Quarterly Newsletter

Virgil is a newly published author! He doesn't let a lot of things get in the way of his goals. Virgil attends the Surprise campus in AZ, and he has just completed a great accomplishment. He has always had a passion for writing in high school, he was the PR officer for the chess team and created the team's newsletters. It was his high school English teacher who noticed his creative writing skills and encouraged him to continue his creative writing journey. In Virgil's words, "I kept it on the backburner until 3 years ago." It was recently that his neurologist and he were talking, and she gave him the idea to explore Amazon as a publishing option. Through Amazon, Virgil was able to choose the price of his book, he decided on $15.00. He receives about $7.00 per copy. To date, Virgil has sold 11 copies. He mentioned that he likes the fact that it only costs $2.15 for himself to purchase as many copies as he wants! His book is titled Untold Truth. When I asked Virgil what his book was about, he stated, "It is based on my life but in a fictional way. The main character, Dameon St. Paul represents me, and the character Cynthia Fathom represents my younger sister." Virgil explains that at the end of the book he asks the reader to decide if they think there should be another. He says, "All I ask for is feedback. It is more efficient as an author so that I can figure out what I did wrong and what I can fix." We don't think you've done ANYTHING wrong Virgil. You have inspired a lot of individuals, we are extremely proud of you!
We invite you to watch a touching and intriguing interview with Virgil hosted by Joey Harvey, OSBI Media coordinator. Click here to meet the author. Click here to purchase your copy of "Untold Truth" on Amazon Smile.

CA OSBI Gets a Little Help from Their Friends on the City of San Carlos Day of Service

On Sunday, September 29th, San Carlos celebrated their Day of Service.  A group of 10 dedicated volunteers visited the San Carlos OSBI location. These caring individuals are members of the Steering Committee, a group of San Carlos residents who, with their friends and family, want to find and spread ways to give back to their community with their friends and family.  "We live in a community that is unique in its strong and vibrant identity and pride. The Day of Service grows our sense of community through one day dedicated to giving back." As part of this unique day of community service, OSBI was among approximately 20 other non-profits that were grateful to receive some help from our new friends! The volunteers helped to re-organize, clean, and give our San Carlos location a mini makeover to ensure our program is the best it can be for our deserving participants and staff who spend their days here! We truly appreciate the volunteers from the Steering Committee and the City of San Carlos for caring through their innovative San Carlos Day of Service! Thank you! For more information about past projects please visit https://www.sancarlosdayofservice.org/ 

OSBI Growth and Cultivation

OSBI Expands to Scottsdale to Grow our Mission To Provide Responsive Programs to Adults who have Intellectual Disabilities in the East Valley. One Step Beyond plans to open a new campus to serve the Phoenix Metropolitan East Valley in December 2019. OSBI has been serving members who have Intellectual disability in the Phoenix Metropolitan West Valley for over 16 years. As part of our vision to provide services and programs to as many individuals who need them, it is time for us to expand to the East Valley! We will provide the same exceptional and responsive programs and services on our Scottsdale campus as we do at our Glendale and Surprise, AZ locations: Life Skills, Vocational and Culinary Training and Employment, Fine Arts, Music, Dance, Fitness, Special Olympics, Ice Hockey, and Friday Fun Nights Programs, as well as Home and Community Based Services and Participant and Family Advocacy Support. Please join us in our excitement as we continue to further our mission of providing dynamic, responsive programs that engage the goals, talents, and interests of individuals who have Intellectual Disabilities to empower them to achieve their dreams of optimal independence, enriching social networks, and effective participation in our community. We need to do our best to provide great programs to as many individuals who have Intellectual Disabilities as we possibly can in as many communities as we can reach! So, what’s in store? The new location at 8224 E. Evans Rd. (right off of Loop 101 and Raintree, next door the GoDaddy Headquarters and across the street from the Northsight Shopping Center) is14,000+ square feet. The capacity of our new Scottsdale campus is to eventually serve 200 East Valley Participants and their families. We are thrilled about this expansion and the opportunity to help enrich the lives of more individuals and families! We will be sending you information about aour Grand Opening soon. For more information please email Executive Director-AZ, Mike Homco at mikehomco@osbi.org.

A GIANT day for San Carlos Participants

Thanks to a grant from the City of San Carlos, our CA participants are learning to use Public Transportation.

First trip on the lesson books- Cal Train to the Giants game! The San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies last Thursday, 8-3! Good for Giants Fans and not so much for Rockies fans, whichever you may or may not be, our California participants ventured out to witness the brutal win for their home team! This outing had an underlying lesson for its game-goers, one of city transit safety and understanding. 40 Participants and staff journeyed to the game; they used the Cal Train to get there. The trip was filled with conversation and direction on how to understand and utilize the public transit system. The staff explained how to read the schedule, where to enter and exit, and how to purchase tickets. Although the participants were excited to see the game and take an afternoon trip on the Cal Train, they were also enjoying learning necessary life skills and community safety awareness. There are many more valuable lessons coming down the train tracks for the San Carlos participants! The grant from for public transportation training will prove invaluable, especially with our new employment partnerships with Ritas Italian Ice and Home Depot! Building confidence and independence by utilizing public transportation that enables our participants to get to their new jobs is what we are all about!!!

Vocational Ventures
Shop 'Til You Drop, Right Around the Korner! 

 The AZ Pre-Vocational Program is flourishing and implementing some highly innovative curriculum. Pictured above is Liz Daly, the Pre-Vocational Supervisor we have her to thank for these new methods that she has created to help with some employment and money management lessons for our participants. Liz has turned an extra storage room in the Pre-Voc classroom into a store, The Korner Store! She has stocked the shelves with donations and her personal purchases in order to fill the inventory needs. The purpose of this store is an incentive. She has created a system using "pocket points." The participants have opportunities to earn these pocket points through daily practice of the current skills they are working on, which they can then spend in the store. This helps the Pre-Voc students with many different money management skills and discipline. One of our OSBI parents, Viki Jensen, who is a great seamstress, offered to sew a re-creation of the current wall hanging which provides a pocket designated for each student. The pockets act as a wallet for the individuals. As the students earn and grow their income they accumulate and save enough pocket points for whatever they have had their eye on in the store! It is going really well, and the students are very involved and engaged in this new way of learning. Way to go Pre-Voc!

Life Skills Thrills
OSBI Heads to the Cinema to Support and Enjoy 
The Peanut Butter Falcon

We are grateful for the really cool opportunity we recently had to take a trip to AMC Surprise 14 in order to enjoy the cinematic experience of The Peanut Butter Falcon! The City of Surprise has been so supportive of our special community and of OSBI! A group of Surprise City officials, along with AMC got together and provided 75 tickets at no cost to us, so that our guys could get out on a Wednesday, let loose at the movies with their peers, and take in a fantastic film! Zach Gossagen and Shia LaBeouf co-star in the film about friendship and the pursuit of dreams. Zach Gossagen is an actor who has down syndrome, and someone that many of our OSBI participants are relating with and looking up to. Watching Zach on the big screen is inspiring to see; his hard work and dedication to follow one of his dreams that has come to fruition is motivating! The film is Directed by Tyler Nilson and Micheal Schwartz, the film grossed 16.8 million USD. We owe a special thanks to Surprise community special needs advocate Charles Collins, AMC Surprise 14, the Surprise Vice Mayor, Roland Winters Jr. and the following Councilmen and Women- Nancy Hayden, Patrick Duffy, Dave Sanders, Chris Judd, City Council Assistant- Jenna Bowen, Seth Dyson- Director of The Human Service and Community Vitality, Community Partnership Manager- Paul Bernardo, George Van De Langryt- Chairman of the Veterans, Disability, and Human Services Commission & The Veterans Disability, and Human Services Commissioner- Shawna Daigle, & Karissa Perry- Vice Chair on the Commission. We were honored to support this film as a group and represent OSBI- plus we had FUN! Thank you!

Congratulations to Eric R.! He is our current Fitness Member of the Month. You won't believe how he earned this title...Eric stayed in a wall-sit position for...are you ready...10 minutes!!! Wow Eric You deserve it! 

Hockey season is around the corner! The One Step Sharks and the One Step Coyotes are anxious to hit the ice. The Sharks strap on their skates In October and the Coyotes follow in November. Stay tuned for a very exciting season! 

Culinary Cooks it Up

Highlights the Final Dinner of 2019

Friday, September 27th we celebrated our third and final Culinary Dinner of 2019. All the dinners have been Full-FILLING, wonderfully executed, and enjoyed events! 2019 brought us The Hoedown in June, The Evening of Love in February, and finally, in September, The Luau. The Culinary team decided to go out with a bang (or a squeal). Yes, we let nature be the course! A local/organic farmer generously donated his 65 lb. friend, Harold the pig. He provided approx.120 dinner guests with a delicious meal. The kind farmer butchered and delivered the pig to the commercial kitchen at the OSBI Olive location in order for the culinary students to learn the cooking process. Learn they did! Harold was delicious and was not cooked in vain. Also, on the menu was chicken smothered in a homemade teriyaki sauce. The sauce was prepared by our life skills culinary programs! 30 Culinary Program participants and 15 staff from all of our three campuses served the evening's dinner and drinks to the gracious guests. Until... the serving staff busted out their serious Hula dance moves! Dressed in Hawaiian flower garb from head-to-toe, they decorated the room and dance floor! Of course, there were fantastic raffle baskets and spectacular OSBI artwork for sale. The night's fan favorites were the centerpieces. They are always great, but this time, they outdid themselves. The pieces housed live fish! Each table displayed a beautiful Beta fish surrounded by Hawaiian flowers. The fish went home with some of the guests as pets, a better fate than Harold's! Harold, we appreciate your service. We will see you all in 2020. Due to a planned renovation of our Peoria Culinary Catering Kitchen funded so generously by Del Webb Foundation, the first of two annual dinners will be held in July, and the second in the Winter. We will get back to you on those dates in our next newsletter so that you DON'T MISS OUT!

Vote for Our Dedicated Staff
Do you know someone who works at OSBI? Does their dedication and desire to help individuals achieve their goals and let their abilities shine and develop inspire you?
All staff members, parents, guardians, community partners, supporters & friends of One Step Beyond are encouraged to nominate an employee of the month! It's so easy...
just Click Here, to see!

Thank you for your nomination & support!

Congratulations to our October Employees of the Month! Please congratulate our dedicated employees from each campus when you see them around! From the Voc/Cul Department we honor Becca Mungovan, the Culinary Arts Director! From the Surprise campus,we have Blayne Medlock, in Glendale, we have Chris Hansen, and representing San Carlos, CA is Serena Celli. Thank you all for always going above and BEYOND! Keep up the awesome work, you are helping to make the difference!

Congratulations to all of our amazing past employees (since the last Newsletter)! July employee of the month Amber Echols, she is the DTA 4 Lead in Glendale. August Employee of the Month, Arizona Executive Director, Mike Homco. September's employees of the month (starting at top right) Jen Jiron, Surprise Lead of DTA S5, Niki McLouth, Recreation Events Manager, Alexis Victoria, San Carlos DTA Supervisor, and Liz Daly, Prevocational Supervisor in Glendale. 

Prepare for the Future...
Upcoming OSBI Events and Important Updates & Dates
Don't forget to visit OSBI.org routinely for program updates and current
OSBI happenings, as well as all of your ticket purchasing and registrations.