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Sunday, June 30, 2008 Over the past two weeks, ICAS has evolved into taking a lead position for coordinating the help for flood victims in Vinton, Benton County, and surrounding communities. This effort is known as the Flood of Hope© effort, and it is a grassroots community organizing effort that began with Windsor Manor and ICAS for Vinton and Benton County, and is evolving into a very concerted effort to help additional flood victims in surrounding communities. Many of the small, rural communities are still without an organized effort to help with recovery. The people involved with Flood of Hope© are folks from various communities in and around Vinton, people who are working through their employers on recovery efforts, and volunteers from across the state. The needs are constantly changing as we work through the long road to recovery. The prioritized needs include fans, dehumidifiers, food, baby supplies, and help with your hands. Many families are now needing help with getting rid of debris, gutting their homes, and if possible to repair their homes. The gutting of homes, even for homes that may be demolished, is an important next step. Homes that have been flooded have to get rid of the wetness and mold in order to keep the community healthy and safe. This message is a plea for individuals and groups of people from outside the flood areas to join us in making a difference. Volunteers from the local communities are tired, as they have been working around the clock for over two weeks. We welcome groups from churches, corporations, youth group organizations, and individuals who wish to come and join a team. We will initially work with the non-profit organization, Hands On, which is coming to Vinton today and willing to help out all week, and possibly into next weekend, getting homes cleaned up and gutted. They are looking for groups of 8-12 people who can work under their team leaders helping individual families with their homes. We still need help today Sunday, June 29, and all week long. There are four team leaders in working in Vinton today, looking for volunteers to assist them. Please call 319.472.4501 as soon as possible to report that you are interested or have a group ready. Hands On needs help finding at least 30 groups of people throughout the week. Hands On takes Wednesdays off to rest and recuperate. We will provide meals at ICAS for volunteers, and water and N95 face masks on site. Any group wanting to volunteer in Vinton, Palo, or surrounding community can contact Patti Gilbaugh at ICAS to offer your help. Volunteers should mark and bring with them:
Each work site is expected to take 6-8 hours of team work. Volunteers need to be able to commit to that period of time, or plan to have a replacement if they have to leave early. It takes a whole team to do the work that needs to be done. Volunteers must be 18 to work independently; 14-17 year-olds can work with a parent on site; under 14 requires one parent per child under 14 on site. ICAS is helping Hands On by interviewing and prioritizing families that need help. If you know a family who can benefit from this resource, encourage them to register with ICAS if they have not done so. ICAS is also working with families to do case management so those with the fewest resources and highest risk factors (such as elderly, disabled, single parent, etc.) of not getting enough help are prioritized. Family members do not need to reside within Benton County to ask for help; however, at this time Benton County residents are still being given priority for flood assistance. ICAS will do its best meet the needs of any Iowan resident, as it always has. If you cannot physically help with this effort, but wish to contribute to the expenses, donations can be mailed to ICAS, 905 D Avenue, Vinton, IA 52349. Tax-deductible receipts are available for cash donations, in-kind necessary items (such as tools, fans, dehumidifiers, cleaning kits, or food), and corporations who allow employees to help on company time and expenses. ICAS is requesting no more clothing or household items (such as cookware, dishes, etc). Large appliances in good working condition are welcomed, however, calling ahead before bringing large items is recommended.
Friday, April 4, 2008 Even though it just snowed yesterday Spring is well in the air at ICAS. Spring cleaning, painting, and remodeling are well under way. The winter took quite a toll on the ICAS parking lot, as it did many roads around the area. A big thanks to Pickering Backhoe Service, Darris Pickering and Chuck Fountain. They donated time and trucking to haul rock and limestone to lay in the parking lot. The muddy potholes are now all filled!
Thanks for your support Pickering Backhoe Service!
Big thanks also go out to the youth and team members who helped clean up some of the outdoor patios and classrooms! Many hands make light work. ICAS is constantly in need of volunteers of many sorts. If you are skilled in plumbing, electrical work, painting, general maintenace, or any other areas please feel free to let us know! Work on the inside of the building is progressing rapidly also. Every day there is something new going on at ICAS! Recently the Youth Drop-In Center, kitchen, and offices received several fresh coats of paint. Team members and little volunteers spent several days getting the Center ready to begin serving clients this summer.
Many exciting things keep happening at ICAS and we continue to be very gracious for all of the community support we are receiving.
Monday, March 17, 2008; 7:00PM Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! ICAS continues to be blessed by the many donations of time, furniture, canned goods and muscle power. We would especially like to thank the IBSS S (Iowa Braille Sight Saving School) for their very generous donations of equipment, furnishings and much miscellaneous as they refurbish and prepare for the arrival of AmeriCorp to their campus. We look forward to AmeriCorp’s arrival and a continued partnership with IBSSS. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those willing to sign up for an ICAS Adopt A Work Day. Are you looking for ways to help ICAS? Is your Youth Group or Civic Organization looking for a service project? Another way to help, in addition to donations, is with willing hands. Team ICAS will gratefully direct the project and work beside you. We invite you to gather a group of friends, family, youth & /or adults and come help us spruce-up the ICAS building. If you are interested in helping out, we have setup work days on March 29th, April 12th , April 26th May 1st, and May 2nd . Or set a day that fits your schedule. For more information regarding the dates and times of our ICAS work days, please contact Rhonda Westergard at 319.472.4501 or e-mail rwestergard@childadvocateservices.org The ICAS headquarters is ready for spring and with that comes spring cleaning. We have many projects that we look forward to starting/ finishing, giving the ICAS building a much needed facelift as we move out of the winter season and onto a much welcomed spring season. All of us at ICAS would like to welcome our newest team membersTom Myer and Chuck Blackhurst. Tom and Chuck come to ICAS with a lot of experience and enthusiasm and we look forward to having them join the ICAS team. Please look for Tom and Chuck ’s biographies on our website under team members in the very near future. We are growing and changing everyday. It is an exciting time to be apart of the ICAS team and we look forward to new additions to the ICAS team that will be occurring in the future. ICAS would also like to thank the Benton County Community Theatre, ACT 1, for allowing ICAS to be their featured guests for a Food Drive during the show of Nunsense , March 7th through the 16th. We were excited and thankful for the opportunity to talk about ICAS and all of the exciting services that we are bringing to the area as well as meet new people from the community. The donations will be used for our Youth Drop In Center which we hope to start very soon and for the many families in need in this community and surrounding communities. Thank you to all who listened to us and donated. We would also like to remind everyone about Children’s Mental Health Week, beginning May 4th through May 11th, 2008. ICAS will be kicking the week off with our 2nd Annual Hunt for Hope scheduled for May 3rd, 2008. This will be a great opportunity for everyone to tour our facility as well as enjoy the many activities for all ages that are scheduled throughout that day. Please follow our website for more information regarding the Hunt for Hope.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:30 PM ICAS would like to take this opportunity to talk about our Mobile Crisis Emergency Services. These crisis interventions services are designed to work in conjunction with local law-enforcement in our service areas. Our IRT’s (Immediate Response Teams) in conjunction with local law-enforcement are designed to intervene, assess, facilitate and access community-based mental health resources for all young people and their families. Two IRT staff responds to requests for crisis intervention, carrying with them a laptop loaded with software that securely connects staff to ICAS’ server. This allows staff to maintain current client files, access to referral agencies, and use of law enforcement and on-line resources through a broad band connection. The IRT’s also carry portable radios that connect them directly to the Sheriff’s dispatch and mobile deputies for crisis and safety communications. The IRT services can be accessed by calling 1.877.471.ICAS (4227) or by contacting Benton County Sherriff’s Department. A team will respond in situations where families with youth in crisis need immediate help. Families can request assistance on their own. IRT’s are also an extension of local law enforcement agencies, specifically to assist in situations where mental health and prevention services are a more appropriate response than the traditional law enforcement. IRT’s ensure that on-going services are in place and extend beyond the moment of crisis. Our Mobile Crisis Emergency Services currently serves all elementary through high schools in Benton County. We are enjoying the opportunity to collaborate with all of the school districts, school administrators and teaching staff. Mobile Crisis Emergency Services hours of operation are from 8am-8pm. You can contact an IRT staff during operations hours at 319.472.4501 or through the Crisis Hotline Number: 1.877.471.ICAS (4227) after hours for service over the phone. ICAS would also like to welcome aboard to the team Josh Carter and Ian Kerns. Josh will be a Consumer Advocate I and will be focusing on the Mobile Crisis Emergency Services. Ian is coming on as a Consumer Advocate II and will be focusing on Child Mental Health Waiver and Remedial Services. We are very excited to have them apart of our team!
Sunday, January 27, 2008 3:20 PM The website received a little bit of a facelift this weekend in order to incorporate some new information availabile, as well as a variety of miscellanous updates. Take a look around and feel free to share any thoughts or feedback with us. We are always open to suggestions! Wednesday, January 23, 2008 7:50 PM ICAS continues to have much to celebrate. The holidays were a wonderful time for ICAS and for all of us individually. We were very busy over the holiday season. We continue to work on building improvements and cleaning projects. It is a wonderful building with lots of space to grow and lots of space to improve and clean. Our first improvement project was the main office area. Renae, John, Rhonda and I took one day to completely over haul it and it turned out great. Thanks to all that helped. We have prioritized several other rooms to be next based on what will be used first and will be setting up project dates and asking for volunteers. The staff lounge will be first and the library/conference room will be second. Please let us know if you are interested in helping out. We have been quite blessed with the continued support of ICAS by people in the communities that we serve. ICAS would like to thank the Terry Van Deusan family for their very generous donations that are far too many to list. Without your kindness and generosity and the generosity of so many others, we would not be where we are at today. We were humbled and very appreciative of all of the items that were donated. Dr. Patricia Gilbaugh and I were lucky enough to attend the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FFCMH)National Conference in Washington, DC., December 5th through the 9th. It was a wonderful conference and opportunity to mingle and collaborate with others in the field nation wide. Dr. Gilbaugh and I went to many different sessions and heard people speak on a wide range of topics. We were able to bring back a variety of materials to help us to further develop much needed services for the families in the communities that we serve. The trip and conference were a success and other than some weather related trouble getting home it was a smooth trip. It was a great opportunity to talk to many people nationwide about ICAS and what we stand for.
Thursday, December 6, 2007 11:05 AM Hello, everyone. I wanted to update those of you who have been following the progress of ICAS or even those of you whom may be new to our website. The ICAS staff had the privilege of attending the 6th Annual Disproportionate Minority Contact Resource Center & Minority Youth & Families Initiative Conference “Investing In Iowa’s Youth, Investing In Iowa’s Future” Chapter 6: Linking Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, Education, & Health. Some of the inspiring workshops we were able to be present at were: Karl Dennis, author of “Everything is NORMAL until Proven Otherwise” which focused on Wraparound Services based on ‘principles of individualized, community-based, strength-focused services’, Connie Burgess, whom spoke on “Reducing Disparities: A Practice Perspective” that also highlighted Wraparound Services, cultural competency, and integrating all the “systems” and services to serve families at a higher quality, and Dixie Jordan on “Functional Family Assessment” which entailed how to focus on families strengths to get the appropriate services for them to meet their needs. Other speakers we were privileged to hear were: Iowa Governor Chet Culver, Lana Michelson of Iowa Department of Education (Positive Behavior Supports/Special Education), Walter Reed the Director of the Department of Human Rights (Juvenile Justice), Allen Parks of Iowa’s Department of Human Services (Mental Health), Julia Childs from SAYSO, Inc., and a youth panel of teens from Dare to Dream and Elevate Youth Groups. This conference was very inspiring to the staff of ICAS because it only reinforced our mission, vision, and guiding principles. ICAS’ services are right on track with what is happening around the country and we are proud to be providing true family driven services to the families locally. Thank you everyone’s continued support. Next year we hope to be able to sponsor some families to attend this conference because the family voice is truly what others need to hear in order to be effective. If you are interested in this opportunity please contact us. Have a safe and happy holiday from the staff at ICAS!!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 2:30 PM First and foremost all of us at ICAS would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and happy holiday season. It has been an extremely busy month for ICAS. On November 1st , West Elementary School officially became the property of ICAS and the moving process began. We would like to thank everyone that volunteered to help us move in and clean on November 3rd. This was no easy task and a lot of hard work was accomplished. The building and all of its needs will be a continued challenge but one we are all excited about. This is especially rewarding to me as all of the months of preparation and planning with the ICAS team has allowed for this dream to become a reality. I would like to officially welcome the newest member of the ICAS team, Ms. Renae Koth. Ms. Koth’s first day was on November 5th. Ms. Koth’s position is the Youth Programs Team Leader. She brings many assets to the ICAS team. Ms. Koth has a degree in Family and Child Services with an emphasis on youth programming. Other expertise includes program supervising and case management in after school programming and individual skill development of at-risk adolescents. All of us here at ICAS want to welcome Renae aboard. For more information regarding Renae, please view our leadership section on our Independent Child Advocate Services website. Dr. Patricia Gilbaugh and I have been working on getting the ICAS vision and mission out to the community and county we serve as well as developing and beginning to implement the immediate response team crisis services. We have spent a significant amount of time getting to know the school personnel throughout the school district and working with law enforcement in our county to begin providing crisis services throughout Benton County. We are very excited about this new venture.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 7:00 AM I must say that time is passing by us so fast. September is about to leave us all too quickly, and we will soon be saying “hello” to October, and as each day passes we come closer and closer to opening the doors to ICAS. It is an exciting feeling to be a part of something that is so positive, and that can only bring good to those who are involved. Well, the Board of Directors of ICAS has been very busy working to make things happen. September 16 we had our first board retreat, where we were all instructed and taught on the correct ways of helping to successfully run a non-profit agency. It may sound grueling, but Patti Gilbaugh and John Myers sure did make the time go fast. On September 22 we held the first annual Hunt for Hope fundraiser which led teams across Benton County to bring them to their final destination at Boomtown in Vinton. What a day. The teams started at 1o’clock in Atkins where they were given their first clue. At each checkpoint an ICAS board member gave the next clue to their next destination. The youth group from Four Square Harvest Christian Church came in first with great enthusiasm. The Wild Hogs came rolling in a graceful second. Though there were only two teams, every bit helps when it comes to a great cause for children. Thank you to everyone who has given us their support, and don’t forget to visit the Hamburger Helper Hometown Helper link on our website.
Friday, September 14, 2007 11:00 AM This week in the mail we received our official notification from the Internal Revenue Service recognizing us as an official non-profit organization. This is a big step in our organization process as we are now able to apply for many other grant opportunities which are reserved specifically for non-profit organziations.
Our temporary office in the back of the Fountain Financial building has provided a good location within Vinton to begin our operations. As we continue to grow and begin to provide services it will be nice to move into the West building where families, youth, and our staff will have plenty of room to spread out and play. If you are around Vinton stop by our office sometime! The Cedar Valley Daily Times, located in Vinton, ran a story about us this morning on their front page. This story includes an explanation on our services and some of our plans for utilizing the West building. This article is one of the first community wide efforts to promote ICAS and our mission. The hope is that community members, not just within Vinton, but the entire Benton County area will learn, support, and utilize ICAS. Make sure to pick up a copy of the Times to read the article. If you're not from Benton County I'll make sure to link to the story on the Cedar-Valley Times website if it is posted up there. The community support that we have received over the past week has been wonderful and we certainly appreciate everyone who has taken time to be a part of ICAS. As of 11:00am this morning there were 32 community support comments listed on the Hamburger Helper, My Hometown Helper grant webpage that ICAS has applied for. This support is coming from members of the Benton County community, but also from those who support ICAS' efforts to eventually expand state-wide. If you have not yet checked out the grant webpage, I would encourage you to do so here. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions. Saturday, September 8, 2007 1:00 PM We spent a very busy week planning for the use of our new facility. We invited two of our partners, Iowa Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health and the Iowa Respite and Crisis Care Coalition, to come to Vinton on Friday and take a tour of the building. We took a close look at the building, examined the structure with a bit more scrutiny, and then we began planning how we will use the massive amount of space! ICAS is developing its plan for services, and we are about to submit several more grants. Most of these grants are facility-focused. I’m pleased to tell you about some of our most exciting uses of the facility. We are developing a youth drop-in center, which will run from 3-8:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and then running on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon if the need is there. We will provide an evening meal for those youth who need one, academic tutoring, activities with the arts (music, drama, art, photography, etc), a recording studio, an internet cafe’ with filtered educational and gaming sites, and areas to just “hang”. The youth drop-in center will be mostly in the basement of the old part of West. The newer addition of West will house a few offices, rooms for individual and group therapy and remedial services, and crisis intervention staff for families in crisis. Most of these rooms will be used to help children and youth explore their unique challenges and receive mental health services that are appropriate for their circumstance. I think it might be helpful to give you an example of what a typical day at the center might be like. Let’s say Johnny is struggling in school because he has ADHD at a level that medication and other traditional approaches just aren’t enough. Johnny would be referred to us by anyone who cares about him—parents, the school, a counselor, a neighbor, friend of the family, Sunday School teacher, etc. Johnny will come to our building for an assessment with our therapist. Mental health services will be ordered, just like when doctors write a prescription for medications. Johnny starts coming to us after school the next day. Johnny is given limited choices of which counseling groups he wants to start with. Johnny chooses three of them for the week. Johnny attends his first group at 4:00. After group, he joins the rest of the youth in the building for a bite to eat. He needs some help with Algebra homework, so he seeks out the volunteer in the tutoring classroom. After his homework is completed, he spends some time on the internet playing a videogame. Thirty minutes later his second group starts. After his second group is over, his parents are due to pick him up. He can wait in the drop-in area, or he can wait outside in the recreational area of the building. All this while, Johnny is supervised by trained counselors and volunteers who have specialty knowledge about Johnny’s conditions and can be helpful to him while also being a caring, supportive adult in his life. Perhaps one day, Johnny has a really bad day at school and the school wants a counselor from ICAS to come eat lunch with him. The ICAS counselor comes to be with Johnny and helps him process the day’s events, and then after school the processing continues at the facility—with special attention focused on Johnny’s ability to successfully cope with his decisions, behaviors, and capabilities. The continuity in care is essential to helping Johnny be successful. So ICAS staff might also invite the parents to come to meet at the facility, or if its more convenient the staff may offer to take Johnny home after group and meet with them there. If Johnny continues to have trouble during the night, ICAS staff are readily available at any time and come to the house to help the parents with Johnny, and to be there in the morning to take him to school if need be. This example is just a scenario of one of the many ways ICAS is preparing to help families. I hope you find this example helpful in trying to understand what we will be doing soon in the West building. We’re looking forward to an exciting week of submitting grants and planning the final details of the Hunt for Hope fundraiser. Please join us for the scavenger hunt, and the celebration party at the end. The last check-in point is BOOMTOWN in Vinton—a huge community celebration with food, friends, and fireworks! |
Wednesday, September 5, 2007 8:00 AM
Several teenagers from Vinton put together this video after hearing about ICAS and our vision. They have posted it on various youth networking sites, such as Facebook and YouTube and are trying to generate support within the youth community. The amount of passion that teenagers have for our organization is overwhelming. This type of support from the youth community is critical to our success and we will actively be seeking this continued support. |
Friday, August 31, 2007 2:30 PM During many conversations this week with community members, families, and youth the Board of Directors and staff of ICAS have continued to hear the stories of those struggling with complex needs. The response to ICAS' continuum of care services is overwhelming and justifies the need for services time and time again. We have been handing out promotional materials left and right and have not been able to keep a supply of brochures and promotional folders in stock for very long. The constant requests that we receive to help keep inspiring us to work harder and harder in order to serve families and get the services operational. By next week we should have a good idea whether our bid for West School Building will be successful. We continue to believe that West, located at 516 West 9th Street in Vinton, will be the perfect center for our community directed services. West Elementary School was originally built in 1938 and a new addition was added in 1959. The building remains in excellent condition and, short of minor cleaning and painting, is in move-in condition. The building sits on 4.6 acres of land which will be ideal for community use. Partnerships are being pursued to develop the land for use by youth, and adults, within the community. Significant progress has occurred this week in developing our internal processes. Overwhelming interest has been expressed by many different individuals to be a apart of the staff of ICAS. Our commitment to ensuring quality, family-led services starts with our families and then immediately moves to the quality individuals who will work for ICAS' families. We expect that our first hires will occur very soon and we will be able to work with families to solve their complex needs. Promotion for ICAS' A Hunt For Hope has continued this week by distributing multiple brochures to businesses and individuals within Benton County. Press releases are being prepared to generate support and registrations. If you are interested in handing out brochures or being a part of this event please contact John Myers for more information. For current and up-to-date information on the event please view the Hunt for Hope page. Expect tons of more details next week as we plan to make several key announcements. We thank everyone for their continued support and look forward to what the future holds. |
