This past year at Jodi’s Heart has been quite a fun filled adventure. One of our main goals is to update our website more regularly with pictures and stories of our adventures. Since it has been a year since we last updated, I’m going to give a brief overview of the events of the past year.
We are still keeping our participants busy going and going. We also have continued growing and adding new participants to our programs. We have seen our participants move out of our houses and into their own apartments and others become employed in new jobs. We continue to support all our participants in whatever they personally want to achieve. Watching each participant achieve their own individual successes is still the most satisfying part of our job.
Going back to our last update (which was in July 2010), we have seen numerous projects and activities, some small, some large. In August of last year, we had two major events. The first event was a Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours hosted at Jodi’s Heart. In preparation for this event we undertook a rather extensive renovation project at our main office. This project involved digging out our backyard and pouring a new patio. Our participants and staff worked hard on getting this project done in time for the Business After Hours and we were fortunate enough to have all the cement for the project donated by a local business. Our participants have enjoyed having a nice outdoor area to eat lunch, exercise, and just to relax on throughout the summer months.
We also took our annual camping trip to the Big Horn Mountains in August. On this trip we stayed at a cabin at the Elk View Inn in the Big Horns. We enjoyed lots of fishing and campfires and also got to see a lot of wildlife. Of course, Jodi also made sure we were well provided for during mealtimes!
In October we had our annual Pumpkin Carving contest at Kendrick Park. The event continues to grow and we are working on making this years event even bigger and better! In November we had our annual Thanksgiving luncheon and fed about 120 people. That’s a lot of turkey!
For Christmas this year we had our third annual Tour of Homes. All the houses were beautifully decorated and the participants took a lot of pride in how their houses looked. We also held our annual Christmas program at the First Baptist Church. This years program was titled “Jinglebell Jukebox” and the participants showed off their singing and dancing skills for a full house.
This new year has not allowed us much time to slow down. In February we hosted our annual Valentine’s Day Sweetheart dance at the Eagles on Commercial Lane. We also were blessed with a new bus in February which was purchased with a grant from the State Land and Investment Board. In March we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a corned beef lunch. In May we hosted our first Fashion Show and Spring Fling which was very successful. We had the support of several local businesses for our Fashion Show and the participants enjoyed their turn on the “catwalk” modeling their new fashions.
In July we hosted the first annual Jodi’s Heart golf tournament. This tournament was held in Hulett and was very successful. We are looking forward to this becoming an annual event. We also took our annual Rapid City trip in mid July. There will be pictures coming soon as well as more details of our adventures.
In addition to the major events listed here, both Day Hab and Res Hab have been keeping the participants busy. We continue to get our participants out and about on a daily basis. At Day Hab we have started a walking club twice a week. We walk in the local parks when the weather is good and we go to different stores if the weather is not so cooperative. We continue to swim twice a week at the YMCA. We have been to Buffalo to go bowling and swimming. All the guys took a day to go to Lake DeSmet to go fishing. We have had numerous picnics and been to different concerts around the area.
All in all, it has been a very busy and productive year at Jodi’s Heart. We thank all our friends and family for their continued support of our activities. We also can’t thank our community enough for all the support you have given us. We could never do this without you!
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