal. One Thursday we decided we needed a day without interruptions to get caught-up on paper work. I told the staff we would be closed to the public the next day so they could wear whatever they wanted to wear on Friday. When I walked into the office Friday, they had all arrived ahead of me and greeted me wearing their pajamas. Hence, the first dFs dress code was born! In February, 1989 John Beniston, accountant was hired. He came on- board just as our agency was converting to its first computer software accounting package. By the end of 89-90 our agency budget had grown to $466,850.00 and we employed about 30 people. Once we saw the benefit of Family Living, we decided to place the children with families and to close the children’s group home. Over the 90-91 fiscal year Nancy Boldish spearheaded this initiative and made some excellent individual to family matches. One of those matches was Shawn who still resides with Brenda and Ray Augustine.

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Fiscal year 91-92 was an exciting one. We moved our office to 33 Strawbridge Avenue, Sharon. Once we settled in we opened our first

Drop-In program for ourclients in a spare room in the building. We obtained our Foster Care license and Rose and Don Becker became our first foster parents. Sometimes people ask me if we ever envisioned how dFs would grow into the agency it is today. No, not during those early years. I remember my initial personal goal was to have dFs grow large enough to support the salary of a full time director so I could continue to do work that I loved. The early years were exciting. We made some mistakes, as neophytes in business often do, but we learned from our mistakes and moved on to do things better. I’d like to close with an excerpt from the Spring 1990 Human Service Mercer County newsletter article about dFs which I’ve kept in my “I love dFs file.” : “I attribute Diversified’s growth to the strength and commitment of its staff and board, said Marilyn Klemens, dFs executive director. Given the current economic climate for human services I don’t know if Diversified will continue to expand. However I do know that we will continue to strive to enhance the quality of the services we provide.” TO BE CONTINUED…..AND CONTINUED AND… Coming in the next edition "A History of the dFs Board"

dFs to Award Annual Robin Kralevich Memorial Scholarship

The Robin Kralevich Memorial Scholarship fund will award its Fifth annual scholarship to a college student currently enrolled in a human services major course of study. Robin Kralevich was a Sharpsville High School graduate and an employee of Diversified Family Services who died tragically several years ago in an automobile accident while on her way home from work. This scholarship will be awarded in the amount of $1,000.00. The student must be a resident of Mercer County. Any qualified student may obtain a scholarship application from the financial aid office of their university or by contacting Nancy J. Tusinac @ dFs at (724) 346-2123, extension 5529.

Diversified Family Services will be participating again in the American Heart Association’s “Go Red” Day on February 8, 2010. Anyone donating $5.00 will be able to wear jeans along with their favorite Red Shirt and will also receive a new “GO RED” pin as part of their donation. Anyone wanting to donate a dollar to the cause will receive an in honor of, or in memory of card that can be posted in the lobby. There will also be a raffle basket displayed in the lobby donated

by Stacey Cannon RN. Tickets will be 1.00 each or $5.00 for an arm’s length. All proceeds go to the American Heart Association. Contributed by: Stacey Cannon, HSC

dFs Calendars For Sale Submitted by: Lorraine Livosky We are very excited to offer you our very own dFs calendar! There are numerous pictures on each page of staff and clients displaying activities, outings,

accomplishments, etc. We have also incorporated in our calendar important days for you to remember, dFs’ anniversary dinner, client appreciation picnic, dFs carnival and our staff Christmas Party on the Gateway Clipper! You can view the calendar and place your order with Elaine. The calendars are at cost for $11.00 each.

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Schedule of Events

All Drop In Center Activities are FREE unless otherwise noted. To RSVP or Volunteer please call:

Mary James at (724) 346-2123

April

8th – Cooking Class 4pm – 6pm o This class is for people with

moderate cooking skills. Eat what you make!

(RSVP is required to attend this event. Please RSVP by 4/5)

20th – Garden Starter 6pm – 8pm

o Thinking about starting a garden outside? Come and start a plant or two and get gardening tips.

(RSVP is required to attend this event. Please RSVP by 4/15)

February

9th – Project 6pm – 8pm o We’re making a homemade

version of the Magic 8 Ball. (RSVP is required to attend this event. Please RSVP by 2/5)

19th – Dance 6pm – 8pm o DJ Joe spins some tunes for the

Drop-In Center Sweetheart Dance. (RSVP required to attend this event. Please RSVP by 2/17)

March

9th – Project 6pm – 8pm o Can’t wait for the grass to begin

growing again? Bring some into your home with this Chia Pet inspired gardening project.

(RSVP is required to attend this event. Please RSVP by 3/5)

24th – Dinner 4pm – 6pm

o CHAPS will be preparing a few traditional Irish dishes in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

(RSVP is required to attend this event. Please RSVP by 3/19)

Over the last year the Drop-In Center provided

72 participants with 1,745 hours of FREE FUN! Come and join in on all the fun!

How to nominate a “Star” Have you ever thought “Wow, that person is doing a great job and really makes a difference?” That’s the perfect opportunity to nominate someone to be a dFs Star of the Month.

Contributed by: Stacey Llewellyn, Personnel Assistant

Shauna Cerro, Residential Program Worker was selected as December’s “Star of the Month.” Stars of the Month can be employees, family

living providers, foster parents, members of the Board of Directors or other volunteers.

The “Star of the Month” for January was Board Member,

Russell Swauger. Nomination forms can be found in the mail room

in the reception area. When completing the form, you should include specific reasons as to why you are nominating the person. The nominee should be someone who “goes above and beyond” their normal duties. All nominations are reviewed and awarded monthly by the Executive Team. Staff are eligible to be honored once every three years.

Debra Gadson, Direct Care Worker is February’s “Star of the Month.” A certificate was placed in the office waiting area in honor of each “star.” Each “star” receives a token of appreciation. In addition, each “star’s” name was added to the “Star of the Month” plaque that is located on the “dFs Wall of Fame.” So the next time you see someone “going the extra

mile,” take some time to complete a nomination form so that person gets a chance at being recognized as a dFs Star.

Congratulations to all recipients of this award!

Keep up the good work!

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Direct Care Professionals Drivers Jennifer Bauder Linda Maxwell Frank Carney Margaret Clark John McCrea Larry Snyder Jenny Hinkson Kara Page Jeanne Kelly Ashley Regis Crystal Lee Jennifer Ruland Deborah Marks William Shollenberger Kendra Tate

If you would like to receive your next newsletter via e-mail, Please contact Chris Maurice at

(724) 346-2123 ext. 5513 or cmaurice@diversifiedfamily. org

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DIVERSIFIED FAMILY

SERVICES

25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

CALENDAR  

January Client Craft Show February Candy Bars with Logo

March Polk Provider Fair

April Anniversary Dinner 4/28/10

The Corinthian

May Foster Care/Family Living Provider Dinner

June Client Appreciation Picnic at the Park

July Summer Carnival

August Yard Sale

September Grandparents Day at local Nursing

Homes-Clients to make crafts and deliver

to White Cliff and Greystone Estates.

October Open House @ dFs Office & Chaps

November Thanksgiving Production, Santa’s

Workshop & Float for Light Up Parade

December Client Holiday Party

Staff/Board Holiday Party on the

Gateway Clipper

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Diversified Family Services 5454 East State Street P.O. Box 1027

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID SHARON, PA

PERMIT NO. 133 Hermitage, PA 16148 www.diversifiedfamily.org “Helping Families Since 1985” RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

BOARD OF DIRECTORS President .................... Jim Stevenson Vice President ...... Audra Kosmowski Secretary .............. Andrea Davidson Treasurer ................... Carole Giroski Member ...................... Jennifer Cidila Member ............... Dana Frankenburg Member .............. Marilyn Heckathorn Member ............. Rosemarie Janosko Member ....................... Ken Johnston Member ................ Dr. Frank McElree Member ........................... Meg Mirizio Member ...................... James Shaffer Member .................. Russell Swauger