Inspiring Easterseals Stories
Music Therapy Builds Skills Amid Fun and Games
The music therapy sessions at Easterseals Northeast Indiana in Columbia City and Angola every Tuesday are designed to strengthen the communication and social skills of people who attend. But the participants in these sessions might not notice the lessons they’re learning, because they’re so busy having fun.
A Partnership for Inclusive Volunteerism: I CAN Service Team & Easterseals Northeast Indiana
The collaboration between Easterseals Northeast Indiana and the I CAN Service Team is redefining what it means to volunteer by making community service more inclusive and accessible. Together, these organizations empower individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities to contribute meaningfully to their communities.
Achieving Wellness: How My25 Program is Revolutionizing Nutrition at Easterseals Northeast Indiana
My25 menu plans create healthier meals, individually customized to meet dietary restrictions, for Easterseals Northeast Indiana consumers.
Empowering Individuals with Disabilities Through Skills Development: The Impact of Trine University and Easterseals’ Pre-Manufacturing Academy
Trine University and Easterseals have joined forces to empower individuals with disabilities through the Pre-Manufacturing Academy. This innovative program offers students the opportunity to develop essential skills, gain hands-on experience, and build the confidence needed to succeed in the manufacturing industry.
Easterseals Employment Readiness Academy Enhances Job Skills at Cameron Hospital
A trio of participants from Easterseals Northeast Indiana has been working to keep Cameron Memorial Community Hospital in Angola tidy, clean and polished.
Group Outings Guided by Behavior Consultant Foster Personal Growth
Lori Edwards-Walters, a behavior consultant with Easterseals Northeast Indiana, leads a few young women on an outing about once a month. Sometimes they try something new. Other times they simply make a meal and share it. Other days, they indulge themselves in pampering.
Pre-Employment Transition Program Brews Success Through Student-Run Coffee Carts
Students in Pre-Employment Transition Services at Wayne and North Side high schools are learning valuable skills operating coffee carts that offer food and drinks teachers and staff.
Launch Party Celebrates Easterseals Gaming Program
ES Gaming took off publicly with a launch party at Easterseals Northeast Indiana in Angola on May 17. More than 100 party attendees got a look at Easterseals Northern Indiana’s investment in gaming and the contagious enthusiasm of participants.
Buddies Without Borders Helps Youths Lead the Way to Inclusion
About once a month, kids from Easterseals Northeast Indiana's Mini Dreamers and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fort Wayne meet for fun, crafts, or visits to area attractions. Whatever activity is on their agenda, their mission is having fun and getting to know each other.
Brothers Reconnect With Help From Staff
Tim hadn’t seen his brother in at least three years, not since before the pandemic. With the help of Ryan Keefe, who works in Easterseals Northeast Indiana's community living department, they were reunited for a visit.
Norman, Mini Horse Reunite in Ranch Visits
Visiting Image of Hope Ranch has always been a joy for Norman. Now each visit includes spending time with Cheyenne, a mini horse from the family farm where he grew up and lived for decades.
ES Gaming Envisions New Standard for Inclusive Gaming
Easterseals Northeast Indiana is one of the first affiliates to join ES Gaming, a nationwide Easterseals initiative creating a new standard for equity, inclusion and access among all disabled gamers, while amplifying disabled voices and accessible innovations.
Art Time Lifts Creativity at Easterseals Passages
On a typical weekday, four Easterseals Passages participants immerse themselves in making art. For an hour or more, each person works with Jamie Hyser, the art instructor, producing and polishing drawings and paintings in a studio at Easterseals Passages’ Creative Learning Center.
JAM Center Visits Combine Volunteer Work and Fun
It’s become a weekly getaway for many of the people who take part in day services at Easterseals Northeast Indiana's Projects Drive Group. Every Friday, four to eight participants, accompanied by one or two staff members, make the half-hour drive north to the JAM Center, short for Judy A. Morrill Recreation Center, in Garrett.
CNA Program
Easterseals Northeast Indiana's health care learning lab will prepare participants for rewarding careers as certified nurse assistant (CNAs). Next cohort begins July 24.
Nick Stars in Shrek the Musical
For one production, Nick will be transformed three times. He’ll first become one of the Three Pigs, then a guard protecting Lord Farquaad, then a knight imprisoned after failing to rescue Princess Fiona.
Small Garden Yields Big Bounty for Housemates
As autumn turned chilly, housemates Barry, Matt and Steve harvested some of the last food from the garden they started in May 2022. They started small, with just a few dozen square feet of garden, some in raised beds, others directly in the earth of their backyard.
Easterseals, Project 216 Partner to Pack Meals for Ukraine
Volunteers from across northeast Indiana teamed up Wednesday morning, Oct. 19, at Easterseals Arc’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.
Success at Silver Birch ERA Prompts Request for More Help
Since last year, Employment Readiness Academy (ERA) teams from Easterseals Arc have worked at Silver Birch of Fort Wayne, a senior living and assisted living community on Hanna Street. Amanda said she likes “bussing the dishes. Wiping down the tables. I like serving meals.”
Transitions Academy Offered 8 Weeks of Lessons in Independence
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.
Holiday Inn Experience Benefits Participants and Hotel
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.
Hospitality Lab Offers Taste of Restaurant Career
Every Monday for several weeks, veteran restaurant manager Mike Ringley has come to Easterseals Arc 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.
Partnership Aids Both Covington Box, Easterseals Participants
Like so many area businesses, Covington Box & Packaging can’t find enough workers to keep pace with demand from its customers. What it has found is a new source of help: two teams of workers from Easterseals Arc and Easterseals RISE.
Meet Chauntesse: Helping Others Reach Milestones
Chauntesse Philpot loves to learn, and she works two jobs helping other people learn and overcome obstacles, too.
Meet Christina: Embracing Versatility at the Creative Learning Center
Each day, about 45 people with disabilities arrive at the Easterseals Passages Creative Learning Center for a day of activities, learning and fun. Christina Sipe rolls with it all.
Meet Jorge: Doing the Work He Loves
Jorge Ruiz has worked many jobs in his 43 years, but he’s come back to being a Direct Support Professional, or DSP.
Pre-Employment Transition Services at Carroll High School
Carroll High School student Makayla got a semester-long introduction to what it’s like to work in the preschool at Hickory Center Elementary School.
Pre-Employment Transition Services at Homestead High School
Several of the 13 students in the Pre-ETS program at Homestead High School worked in retail stores during the 2018-2019 school year. They saw firsthand the behind-the-scenes effort that keeps the stores running.
Pre-Employment Transition Services at Wayne High School
Students at Wayne High School are working in area businesses, thanks to a collaboration with Easterseals Arc.
Music Therapy Helps Develop Social Skills
Music therapy can look like a party, but there are serious goals behind the fun.
Pre-Manufacturing Academy Creates Path to Jobs in Steuben County
Class sizes at the Pre-Manufacturing Academy at Easterseals RISE may be small, but the goal is not. These classes could become a path to jobs in manufacturing for people with disabilities.
Projects Drive Group Team Fills Need for Pillow Packers at Arden
A group of Easterseals Arc participants has been at work in a Fort Wayne factory since April, helping to brighten outdoor furniture in the United States and Canada.
Easterseals RISE Team Lessens Mastercraft Labor Shortage
Easterseals RISE participants joined the workforce at Mastercraft Inc. during a national emergency, as companies turned their machinery and expertise to making supplies for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Career Connections Uses Virtual Visits for Exploration
Easterseals Arc has reshaped many programs to reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19. The career exploration activities run by the employment services team are no exception.