It's the End of Summer:But Our August Has Been Full of Fun

We've had a lot happening here at CentralOAC and are happy to share it with you all. Weenjoyed a Staff Retreat, saw so much hopeand progress continue to come out of our MainFrame Job Readiness Program, continue tosee our mural get more and more beautifuleveryday, and we have exciting events plannedfor the Fall! Happy end of Summer, as we begin new chapters of lifeat Central OAC.

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Staff RetreatWhy do we close for a weekin August?

August is typically a monthduring which we are shortstaffed. Summer and year-long interns are finished withtheir programs, and newinterns have not yet startedtheir work. Volunteers areoften on vacation. Our Boardagreed a few years ago that

closing for services for a week in August is a healthy thing for us to do.It gives staff down time to work on other projects that may get ignoredduring the year or to take a day or two off if they so choose. It is also atime when the team gathers for a three day retreat to reflect on theprior year and plan for the next year.

This year, our staff gathered at Lake Hartwell to plan, relax, and renewourselves for the work we do each day at Central OAC. This isn’t easy

work. It’s important work, but it can be hard and, unless we take careof ourselves, we can’t care for our guests. Our team is grateful for thistime away and together. Through team building exercises, cookingtogether, conversations about our work, and playing together, we finda good balance to function well together. Staff Retreat 2018 was asuccess!

Fifth Annual Main Frame CelebrationOn August 20th, CentralOAC held its Fifth AnnualMain Frame Celebration.It’s a celebration torecognize all of the MainFrame Job ReadinessGraduates from the pastyear. This year,approximately 50 peoplegathered to celebrate 26graduates. Eachgraduate’s name was

called and several of the graduates were able to take off from workand attend the celebration. Graduates Terrance Mouzon and HenryJohnson each spoke about their time in the Main Frame and how ithelped them to move forward and achieve their goals. We presentedDenise de La Rue with the Volunteer of the Year Award for herdedication to providing lunch for the Main Frame students throughoutthe year. The time students, staff, and volunteers spend around thetable sharing a meal together has become an important part of theMain Frame program. We are grateful for this celebration each yearand for the hard work of each graduate. Thank you, Atlantic CapitalBank for sponsoring this event!

An Amazing Main Frame Graduate UpdateWorking at CentralOutreach and AdvocacyCenter presents uniqueopportunities. About twoweeks ago I was presentedwith an opportunity I neverimagined I would have:assisting a Main Framegraduate in getting a car. This all started when BettiRosszer, a member ofCentral Presbyterian

Church, reached out to Kimberly Parker, our executive director, abouther desire to donate her used car. Kimberly called me in to her officeand we quickly settled on a Main Frame graduate we believed coulduse the car: Mr. M. Mr. M is employed, in stable housing, and makinghuge steps throughout his life towards a high level of self-sufficiency. Icalled him up and he was interested in the car, so we got the ballrolling.Though Mr. M and the rest of us were excited about getting him thecar, we hit a roadblock when we realized that Mr. M was going to haveto put up a significant down payment to get his car insured. He did nothave that quite significant amount of money saved, but thankfully, Ms.Rosszer was able to come up with a creative solution: start a Go FundMe to raise the money for the down payment and registration fees. Ina few days, all of the money had been raised, Ms. Rosszer and Mr. Mhad taken care of all registration and insurance issues, and Ms.Rosszer had handed the car off to Mr. M. Now, Mr. M has a car he can drive to work and, I imagine, a greatersense of independence. As you can tell from the picture below, he ispretty happy about it and we are thrilled to have helped facilitate it!

In the Know:

Accused is a podcast produced bythe Cincinnati Enquirer thatchronicles research into unsolvedmurder cases. Both seasons of thisshow are well done but the secondseason covers issues that weencounter every day from racerelations and stereotypes to thedifficulty convicted criminals facewhen trying to renter society. Thereis even an episode where they goin depth discussing the difficulty ofgetting a new ID. This is definitelyworth the listen.

The Glass Castle is a Memoirturned film that tells the story ofJeannette Walls and her interestingchildhood. Living with her alcoholicbut charismatic father and hereccentric artist mother, Jeannetteand her siblings spent theirchildhood living as nomads withtheir parents. When the siblingsgrow up they each prosper intonormal life but their parentscontinue to choose to experiencehomelessness.

Mural Project Update:

Mark has continued to work hard on the mural and we appreciate hisefforts so very much. The lobby feels so peaceful and our guestseven seem to appreciate the art they can look at as they wait. Wecan't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished. Come see the

Mural!

[Central Outreach and Advocacy Center], [201 Washington St. SW Atlanta, GA 30303],[404-659-7119], [www.centraloac.org]