Author: jschutte@esarc.org

Easterseals Northeast Indiana is making waves in health and wellness with the My25 program, a transformative meal planning service designed to provide healthier, budget-friendly meals customized to individual dietary needs. This innovative approach has yielded impressive results in the first four group homes where it’s been implemented.

My25 Program Gains Popularity Among Residents and Staff

The My25 program is a hit among residents and staff alike. “Honestly, most everything that comes on the menus, the guys like,” says Tammy Thompson, a staff member at Weston House in Columbia City. Resident Jonathan shared, “I like it! I like everything but Brussels sprouts,” while Lonnie, another resident, added, “I like Brussels sprouts.”

Since launching the partnership with My25 in January 2024, Easterseals Northeast Indiana has seen positive feedback. The program’s focus on healthier eating habits—featuring lower-fat proteins, low-calorie beverages, more fruits and vegetables, and nutritious snacks—is set to expand to additional group homes.

Health Improvements and Dietary Adjustments

Jane, a resident at Haffner House in Fort Wayne, noted the improvement: “Sometimes I have to watch the grease. It’s not as greasy now,” she said about the new menus. Jane was especially pleased with the option of chicken salad as an alternative to fish, which she cannot eat.

The impact of My25 is clear. A May 2024 report highlighted that 11 of 14 residents were either at or moving towards a healthy BMI. One resident lost 10 pounds, while another shed 8 pounds. Additionally, all four homes maintained their grocery budgets while achieving these health milestones.

Tailored Meal Plans for Better Nutrition

Key adjustments in the meal plans include:

• A slow-cooker meal each week, reducing food prep time for staff.
• Serving a half plate of vegetables at dinner to enhance nutrition.
• Removing Bran Flakes from breakfast menus due to resident preferences.
• Adding decaf coffee at breakfast and dinner.
• Excluding nuts from menus in one home due to allergies.

Jessica Ward, supervisor at Weston House, commended My25’s responsiveness to feedback, noting how the menu was adjusted to accommodate residents’ requests, such as reducing chicken and eliminating black beans.

Recognizing Health Achievements at Haffner House

Easterseals Northeast Indiana proudly recognizes the health achievements of three residents at Haffner House, led by supervisor Natacha Botale. One resident lost 22 pounds, reducing their BMI from 34.8 to 31.1, while two others maintained healthy BMIs of 21.5 and 25.5. Botale’s exceptional leadership has earned her gold recognition for health leadership excellence.

This impactful program is supported by a grant from the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation.

Armani, 18, concentrates closely, writing upbeat greetings on each paper cup, such as “Ur pretty special,” “Have a great day,” and “Ur the best.” Adding those uplifting flourishes for teachers’ or staff members’ orders is part of her work for North Side High School’s coffee cart.

Armani is one of the students who operates the coffee cart program on Thursday and Friday mornings at North Side High School. Students at Wayne High School run a similar coffee cart, serving Monday through Friday mornings.

The coffee carts at both schools are operated as part of the Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) provided by Easterseals Arc in cooperation with Fort Wayne Community Schools. Through Pre-ETS, students with disabilities explore options for employment and post-secondary education while learning job skills along the way.

At Wayne, the classroom where students prepare drinks and food orders is part of what Pre-ETS coordinator Ashley Gerig calls a “mini apartment” where students learn independent living skills as well as work-based skills.

Andrea Williams, the Easterseals Northeast Indiana staff member who runs the Pre-ETS program at North Side, said, “We have a student who’s working in a restaurant, so technically not a barista, but he’s using his cooking skills, his safety skills, communication skills, social skills. He learned that at coffee cart.”

At both schools, most of the students’ work fulfilling orders takes place in the span of about an hour, between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. The students have to communicate effectively with one another to get things done in that small timeframe. Students who know more than one job need to exercise leadership, finding places where they can fill in and move the process along. Delivering drinks and food to offices and classrooms gives them practice in customer service.

At Wayne, students offer hot chocolate, hot and iced coffee, and several kinds of tea. Bagels and fresh breakfast sandwiches – egg and cheese on English muffins – are also available. The students at Wayne fill an average of 15 orders a day.

At North Side, the menu includes hot and iced coffee and tea, hot chocolate, and breakfast sandwiches. The sandwiches are sausage or ham, egg and cheese on a biscuit or English muffin. The coffee cart crew at North Side sells an average of 27 drinks and six sandwiches in a day.

Typically, juniors and seniors are the ones who work the coffee carts. At both schools, the students putting together orders seem to enjoy it so much that there are always younger students who would like to join the crew.

DJ, 17, knows several jobs so well that he can jump in and help at any station where kids are feeling pressed.

“I always help with the sausage and ham sandwiches,” DJ said.

Although DJ hasn’t taken the skills he’s learned any further from the classroom than brewing coffee for his mom at home, he thinks it might lead to a job sometime.

He said he might like “working in a fast-food restaurant, a Starbucks or something.”

ES Gaming took off publicly with a launch party at Easterseals Northeast Indiana in Angola on Friday, May 17.

It was much more than a showcase for gamers who’ve organized the RISE of the Phoenix gaming team. More than 100 party attendees got a look at Easterseals Northern Indiana’s investment in gaming and the contagious enthusiasm of participants. Community members, staff,  and consumers from across Easterseals Northern Indiana got a chance to see the organization’s new gaming trailer and the Easterseals RISE game lab.

The gaming trailer is equipped with multiple PlayStations, Xboxes, and Nintendo Switches that allow up to 24 players to play at the same time, providing an inclusive space for interaction. The trailer will be available to rent for corporate events, birthday parties, and other events.

The game lab provides a space for recreational play during Easterseals day programs. The Easterseals Northeast Indiana site is the organization’s first game lab, but similar labs will be set up at Easterseals Northeast Indiana and Cardinal Services.

Aubrie, a devoted gamer and member of the RISE of the Phoenix team, spoke to the crowd at the launch party. She said her involvement in the gaming group has shown her how it can build not just game skills, but also all the skills that contribute to being part of a team.

She described the value of discovering she was “able to do something you didn’t think you could do. There are a number of ways to adapt yourself to play games.”

It’s definitely not a pastime only for the young. Bob is another RISE of the Phoenix team member, and at 52 years old he has played video games for decades. He said the team play he’s experienced through Easterseals is the most fun he’s had gaming.

“You play along with your friends. You meet new people,” he said.

Esports Coach Paige Hart said she’s impressed with how well the Easterseals Northeast Indiana gamers work with one another and how open they are to learning from members of the gaming team at Trine University.

She said she sees evidence of secondary benefits, apart from becoming better video game players.

“A lot of times they gain a lot of social friendships through this,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of blossoming friendships that come from being in the setting of the game lab.”

Hart sees the players developing better cooperation, better hand-eye coordination, more problem-solving abilities and even mentoring when players coach one another during games.

Hart is quick to hand off credit for a key win: the team name, the RISE of the Phoenix, which the players themselves chose.

“I thought it was a very good choice,” she said. “They really wanted something with flames, and they wanted to tie in RISE. I thought that was really creative.”

Visiting Image of Hope Ranch has always been a joy for Norman. In recent months, it’s become a direct road to a treasured part of his past.

About every two weeks, Easterseals Arc staff member Kelly Corbin takes Norman to the ranch in DeKalb County. Now each visit includes spending time with Cheyenne, a mini horse from the family farm where he grew up and lived for decades.

When Norman approaches her stall, Cheyenne cranes her neck to get closer to him and chuffs in greeting. Norman smiles broadly.

“Are you talking?” he asks Cheyenne.

Corbin, who grew up riding and caring for horses, said that Cheyenne has a reputation for stubbornness and sassiness at Image of Hope, but that doesn’t come between her and Norman. He takes her out for a slow, roaming graze around the ranch, murmuring quietly to her as they go.

Alisha Shank, founder and CEO of Image of Hope Ranch, said Donna Crow, one of Norman’s sisters, got Cheyenne’s relocation to the ranch rolling earlier this year when Crow explained the story behind Cheyenne. Shank then got in touch with another of Norman’s sisters who had Cheyenne at her place.

“We just worked it out that Cheyenne could come and live at Image of Hope so that Norman could spend time with her,” Shank said.

It’s not a deep sacrifice for the ranch, and the joy Norman shows is a great dividend for a good deed.

“It really cost very little to keep Cheyenne here. Including feed, hay, supplements, farrier, deworming, and vaccinations it’s around $70 per month. … It is always a joy to see his smiles here,” she said.

Volunteers from across northeast Indiana teamed up Wednesday morning, Oct. 19, at Easterseals Northeast Indiana’s Projects Drive building to package meals for the people of Ukraine.

By the time they finished, they had packed more than a half-ton of food for shipment to Ukraine. The meal-packing event with Project 216 aimed to pack as much nutritional value as possible into 14-ounce packages.

Volunteers from Easterseals Northeast Indiana joined by other community volunteers, worked for about two hours to combine rice, soy protein, dried vegetables and supplemental vitamins and minerals.

About 110 volunteers helped package the meals, according to Ashley Gettys, Easterseals Northeast Indiana director of day services and community supports. Gettys led the organizing for Easterseals Northeast Indiana network volunteers.

The volunteers worked in assembly lines of eight or 10 people each. They combined the rice, soy protein, vegetables and nutritional supplements into heavy plastic bags. They heat-sealed each plastic bag and stowed them in easy-to-handle cardboard cubes, 36 packages in each box.

Ellen Mann, spokeswoman for Project 216, said the food packaging at Easterseals Northeast Indiana was supported by an anonymous donor and ADM, an agribusiness corporation that provided the soy protein. Project 216 is a Fort Wayne group dedicated to providing food for people in need around the world.

Each small package will bring a large dose of nutrition to Ukraine’s population, which has been pummeled by months of warfare. Each of the six servings in a package includes 12 grams of protein and 210 calories.

The food is designed to be cooked in boiling water. When cooked, the dried carrots, onions, tomatoes, celery, kale and bell peppers will expand and add color and nutrients to the rice and soy protein in the packets.

Four young people spent eight weeks living, learning, working and relaxing together in the Easterseals Transitions Academy (ETA) from the beginning of June through the end of July.

Aaliyah, Marissa, Thaddaus and Trey shared a four-bedroom unit in Purdue University Fort Wayne student housing for the summer, with support and supervision from Easterseals Northeast Indiana staff. Their weekends were free time; they could spend them visiting family or friends, and often did. But the program’s schedule kept them busy Mondays through Fridays.

Easterseals Northeast Indiana designed the program to give them a taste of greater independence while helping them develop many specific skills. They learned cooking skills, including planning menus and shopping for groceries, and social skills they need to live with roommates. They also worked part-time jobs.

Every Monday was devoted to food. They began with a cooking class in the morning and wrapped up with grocery shopping in the afternoon.

Instructor Mike Ringley, who spent 14 years as the general manager of an IHOP restaurant, taught them to prepare an array of meals for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

“I help them plan their menus for the week,” he said one Monday before class. He taught them in a fully equipped commercial kitchen in the Easterseals Northeast Indiana Hospitality Lab. He has taught other students the basics of restaurant work in the lab, but he described the ETA class as “more teaching life skills” than preparing the participants for restaurant work.

Ringley worked lessons on food safety into every class. After they finished frying hash browns, he reminded them to clean up and disinfect surfaces. They practiced the fundamentals in every class – chopping vegetables and fruit, frying, mixing, measuring ingredients, washing dishes.

As he worked through menu planning with them, Ringley reminded them of the importance of a varied diet. “Each meal is balanced now: a meat, a starch and a vegetable or fruit,” he told them after working out a menu for the coming week. And they enjoyed the results of their work when they ate what they cooked in class.

Throughout their class, they had fun, laughing, celebrating successes, teasing one another. AAliyah earned a dose one morning when she poured maple syrup on the hashbrowns they cooked minutes before. Marissa looked surprised; AAliyah laughed and explained that’s how she’s always had hash browns.

Trey saw the syrup flow and called out, “Abomination! Abomination!” making AAliyah laugh even harder.

On Wednesdays, staff and participants met in sessions designed to build more skills for independent living. Almost anything that concerns the daily tasks of adulthood was fair game, from banking and budgeting to riding city buses to working out conflicts with roommates.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, they worked at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Trey and Thaddaus stood a few yards inside the entrance, offering maps of the zoo to every visitor. A short stroll deeper inside the zoo, Marissa and AAliyah staffed a station where visitors could vote, using pennies or other change, for the conservation program they support most strongly. To make sure everyone can vote, the women handed a penny to each visitor.

After lunch, all four found brooms and dustpans and walked paths through the zoo, sweeping up bits of paper or food. As Brynn Sigler, the Easterseals Northeast Indiana staff member who accompanies them to the zoo, noted, patrolling the zoo for trash takes sharp eyes. “The zoo is really pretty clean,” she said.

Nevertheless, the ETA participants stayed on the move, walking and sweeping quickly. Trey brought zeal to this part of the job. He didn’t stop at picking up trash; he saw a few pieces of gravel on a sidewalk and scooted them back into the planting where they belong. Later, a woman asked him where the nearest restroom was; he found a zoo worker who’d been on the job longer and brought the answer back to her.

“I think it’s going very well,” said Mischa Myers, of the zoo’s human resources department. “They’re able to function very well independently.”

AAliyah said she enjoyed working at the zoo, in large part because it was a job that gave her lots of time with her friends. As for the work itself, she liked the “penny job” best, “because I get to talk to little kids.”

Marissa preferred patrolling with a broom and dustpan. “We have a lot more freedom,” she said. Freedom, she said, is what she liked best about Easterseals Transitions Academy.

“It feels nice to have freedom. I didn’t have to call my mom to ask if I can go out and hang out with friends,” she said.

The program also “teaches you how to live on your own. You get work experience. You learn time management when you have to get up for work,” Marissa said.

Every weekday, for eight weeks at a time, a team of four or five Easterseals Northeast Indiana Employment Readiness Academy participants arrive at the Holiday Inn Purdue Fort Wayne and set to work.

Throughout their five-hour daily shifts, they help employees in the housekeeping and laundry departments accomplish more and get real experience that could better equip them to land jobs in a competitive labor market.

The work at the Holiday Inn appeals to many of the ERA participants.

“I like doing laundry. I like doing the trash,” Vince said.

“I love my job,” Anthony said. Often the work at the hotel follows a familiar, comfortable routine, and he likes that. “We do the same thing every day.”

Easterseals Northeast Indiana staff member Noah Younghans supervises those in the ERA, and he said the hotel staff is great to work with. Among the hotel staff, the person who most directly provides guidance to the ERA team is Bill Robinson, the Holiday Inn’s maintenance supervisor.

“They have been a joy. They have been a lively and happy group,” Robinson said. “Everybody likes them. When they have a job to do, they’re busy.”

They arrive each morning by 9:30. They begin on the topmost floor where guests have checked out, stripping sheets and collecting towels. They move their carts down, floor by floor, clearing rooms. At the ground floor, they deliver the towels and linens to the laundry.

Katrina Johnson, a Holiday Inn employee who works in the laundry, appreciates what the ERA team members contribute to the workflow in the hotel.

“They help a lot, bringing down laundry,” Johnson said. “That helps me a lot, and it helps the housekeepers.”

If the team from Easterseals Northeast Indiana wasn’t at work, either Johnson would have to go upstairs to get laundry from the housekeeping staff, or the housekeepers would have to spend more time on each room, collecting and bringing laundry downstairs.

From the laundry, the ERA participants fan out through common areas on each floor, in bathrooms, in the lobby and immediately outside hotel entrances. Some of them begin emptying trash containers. Others get dust mops, towels and spray-bottles of cleaner to begin their most visible work.

Robinson, the hotel’s maintenance supervisor, said the ERA participants are responsible for keeping “high-touch” areas, such as tabletops and chairs, clean. They use dust mops clean lamps, moulding and picture frames. This detail work helps preserve a sharp, fresh look in the hotel’s common areas.

Bethany is unusual among the people in the ERA because she already has independent employment – part-time jobs at Goodwill and Kroger. She still enjoys being part of an ERA sometimes.

“I like being with my friends and peers,” Bethany said. On the days when she works in the ERA – every participant must work at least three shifts a week – Bethany takes it on herself to act as a kind of assistant supervisor. She moves naturally among the other participants, helping them out and checking in on them. She refers to a checklist of daily tasks for the ERA, then compares notes with Younghans.

The benefit for the Holiday Inn in its partnership with Easterseals Northeast Indiana is clear: As they learn about entry-level jobs in the hospitality field, the ERA workers free up laundry and housekeeping staff for more specialized work.

In return, the Easterseals Northeast Indiana participants get realistic experience on the job. As Suzanne Vertigan, Easterseals Northeast Indiana’s workforce development liaison, said, companies who partner in an ERA are “providing hands-on skill development and on-the-job training for participants who are exploring competitive employment. … The goal of the program is to increase skills and gain experience.”

The hospitality business is packed with employers looking to hire. One online job board in March 2022 showed at least 20 hotels and motels in Fort Wayne with openings for full- or part-time housekeeping staff.

Even if their ERA experience doesn’t lead participants to jobs with hotels, it can have lasting benefits. As Vertigan said, “Participants will learn general personal skills for workplace success as well as transferable job skills.”

Every Monday for several weeks, veteran restaurant manager Mike Ringley has come to Easterseals Northeast Indiana and given participants a taste of the restaurant business.

The five young people in this first group to use the new Hospitality Learning Lab pack a lot into their Mondays. They’re divided into two groups. One group begins the day in a classroom where Suzanne Vertigan, a member of the Easterseals employment services team, guides them through lessons on food safety, kitchen tools, time management, customer service and more. The other group joins Ringley across the hall, where they take turns making entrees and side dishes in the gleaming new kitchen of the Hospitality Learning Lab.

The eight-week program is an intensive introduction to restaurant work. The aim is to prepare participants for entry-level restaurant jobs. Participants who successfully complete the program earn a Food Handler certification from Ivy Tech Community College. Even if they don’t choose to pursue restaurant jobs, they will have learned lessons for more independent living.

When students taking their turn in the kitchen finish cooking each item on that day’s menu, that’s where the true taste of the business comes in. They eat the omelets or waffles or other dishes they’ve just made, and Ringly reinforces lessons they’re learning in class. On this day, he reviews highlights of customer service.

Some students are so caught up in what they’re learning that they press Ringley to tackle great questions.

“What do you do if you have a rude customer?” Collin asks Ringley.

“It’s best not to engage a rude customer other than answering questions and being polite,” Ringley tells Collin. “Wait for a manager to get involved.”

Jonquia, another participant in the Hospitality Learning Lab, absorbs a point from Ringley on the importance of smiling and talking to form warm relationships with customers.

“The smiling and talking is hard with a mask on,” Jonquia says.

Ringley agrees. “You lose that face-to-face. The masks are going away someday. Hopefully soon,” he says.

The participants’ time in the kitchen with Ringley is a deep dive into the practical application of everything they learn in class with Vertigan. Minute by minute, he weaves those classroom lessons into the kitchen work.

“What did you have on your hands?” he asks Nick, who’s just cracked eggs into a bowl for the omelets.

“Eggs.”

“What do you have to do?” Ringley asks.

“Wash my hands,” Nick says.

“Good!” Ringley calls out.

Until just before the pandemic, Ringley had been general manager of an IHOP for 14 years. Now he works as a dispatcher for Waiter on the Way.

His long tenure in the business enables Ringley to show off a few tricks of the kitchen. A crowd-pleaser he performs: With a mid-air slide of a frying pan and a snap of his wrist, Ringley flips a frying omelet onto its less-cooked side. At the same time, he encourages the people he’s teaching not to be put off by cooking imperfections.

As he slides the first omelet onto a plate, he says, “It’s not the prettiest thing, but it will taste good!”

Vertigan points out that everything students learn are skills that can make participants’ lives better, no matter where they work.

• Learning about kitchen safety, kitchen equipment, utensils, dishwashing and cooking helps equip participants to live more independently.
• Customer service teaches skills that help a person navigate daily life, no matter what job they perform.
• Food prep helps anyone who wants to cook.
• Measurements are crucial in cooking and many other areas of life.
• Time management, on or off the job, helps anyone make the most of life.
• Basic first aid can be essential, and not just in a kitchen.
• Baking math helps people learn math they can use for far more tasks.
• Consumer shopping helps people make the most of their food budget.

Preparing their lunch each day under the guidance of a restaurant pro builds enthusiasm too.

“I like it,’ says Sarah, as she polishes off an omelet. “I like to cook food.”