Today’s post was written by Tessa Barnard
The week of April 12-18, 2015, marked National Volunteer Appreciation Weekas established by an executive order from President Richard Nixon over forty years ago. Every sitting U.S. President since Nixon has made a proclamation recognizing the service of American citizens in their communities. President Barack Obama had this to say regarding the strength and spirit of service in this year’s National Volunteer Week Proclamation:
As a Nation, our greatest resource is our people. We each have the power to strengthen the fabric of our society and make the world a better place. Every day, Americans across the country realize this enormous potential through service to others and by giving back to their communities. During National Volunteer Week, we recognize those who embrace a life of active, energetic, and engaged citizenship, and we reaffirm our belief that all people have something to contribute to the American story.
This spirit of service is deeply embedded in our culture and vital to our national character. It reflects the idea that we are each our brothers’ and our sisters’ keepers, and it is a core part of being an American. Through service, ordinary people can make an extraordinary impact. In times of tragedy, volunteers are a source of comfort and resilience; in places of great need, they offer hope and renew our faith that a brighter day lies ahead; and in small neighborhoods and bustling cities, these dedicated individuals help build ladders of opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds. Volunteers — often with few resources and little recognition — make enormous sacrifices to lift up the people around them as well as those they may never meet. As they do, they give new life to the values that bind us together as Americans and to the promise that those who love their country can change it.
For the second year, Easterseals Crossroads has held a Volunteer Appreciation event at Latitude 360 to thank its volunteers for giving over 10,709 hours of their time in 2014 to children and adults with disabilities, special needs, or challenges. Volunteers from nearly every program were treated to a delicious appetizer buffet, exciting video and redemption games, silly photos, and bowling.

Today’s post was written by Sara Croft and features Advisory Board member Heather Halliburton.
Heather joined us in 2014 and since then has helped us build new brand awareness and fundraising relationships with the community through our fall Hallow’s Eve event and the Ability Lunch. In addition to our current events, Heather has also brought us several new event and fundraising opportunities and proves to be invested in our mission of improving the lives of children and adults with disabilities, special needs and challenges.
Current career: Director of Human Resources, Stonegate Mortgage
Education Background: Bachelors – Marketing, Management from IU Kelley School of Business; Masters – Human Resources Development from Villanova University
Hometown: Carmel, IN; Lived in Indianapolis over 20 years
How were you introduced to Easterseals Crossroads?
I first came to know Easterseals Crossroads through United Way’s Leadership Program. We had a meeting at the agency and Patrick Sandy, President and CEO of Easterseals Crossroads, gave a quick introduction to the agency, the services and its mission. I remember being rather awestruck at the diverse offerings and the depth of its reach into the community. It struck a chord with me and I felt compelled to build a relationship where I could contribute in some way to support everything going on here.
What about the United Way Leadership Program was appealing to you? Can you speak to your interest in working with and volunteering for nonprofits in general?
I applied to the United Way Leadership Program because I was interested in getting involved in joining the board of a nonprofit, but I wanted to be better educated about what that meant before I sought a place to serve. The United Way program gave extremely valuable experiences to learn how boards work (the good, the bad and the ugly) as well as exposure to the real issues facing our community. The knowledge gained through that year long program with stay with me forever and make me a much more valuable board member.
Why do you continue to stay involved with Easterseals Crossroads? Is there a personal connection we can share?
I have been so impressed with everyone I have encountered at Easterseals Crossroads. There is such passion and commitment to consumers and their families – it’s a great community. Things like sitting with Brian Norton, Manager of Clinical Services in the Assistive Technology Center, while he walked a consumer through assistive software challenges, to board and development committee meetings, to hearing consumer success stories have been so insightful and rewarding. I continue to stay involved with Easterseals Crossroads and explore ways raise awareness along with fundraising because I think the work the employees are doing is so very critical and beneficial. I just want to do what I can to help people get access to services that can improve quality of life for individuals and their families.

Today’s post was written by Sara Croft
Indianapolis resident Case Calvert recently announced he will represent the USA as a member of the US National Power Soccer Team in the 2015 Powerchair Football World Cup.
We first met Case in 2012 through a relationship with Community Health Network, our presenting sponsor of the 52nd Annual Ability Lunch with keynote speakers Emma Preuschl and Nick Springer. Case asked to meet Nick and Emma, so we arranged a dinner the night before the event to introduce everyone and discuss our common interests.
Case has been a member of the Indianapolis’ Circle City Rollers, a competitive power soccer team that travels across the Midwest region for power soccer games. He previously represented the United States in 2011 and assisted in winning the team’s second World Cup.
“It is a great honor for me to represent the USA knowing that the hard work and love I put in this sport has paid off. This gives me the opportunity to represent all those people in my life who have truly made me the Power Soccer athlete I am today! As a member of this team I have made a commitment to my fellow athletes, staff, and coaches. Part of my commitment is to participate in weekly drills, multiple training camps around the US, traveling, and personal fundraising,” says Case.
Please join Easter Seals Crossroads in wishing Case good luck with his practices, games and traveling this year! You can learn more about Case on his Facebook or Twitter or by visiting www.powersoccerteamusa.net.

Our Manager of Adult Day Services Tracy Wright has taken the past 2 years to bring art into the regular programs available through Community Day Supports. With the help of staff, interns and volunteers, multiple pieces of art have been created and sold through art exhibits or by commission. In today’s post, Tracy and her intern Mu-Chien Tsai explain how art programming is beneficial for adults with developmental disabilities.
 
What is art therapy?
Art therapy is a unique approach in working with individuals of all ages using trained clinicians. This type of therapy helps those involved to express feelings and thoughts, enhance self-esteem and self awareness, promote well-being, increase communication skills, and increase coping skills, just to name a few.
How are you implementing art therapy at Easterseals Crossroads?
Mu-Chien usually spends one or two sessions interacting and assessing his clients, writing down their strengths, limitations, needs, and possible goal(s). The materials and approaches will be adjusted and changed based on the clients’ needs, goals, and choices. From his perspectives, giving clients the opportunity to choose is very important because they already experienced a lot of limitations in their lives, and this would be a good opportunity for them to retrieve some freedom and their own voices. Sometimes Mu would combine the tasks with current events, like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, to increase the clients’ interests and motivation.
With the implementation of art therapy at Easterseals Crossroads, we have found that most of the clients within the Community Day Supports programs have expressed an interest in art. Art therapy has now grown into a full art program that includes art therapy, art classes and exploration, art shows and sales, and individual and group art sessions!
 
How many people participate in art program with us?
More than 35 clients have participated in formal art therapy sessions. Currently over 100 clients have participated in some aspect of art programming.
Have you come across any challenges with art programming, such as getting people involved who do not want to participate or adaptations that needed to be made due to a visual, physical or hearing disability?
It is normal to experience challenges working with individuals. As with everything we do, we focus on individuals’ abilities and strengths and build a program around the individual. We adapt the project to fit the needs of the group or individual. As an example, we have many who have limited movement in their hands or arms. Art can then be created with adapted art utensils using mouth pieces or foot pieces. Our popular adaptation of wheelchair art is when the wheelchair itself becomes a paint brush with simple adaptations allowing clients to create art by rolling on canvas.
 
What have been favorite art program projects?
We have had many art program highs in the last year. We have been commissioned for many art pieces by individuals and corporations. We’ve held several art shows and exhibits highlighting our clients’ pieces. One of our favorite projects has been creating pieces that have been used as greeting cards and special events promos.
 
How can the public get involved? 
We’re always appreciative of the donations of art supplies such as canvases, brushes, paints, clay, glue, mod podge, etc. If you are an artist yourself or just have a passion for art with some creative skills, we are always looking for volunteers to work and teach individuals and small groups. Finally, the easiest way to get involved is to come to an art exhibit and show your support.
 

The INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads is hosting a free full day training on the topic of assistive technology for people with brain injuries. Taught by our assistive technology clinicians, this training will offer an introduction to brain injury followed by individual sessions on assistive technology for physical, communication and cognitive impairments.
WHAT: Brain Injury and Assistive Technology Full Day Training
WHEN: Friday, March 27, from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM (Lunch is provided)
WHERE: Easter Seals Crossroads 5th Floor Conference Room
Anyone interested in learning the assistive technology that is helpful for those who have experienced a brain trauma should attend. Vocational Rehabilitation counselors, assistive technology specialists, rehabilitation specialists, social workers, parents, educators, students,professionals and health care providers can benefit from training content.
CEU’s will be offered for this training to those who attend in person. Please register on the Eventbrite page for attending in person or online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brain-injury-and-assistive-technology-full-day-training-tickets-15603540610.
For questions or to request accessible accommodations, please contact Nikol Prieto at nprieto@eastersealscrossroads.org.

Today’s post was written by Becky Lohman who has worked at Easterseals Crossroads for over 15 years as a training specialist and a benefits liaison
I recently celebrated my 15th service anniversary as an employee with Easterseals Crossroads. Every day at work, I see firsthand the scope of services and feel the impact that our agency provides to adults and children with disabilities and their families. But, the work that we do as an agency was never more evident to me than last year when I was asked to help supervise preparing archived paper files of our consumers for digital imaging. The records would then be scanned and shredded at Crossroads Document Services, a division of Crossroads Industrial Services, whose production facilities are staffed primarily by those with disabilities.
As a computer trainer and IT staff member, I was very happy about “going digital.” It was the next logical step in our effort to become paperless. Most of our departments had already transitioned to using a secure Electronic Medical Records (EMR) database to track current consumer records and staff caseloads. We now would have a system to quickly access these archived records for our consumers, who often return multiple times for help as they progress through life.
So along with my colleague, Crista McIntosh, and six production workers who each had a disability, I quickly learned how best to remove staples from fragile, old computer or typewriter paper; smooth out wrinkled (sometimes coffee-stained!) pages; and keep a sharp eye out for paperclips, Post-it notes, or anything else that could cause a scanner to jam. I soon was wearing funny-looking rubber finger and thumb tips that allowed me to shuffle through thousands of pages a day. I even had to break down and buy a pair of reading glasses!
By the time the project came to an end, over 16,000 consumer records were prepared for the scanning process. As I was working through the last group of files, I took a moment to look around me. Surrounded by hundreds of cardboard file boxes stacked on wood pallets, I was overwhelmed by that swelling of warmth and emotion that you feel inside your heart.
Every file we had prepped–some with hundreds of pages of notes and reports, others with just a few sheets of documentation–has its own story. One that Easterseals Crossroads helped to write over the years. These just weren’t pieces of papers stuck inside brown cardboard boxes. I was surrounded by people’s hopes and goals; setbacks and pain; triumphs and struggles; and most important their ABILITY to overcome.
Whether on paper or in digital format, there’s just no way to truly record what Easterseals Crossroads has done and the chapters we will continue to write with our consumers, their families, and the community

Today’s post was written by Sara Croft
Curtiss Quirin, Chief Operating Officer of Crossroads Industrial Services, has recently been appointed to the SourceAmerica Board of Directors to serve as Easter Seals’ National Nonprofit Agency representative.
SourceAmerica (formerly NISH), a national nonprofit, is the leading source of job opportunities for a dedicated and highly qualified workforce – people with significant disabilities. For nonprofit agencies, SourceAmerica provides legislative representation, engineering and technical support, and research and development projects. Their network of over 550 community nonprofit agency partners provides training to people with disabilities, assists them in identifying employment options that most of us take for granted, and then enables them to be successful at work.
Meet Curtiss Quirin
Curtiss Quirin has been the Chief Operating Officer of Crossroads Industrial Services since 2009 and is an executive with more than 25 years of experience leading many types of operations. During his career at General Motors, Delphi and Stanley he was permitted a wide scope of autonomy in the fields of Manufacturing, Sales & Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain Management. He lived and worked in Europe for four years, bringing a multi cultural experience.
His Lean experience comes from Toyota production training with both Toyota Sensei’s and working at the NUMMI assembly plant. Factories that he managed were suppliers to Toyota, Honda, General Motors, and many aftermarket customers. His Battery plant in Anaheim, California was granted the Toyota Gold Supplier Achievement award three years in a row for 0 defects and 100% on time shipments.
Curtiss was featured in the 2007 Stanley Annual Report for significant improvements achieved as the Director of Operations for their Security Solutions Division.
He has an MBA, is a certified Green Belt Six Sigma problem solver and has published several articles on employee involvement and problem solving. Before joining Easterseals Crossroads, Curtiss was on the Goodwill-Indy board of directors. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Smart Partners Alliance (Indiana State Use).
Crossroads Industrial Services is a social enterprise. It is the operating division of Easter Seals Crossroads, with a mission to employ people with disabilities and to generate an income used to support programs and services for children and adults.
Crossroads has been in existence since 1939 and competes for commercial manufacturing and distribution opportunities on the basis of quality, cost and delivery. We are ISO 9001, FDA registered, UL approved, and a “prime” contractor to the Department of Defense. Crossroads has been part of the AbilityOne program since 1998 and has successfully completed many AbilityOne contracts. Crossroads achieved QWE “Gold” status in 2013.

2015 is proving to be an exciting year for Easterseals Crossroads and we want you to join in on the fun with us! Review the latest volunteer opportunities listed below and contact Tessa Barnard at tbarnard@eastersealscrossroads.org or 317-466-1000 if you are interested in participating.
NEW YEAR, NEW VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Search Engine Optimization for Crossroads Document Services
Crossroads Document Services, a division of Easterseals Crossroads, (located at Crossroads Industrial Services, 8302 E. 33rd Street, Indianapolis) is seeking a volunteer to help develop an e-marketing campaign. The focus would be on search engine optimization (SEO) in order to raise our profile in internet searches for document scanning services in Indiana. This is an extremely flexible opportunity for someone who is internet and computer savvy.
Sertoma Club of North Downtown Indianapolis’ Valentine’s Day Rose Sale
Volunteers are needed on Thursday, February 12, from 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Easter Seals Crossroads to assist the Sertoma Club of North Downtown Indianapolis while they prepare roses for the 2015 Rose Sale benefiting Easter Seals Crossroads. Volunteers will remove bottom thorns from roses, fill water tubes, and insert stems into water tubes along with style vases and boxed roses and trim baby’s breath and leather leaf. Additional volunteers are needed anytime between 8:00 AM and 5:30 PM on Friday, February 13 at Easter Seals Crossroads.
Provide Child Care During Parents’ Night Out
We are looking for volunteers to assist the staff of Parents’ Night Out, which provides respite care for family members and primary caregivers of children with special needs ages six months to twelve years old. Respite care enhances personal and family health by providing necessary physical care and recreational activities to the children while offering parents and caregivers a well-deserved break. Parents’ Night Out takes place at Easterseals Crossroads every Friday night. Volunteers report at 5:30 pm with dinner provided and the children are there from 6 pm – 10 pm.
GETTING MORE INVOLVED
Are you interested in joining a voluntary organization that directly benefits Easterseals Crossroads? Check out these two great options!
Crossroads Guild
The Crossroads Guild was organized in 1955 to partner with Easterseals Crossroads to help the children served reach their full potential, and to enrich and make a difference in their lives with compassion and respect for differences in abilities through volunteer service, staff support, promotion of Crossroads’ values and services, the education and socialization of Guild members, and fundraising. Meetings take place on the third Tuesday of every month at Easterseals Crossroads or a point of interest that is determined annual. Often these meetings are held in conjunction with an interesting topic that may include a trip to another location and/or a speaker, along with a luncheon. The Crossroads Guild hosts an annual Family Fun Day, creates crafts to sell as a fundraiser at the Christmas Gift & Hobby Show, and volunteers at CampAbility, a summer day-camp for children at Easter Seals Crossroads. Please contact us for more information about the Guild, who invite you to have a heart, lend a hand, help a child!
Sertoma Club of North Downtown Indianapolis
Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Sertoma is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to meeting the needs of communities through volunteer service. Annually, Sertomans raise more than $20 million dollars for local community service projects throughout North America. Dedicated to “SERviceTO MAnkind,” the North Downtown Indianapolis club annually supports several local organizations and programs through volunteer and fundraising efforts. Easter Seals Crossroads is the primary charitable organization and is supported through an annual Valentine’s Day rose sale, Indianapolis Indians and Indiana Pacers fundraisers, volunteerism through their special events and more. Through weekly meetings and working together with others interested in helping the community, friendships and networking opportunities develop and flourish. Lunch meetings are held every Thursday at 12 noon at the Scottish Rite Cathedral at the corner of North and Meridian Street; lunch is included.
If you are interested in learning more about Sertoma and how you can get involved, visit their website or contact Carlos Simpson at info@sertomaindy.org.

Red Nose Run, Snowman Stomp and Frostbite 5K are just a few of the fun runs happening in and around Indianapolis this December, and we would like for you to be there as a Crossroads Champion!
Crossroads Champions are individuals, families or teams who have an interest in running local races for a great cause. Easterseals Crossroads will pay the registration fee for the race you are running if you raise a certain level of donations through an online fundraising page.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
1) To participate, runners sign up on FirstGiving, an online fundraising platform, to create a profile. Upload an image of yourself or your team of runners and write a short bio that explains why you are running as a Crossroads Champion.
2) Contact us discuss which event you are running. A goal for donations will be set based on the cost of registration to the event.
3) Ask your friends and family to donate to Easterseals Crossroads through your online fundraising page. If you reach your goal, we will pay your registration fee and offer you cool perks such as an Easterseals Crossroads t-shirt, access to special events and more.
That’s it! Crossroads Champions can participate in fun runs, races and events throughout the year. Last year, 6 people raised almost $4,000 through the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon by creating a FirstGiving page and running on behalf of Easterseals Crossroads. Imagine what we could do with your support!

Are you familiar with assistive technology? There are many different types of devices and software to aid people in becoming more independent, but where should you start? The INDATA Project is presenting Assistive Technology 101 for anyone interested in learning the basics. Topics discussed include assistive technology for vision, physical and learning impairments conducted by the clinical assistive technology staff at Easterseals Crossroads. In addition to the devices, INDATA and the Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services group will offer guidance on funding.
WHAT: Assistive Technology 101
WHERE: Easterseals Crossroads 5th Floor Conference Room
WHEN: Friday, January 23, 2015, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM (Lunch is provided)
Who should attend: Anyone interested in learning the basics of Assistive Technology. Vocational Rehabilitation counselors who are new to the field or need a refresher on Assistive Technology, social workers, parents, educators, students, professionals and health care providers can benefit from training content.
Visit the Eventbrite page to register and view the agenda athttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/assistive-technology-101-tickets-14475214757.