VOLUME 23, ISSUE 8

MAY 2012

MSO Happenings

MID-S IOUX OPPORTUNITY, INC.

Notes from the Director’s Desk

WIC/MCH CLINIC

CALENDAR

July 10 - Ida Grove

July 11 - Cherokee

July 17 - Sioux Center

July 18 - Orange City

July 24 - Rock Rapids

July 25 - Le Mars

July 30 - Hawarden

July 31 - Rock Valley

FaDSS 2

Board of Directors 3

Mid-Sioux’s 8th Annual Golf Tournament

4

Outreach Happenings 5

Prevent Electrical Fires 6-7

Floyd Valley Hospital Health Notes

8

Consumer Advisory 9

Employee Anniversaries 10

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

The mission of Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. is to meet the needs of communities and families

through the provision of services which will enhance the well-being of all people in need.”

June is the last month of the state fiscal year. This is a busy time for those staff involved with state programs. Our fiscal year will be ¾ through at the end of June. This means that we are beginning to plan for the close of contracts that end in September. We have been informed that our triennial or peer review for Head Start and Early Head Start will take place in the next year. The next few months will be spent evaluating where we are at in all areas and assuring that all is in order. Facilities are being checked to assure there are no health and safety issues present. June is also the time for our Iowa Community Action Association annual conference in Des Moines. This is an opportunity for training and recognizing achievements over the past year. We will have several staff/board members attending. The Iowa Legislature adjourned the 2012 session in May. There were many accomplishments and some disappointments as al-ways. A major accomplishment was an increase in FaDSS funding of $200,000.00 statewide. In a time of tight budgets, this is a compliment to the work done by our FaDSS staff and others across the state. Thank you legislators for your support. Summer is upon us which means our annual golf outing in Sioux Center will soon be taking place. This year July 13th is the date for the Golf Tournament. Hope to see you there!

Dick Sievers

Executive Director

UPCOMING EVENTS

July 4 - Office Closed July 13 - Golf Tournament, The Ridge Golf Course, Sioux Center

FAMILY DEVELOPMENT & SELF-SUFFIENCY

PROGRAM

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Family self-sufficiency is one of the agency’s primary missions. FaDSS works hard to assist families receiving funds through the Family Investment Program (FIP). FaDSS Specialists provide support to families facing multiple barriers in their efforts to find and maintain em-ployment. Specialists meet with families in their home to develop plans that will assist them in reaching self-sufficiency. Developing these plans often include working with the entire family, doing assessments, providing referrals to other community resources, goal setting,

and ongoing support. The Mid-Sioux FaDSS program serves an average of 75 families a year. Below is a success story from a previous FaDSS participant.

Megan is a single mother who enrolled in the FaDSS program for the first time when she was 17 years old. At that time, Megan was working on finishing high school while parenting her 16 month old daughter. It became too much for Megan so she then began taking GED classes, which she completed. Me-gan gained full time employment, which took her off FIP and she was exited from the FaDSS program. Me-gan obtained her CNA license after exiting the FaDSS program and later decided to begin college to pursue a degree in nursing. At that time, she reapplied for FIP to assist her through the schooling process and she reenrolled in the FaDSS program. Megan now attends college full time and works part time as a CNA at a hospital in order to gain experience in her field. She and her boyfriend are currently in the process of pur-chasing a home. Megan’s boyfriend recently returned from Afghanistan after being deployed for the last year. During this difficult time without him, Megan had a tremendous amount of support from her mom, grand-ma, her boyfriend’s family, as well as FaDSS. Through Megan’s time in the program, her FaDSS Specialist assisted her with parenting issues, finding child care and preschool, and resource information. Megan’s daughter is now 3 and will begin preschool this fall. Megan is on her way to self-sufficiency as she continues with her nursing classes. She hopes to have her LPN by next May. FaDSS is approaching the end of fiscal year 2012 with the new fiscal year beginning July 1. We were very ex-cited to receive an increase in funding for next year. Statewide, FaDSS received a $200,000 increase which gives our agency an increase of approximately $4,000 in funding. Although it is not a large increase for us, any increase is great! We greatly appreciate the work Lana Ross does for our agencies in advocating for our programs. The IFDA (Iowa Family Development Alliance) Legislative Committee also does a great job put-ting on our annual FaDSS Day on the Hill, which is an important event for our program each year. Since goal setting is a main component of the work we do with families, we also set goals for ourselves within our program. Now is the time of year we often do that since the new fiscal year is approaching. We always look at what we have accomplished this year and what we would like to get done in the next year. We will soon begin work on our annual report for FY ’12, which assists us in developing our program goals based on the results from this year. Although our goals change from year to year, our main goal of helping families succeed in becoming self-sufficient always remains.

Laura Benson

FaDSS/Outreach

Director

Katie Korthals & Laura Benson

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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Board of Directors

Executive Committee Finance Committee Personnel Committee

Tom Letsche, President Caryn Barry Tom Letsche

Caryn Barry, Vice-Chair Joe Cronin Merle Koedam

Carol Van Gelder, Secretary Tom Letsche Jean Miller

Joe Cronin, Treasurer Dean Schmidt

Low-Income Sector Representatives Private Sector Representatives Public Sector Representatives

Ann Cole-Nelson, Plymouth County Jean Miller, Cherokee County Tom Letsche, Plymouth County

Caryn Barry, Cherokee County Betty Knudson, Cherokee County Don Kass, Plymouth County

Evelyn Baldwin, Lyon County Carol Van Gelder, Sioux County Barry Thompson, Plymouth County

Carolyn Salberg, Sioux County Dean Schmidt, Cherokee County

Vern Beernink, Sioux County Al Bloemendaal, Sioux County

Joe Cronin, Ida County

Merle Koedam, Lyon County

Every Community Action Agency is required to have a Board of Directors to oversee agency services and provide input into program delivery methods and operations. A Board of Directors can accomplish many things if they are active and involved in the oversight of an organization. There must be balance maintained between oversight and operations. Boards are not designed to run organizations on a day-to-day basis. Some of the activities that board members routinely provide support for are:

Fund raising and the mobilization of resources. This can range from helping to acquire cash donations to helping to secure office space for the agency.

Public relations. Every agency needs to inform the public about what they do and how people can access services. Board members inform their communities about Mid-Sioux and the services we offer. They help to put residents in touch with staff so as to assure communication and follow through take place.

Program monitoring. Boards review reports, visit work sites and ask questions about how services are be-ing conducted. When necessary, they suggest changes and methods to improve programs.

Fiscal monitoring. Each month board members review financial information and assure that funds are be-ing spent properly. Boards should meet with the agency auditor to assure that operations are being con-ducted according to federal, state and local laws and regulations.

Policy and procedure approval. The Board of Directors should review and approve all agency personnel and fiscal policies and procedures. This is a way to make sure that the organization is functioning under a standard set of rules that provides quality control.

Executive Director/CEO oversight. Boards should regularly evaluate the agency’s chief executive officer. This provides feed back to that person and also is a way to give direction to leadership.

Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. is very fortunate to have an active and capable Board of Directors.

Back Row: Vernon Beernink, Ann Cole-Nelson, Caryn Barry, Al Bloemendaal, Merle Koedam, Dean Schmidt, Thomas Letsche, & Joe Cronin Front Row: Carolyn Salberg, Jean Miller, Carol Van Gelder, Evelyn Baldwin & Betty Knudson Not Pictured: Don Kass & Barry Thompson

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OUTREACH HAPPENINGS

PAGE 5

It is hard to believe it is already June!! School has been let out and we have begun our back to school backpack project for the upcoming year. Some people don’t realize it takes a little bit of time to get everything organized and putting the wheels in motion for the next school year. I start sending letters off to the banks asking if we can hang our bus posters in their lobbies, sending letters to parents asking if they will need help with supplies this year and sending notices to churches and newspapers to help spread the word. In our community, school will resume on August 15, which seems very early to me, and will dismiss on May 15, which again is very early. Our office has been seeing more people coming in for food pantry and food assistance

applications. Our food pantry has been blessed with numerous donations and we have been able to fill the demand without any worry. I heard an interesting fact on the radio the other day, the number of people who have Master’s Degrees and PHD’s are on food assistance, which has doubled and tripled respectively in the last three years. That little bit of information caused me great concern and I pray we don’t see more of an increase in this growing trend. In May, Diane and I were invited to attend the BC-IG elementary and intermediate awards day and Mid-Sioux was presented a “Certificate of Service of Learning” by both schools for the work we provide to the less fortunate in our area and showing the children in these buildings how their donations and kind-ness are benefitting our organization. Our schools have always done food projects for our pantry through the years and the kids have a great time collecting items and getting involved in the giving. I believe that community service should be a requirement in education so students can experience the power of giving to others. With the mild winter we experienced, we did not see as many people coming in with disconnects on their heat and electric bills, which was a nice change. On the other hand, LiHEAP apps were down because of the mild winter and people telling us they wanted to leave the money for others that needed it more than they did and were not going to apply for funding this year. In closing, I hope everyone enjoys the summer and are able to get away with family and friends to relax

and make memories for years to come.

Devi Ray

Outreach Coordinator

Ida County

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HEALTH & SAFETY

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Employee Anniversaries June 2012

Years of Work

Employee Service Program Location Rosanne Plathe 18 Years Head Start/EHS Remsen

Julie Traufler 11 Years Early Head Start Le Mars Melissa Saathoff 4 Years Head Start Akron Sarah Pecks 4 Years Head Start/EHS Remsen

Katie Korthals 4 Years FaDSS Sioux Center Karrie Roberts 4 Years Early Head Start Orange City

Bill Miller 4 Years Head Start Rock Valley Bobbi Riedemann 3 Years Housing/Energy Assistance Remsen

Lyon County Outreach

Meghan List

(M,W,F 9 am - 4 pm)

302 South Lincoln

Rock Rapids, Iowa 51246

Phone/Fax # 712-472-3746

mlist@midsioux.org

Ida County Outreach

Devi Ray Mon, Wed., & Fri.

703 W State Hwy 175; Ste. 1

Ida Grove, Iowa 51445

Phone # 712-364-2175

Fax # 712-364-3792

dray@midsioux.org

Cherokee County Outreach

Joan Forcier Mon,Wed, & Fri

921 Second Street

Cherokee, Iowa 51012

Phone # 712-225-3322

Fax # 712-225-1083

jforcier@midsioux.org

Sioux County Outreach

Meghan List (M, T, Th, F)

313 N Main Avenue

Sioux Center, Iowa 51250

Phone # 712-722-3611

Fax # 712-722-3611

mlist@midsioux.org

Plymouth County Outreach

Sue Reed (Mon., Wed. & Fri.)

180 10th Street SE; Box 1

Le Mars, Iowa 51031

Phone # 712-546-6603

Fax # 712-546-6603

sreed@midsioux.org

Administrative Offices

418 S. Marion Street

Remsen, Iowa 51050

Phone # 712-786-2001

Fax # 712-786-3250

Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc.

Toll Free # 1-800-859-2025