Many families and friends joined the Epilepsy Resource Center in Washington Park on Saturday to support Epilepsy awareness and the Epilepsy Resource Center of Central Illinois. 

“It was a great success,” Linda LoBue, ERC Program Manager, says. “Turnout was spectacular. A big thank you goes out to all the donors, volunteers as well as all the supporters for contributing to the success of the Walk in the Park for Epilepsy.”

A special thanks also goes to Deb West and LiteRock 98.7!

One of Catherine's many job duties is shredding documents.

Catherine Stromberg performs many jobs for Sparc – shredding, copying, filing and working the front desk at the administration building. She also drives daily between each Sparc building distributing interoffice mail and dropping the U.S. mail off at the post office.

Before working at Sparc, Catherine was participating in Sparc’s Supported Employment program where she was taught job skills, all the while trying to find employment. She had a brief stint working at the Willard Ice Building before Sparc found her a position at its administration building.

“I’ve been here three years now,” Catherine says. 

Spending just a little bit of time with Catherine you quickly learn a few things about her: she loves movies (Twilight to be specific), she loves cats and she loves putting puzzles together.  

Cathrine enjoys watching movies so much that she could easily roll off her top 5, which are:

1. Jaws
2. Star Wars (all of them)
3. Twilight
4. Godzilla (1998)
5. Transformers

I had to stop her after those five movies; she could have easily kept going. She has over 200 movies on DVD at her home.

If she is not talking about movies, she is talking about her cat, Spike. And if you dig a little deeper you find out she has been putting puzzles together since she was 5 years old.

Catherine has found a home at Sparc, not as an individual they support but as an employee.

Rounding out the 2011 board are Secretary Todd Rettig, Treasurer Grant Franklin, Linda Brodie, Diana Braun, Les Eastep, David Ed, Jerry Goldblatt, Dorothy Kurzydlo, Ron Ladley, and D. Scott Wiseman.

            As for the awards, the newly created Dr. Earl Loschen Volunteer of the Year award went to long time Sparc supporter and former board member, Gerry Gardiner.

Sparc’s Business of the Year award went to Walgreens who has provided 5 different jobs at 4 different locations over the year, to individuals in Sparc’s Supported Employment program.

            Primo accepted the award for Employer of the Year and the Lasting Impression award went to Honeywell Hobbs.

            The Revolutionary Award went to four individuals supported by Sparc who have fought and won personal battles for their own unalienable rights. Tim Price, Mary Jo Nance, Rob Stephens and Janice Smith have done so without the burden of doubt, with the unwillingness to compromise, and with an unwavering attitude that is both inspiring and motivating to others.

To round out the awards, Sparc’s Employee of the Year was Margie Page and GEM awards (Going the Extra Mile) went to Tracey Oldridge and Todd Buscher.

“I wanted to work at McDonalds,” Dixie says. “I do the dishes and the floors.”

In fact, two years ago at Starry Night, Sparc’s annual formal event, she spoke about wanting to work at McDonald’s and it just so happened that one of the local owners was at the event and called her the next day about taking a job at one of his stores.

She’s been there two years now and when asked how things are going she lights up and says, “Great.”

As for Sparc, Dixie says they have helped her a lot.

“I like Sparc. Sparc has been good to me,” Dixie says. “They helped me with the job interview and taught me job skills.”

Before McDonalds, Dixie went to Sparc’s Developmental Training Center and worked in the contractual work area.

“I was working at DT until I found out about the (McDonalds) job,” Dixie says.

She currently lives in a Sparc group home and says she loves to play video games and play basketball when she is not working.

-Todd Spann

Heather was enrolled in Sparc's Supported Employment in August of 2002. Her first job was at Pizza Hut and for the last 5 years she has been with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations - and loves it.

Heather is a hard worker and very dedicated to her job at the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations. She has been there for 5-years and she just loves it. In fact, she does not like to miss any work at all. Although, come next year in June, she will have to miss some days when her brother gets married in Marion, Illinois.

 I learned something very interesting about Heather the other day. While she was at church one Sunday, a group of people came in to talk about sponsoring less fortunate children and adults in other countries. Heather took this to heart and she told her mom “this is what I want to do”.  She wanted to help a child.

 Well, when she and her mom went to the place to find a child to sponsor, they were told there were no more children left. Her mom contacted the agency and explained the situation, which brought the lady on the phone to tears. This got the ball rolling and the agency asked what age and gender Heather preferred and then handpicked a 7 year old Philippine girl.

 That girl is now 11 years old.  Heather spent about $300 on this child last year helping her with the items she needed.  The agency sends Heather a 5 x 7 photo every year. Heather and the little girl write each other and the agency provides translation.  It was very moving to hear this.  Heather’s mom stated that Heather doesn’t care about buying herself shoes, clothes, purses, or other material items. She would rather spend her money helping others.

- Erin Coughlin, Sparc’s Life Enrichment Coordinator

Geraldine graduated from Sparc's Supported Employment program last November. She now works on her own at McDonalds 4-days a week.

Geraldine Kuznik is a perfect example of how Sparc programs can benefit individuals with a developmental disability.

After two and  half years in the Sparc Supported Employment program, Geraldine graduated with high marks. In fact, she received a perfect evaluation from McDonalds. 

Since graduating in November of 2009, Geraldine has been working at McDonalds with no Sparc job coach – and she couldn’t be happier.

“I love my job,” Geraldine says with a big smile. “I’m a lobby girl.”

Working the lobby consists of wiping off tables, cleaning the trays, keeping up with the beverage counter and things of that nature.

Ronald Kuznik, Geraldine’s brother, credits Sparc for his sister’s success.

“They (Sparc) taught her job skills and if she did something the wrong way they would show her the right way to do it,” Kuznik says. “Sparc helped get her to where she is today.”

Over the years, Geraldine has held several different jobs. She was a dishwasher at Conn’s Cafeteria from 1975 until she took at job at Goodwill in 1980. She went on to work at the Fleetwood restaurant and B&G Café until 2006.

“Geraldine was tired of doing dishes so someone told us about Sparc and all the good things they do for folks like Geraldine, so we looked into it,” Ronald says. “We couldn’t be happier with how things turned out. I’m so proud of her.”

- Todd Spann

Peggy Ference golfed with her brother Matt, his son Matt Jr. and her nephew, David Brown IV. Peggy was the tournament sponsor.

The 2010 Mike Ference Golf Scramble for Sparc was a huge success. The numbers are still being finalized but it’s safe to say that we went above and beyond our budgeted goal. Thank you to all of our sponsors, donors, participants and volunteers for making this one of our most successful golf events. To see photos and a list of our sponsors and donors, click here.

Winners of the tournament:

1st Place Men’s - Steve Otten, Dan Call, Ben Call, Bill Marriot

1st Place Women’s - Mary Ann Laurenzana, Carrie Daykin, Coleen Rosenthal, Julie Hagele

1st Place Mixed - Peggy Ference, Matt Ference, David Brown IV

2nd Place Men’s - Gerry Gardiner, Greg Ranaletta, Larry Eastep, Dave Figueria

2nd Place Women’s - Judy Rader, Marilyn Egger, Juanita McCaffrey, Bonnie Gladden

2nd Place Mixed - Jan Bulthaus, Russ Ruda, Linda Sherwood, Auggie Eggers (tie)

                                 Mike Pence, Jake Burris, Mary Ellen Brown, David Brown (tie)

Longest Drive Man - Mike Smith

Longest Drive Woman - Julie Hagele

Closest to Pin Man -  David Burnett

Closest to Pin Woman - Judy Rader

Longest Putt - Jim Adkins

Once again, thanks to everyone for making this another great event.

- Todd Spann