The Joys (and perils) of Direct Mailing

In true non-profit form, Community Futures Foundation sends out a few direct mailings every year. The services our members and clients receive depend on a growing partnership with our community, and direct mailings are just one of the ways that we connect with current and potential supporters. Since the Mill House shares a building with CFF, the grunt work of printing, folding, stuffing, sealing, labeling, and stamping usually falls on the very willing members of the Communications Unit. Unfortunately, such a massive mailing (of up to 1000 recipients at times), comes at a hight cost to the helping hands of the Mill House members and staff. Our most recent mailing resulted in a record 3 bandaid-&-neosporin-worthy paper cuts, which consequently lead to the 3 very pouty faces you see above. But CFF must continue to engage with its community, and the Mill House will therefore undauntedly brave the perils of handling so much paper. So next time you receive a letter from CFF, recall these faces, reflect on your own tragic experiences with paper cuts, and show your gratitude for the pains that our fearless members endure to stay connected with their community. That's just how much we love you!

The Mill House

Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. The Mill House wishes only the best for you and your family. We all thank you for sending your love with your gracious donations. We also have a donation box at Target, this year.

The Mill House Does Matter

I had a car accident in 87.joined The Mill in 2009. Since then they've tried to get me back into the community.They have helped me with the computer, kitchen skills and being a janitor.

The communications unit here at The Mill House has finished typing the articles for its upcoming newsletter. Now it just needs to put them together and print the pages.

Claire's Volunteer Position

I am volunteering once a week at Prevent Child Abuse Virginia. I help assemble necklaces with the Prevent Child Abuse logo, a pinwheel. It is a lot of fun. I volunteer there on Thursdays, once a month. It is not hard even though I have butterfingers, ha ha ha. I volunteered at PCAV in the past & made several friends there. I usually do clerical work but jumped at the chance to help assemble the necklaces because I was so glad to be working with my old friends again. They were as exultantly, fervently happy to welcome me back as I was to see them again.

Get your Flying Squirrels gear and support CFF!

Richmond's recently unveiled baseball team, the Flying Squirrels, has chosen Community Futures Foundation to benefit from 10% of all team paraphanalia sales made today! That's Thursday December 3rd. So come out to the Diamond between 10 and 6 and support CFF by stocking up on all your Flying Squirrels gear! Many thanks to the Richmond Flying Squirrels for giving our community a fun and innovative opportunity to show our support of a great cause, as well as our emegerging local baseball team. We look forward to seeing you!

Turkey Day at the Mill House!

Happy Thanksgiving to our Mill House Friends and Family! Thanks to all of you who joined us for our annual Mill House Thanksgiving Lunch. Even though we had about 40 people show up to help us eat the bountiful feast Members and staff had fixed up, we still had a counter and refreigerator full of leftovers (see Lise and jazz hands for visual). We are so grateful for everyone's participation. Mill House members did a phenomenal job preparing for this event, engaging our guests, enjoying the food, AND, instead of taking turns passing out on our solitary couch like we all wanted to do, we jumped right in after the meal to do dishes, sweep, and mop, albeit a little more slowly than usual. Take that, triptophan!

"Mellifluous Verbiage" (Fancy Vocabulary)

Paul G. wrote a lovely article. He uses a lot of mellifluous verbiage that I like. (Mellifluous verbiage = fancy vocabulary)
The Mill House had a pleasurable extravaganza on November 12. We saw a movie at Short Pump’s theater. Then we ate dinner at Fuddruckers. We spent the evening laughing ebulliently. The staff gave us an option to see four movies. We decided on three movies: “This Is It”, “Astroboy”, and “Men Who Stare at Goats”. I saw “Men Who Stare at Goats”. It was an Army movie starring George Clooney and Jeff Bridges. They did more talking than fighting throughout the movie, but they didn’t jibber-jabber. The movie lasted about two hours. Then we went to eat at Fuddrucker’s. It was a stylish restaurant which served burgers. We had about an hour to chat about silly things like “superpowers”. Afterwards we ate burgers and chicken tenders. As we were waiting for our rides, we played board games at The Mill House. We played Connect Four and chess.

Lunch time Diversions!

Chess & Connect Four

We are playing chess during our eating hours. It is really great there to play it. Joshua and Paul play it; and sometimes Joshua and R. J. play it also. Sometimes Raymond plays it with Joshua. Paul wins, Joshua wins, and R. J. wins most of the time.

We are also playing Connect Four during our eating hours and it is really fun to play it. Frank plays it with a bunch of people and he wins most of the time. Sometimes, Joshua wins and Anna wins while we are playing Frank. A bunch of people play it with Frank and he wins most of the time, but sometimes he doesn’t win all that much.

We have a great time playing these games.

Halloween at The Mill House

We ate "bloody rats" for lunch on Halloween. We also ate "slime" & "brains". It was delicious even though it was funny-looking. Paul dressed up as a pimp. I forgot to wear my jester's hat, OOOOOPS! We had a good time.

The Mill House Has Two New Members!

Mill House Blog: New Members
Presently The Mill House has 39 members. Two people just joined The Mill House. Their names are Beth Morgan & Kelan Uzzle. Beth graduated from John Tyler Community College. She is a good listener & very caring. She taught preschool & worked at Bank of America. Kelan is from Richmond. He graduated from Virginia Tech. He is 24 years old. He is very interested in informing people about his accident (he was injured in a bus accident 12 years ago). Kelan did not work before his injury. He likes to play video games, watch the TV show “Hunting”, & listen to country music.

Fun with the Mill House Camera

We were taking pictures of members and staff working in The Mill House... this is our favorite.

Camp Bruce McCoy 2009

Camp Bruce McCoy 2009
Well we went to the Camp and they had changed our cabins around to new places than they were last year.
We had the eating in the morning around about 8:15 am then we did our two activities before lunch. We then did our last activity before we had dinner around about 6:15 pm and we did some other things like we had a person come over once a week to talk about brains and our heart before dinner. We had two dances each week that we went there and we sang on the second dance every Thursday. I sang the second week the song was something I cannot remember but it was great.
Then at night I played some poker games, a game called Spit, and a game called BS. I think I played War once too. Then I went to bed around 1:15 am and I had to get up about 7:05 to get ready for the day. On Saturday we went to go see a movie that was called, the riddle of the Sphinx, and I can’t remember what the first part was but it was great and a good movie. Then we came to a store to eat and it was great and good. On Sunday we had some Papa John’s pizza for lunch I think.
Then the last day my sister came to get me and my dad had had an accident at work on Friday and he is still in the hospital and I am worried about him.

The Mill House and Support Groups in Richmond, VA

My name is Frank. I am a member of The Mill House of Richmond, VA. The Mill House is a clubhouse for survivors of brain injury. Even though I very much do not like my injury, I really enjoy The Mill House.

Reasons I like The Mill House:

Reason #1: It’s like the job I had most of my life, it fits my style. The Mill House stops me from just sitting around the house with nothing to do day by day. I like to be busy.

Reason #2: I see all people with different backgrounds and personalities which is like the life I was accustomed to before my injury.

Reason #3: The Mill House set me up with support groups. The name of the support group is the Supportive Survivors Support Group. It meets every Tuesday at Regency Square Mall in the food court. A group of us, injury survivors and sometimes families, talk about our experiences during the week and have dinner with each other. I also attend a brain injury support group at the Children’s Hospital in Richmond, VA. It is held by the Brain Injury Association of Virginia every third Monday of the month. I try to attend the group as much as possible. I have been to this support group meeting over years so much that I consider most of who come as family. BIAV (Brain Injury Association of Virginia) will hold an ice cream and game party in August for the support group meeting. I love it.

I feel The Mill House is an outstanding clubhouse. I also think the support groups are great. The Mill House and both support groups are great ideas for survivors of brain injury and their families.

Frank C.
Member, The Mill House

Jermaine's Job

I reacquired my job at Target on S. Labernum. I'm a Cashier again and now have more reaponsibilities this time. This time on the job I now also work in the store with pricing merchandise and restocking. I have the same co-coworkers as I did before so it is a familiar environment. I get along with all my co-workers. We talk joke, laugh, and have fun, and at the same time we still do our job. Recently on the job I've been seeing some old friends from high school. My supervisor told me and my Job Coach that I am improving each time I work.

Fishing

By Claire

On May 25th we went fishing at Deep Run Park. It was very nice. I don't fish but I walked on several of the paths through the woods. Erin & her brother & sister caught fish & several of the Mill House members caught fish too. I took a lot of pictures & a movie. I enjoyed the trip very much.

Partners in Policymaking: Graduation Weekend!

By G. Michael B.
On Friday, May 15, 2009 I began the final weekend of the 8-month, 8-weekend ‘Partners in Policymaking’ advocacy class for people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities which began back in September. On Friday I presented my final project: Traumatic Brain Injuries & on Saturday we were give our certificates of graduation. There were 28 of us in the class, all ` from somewhere in VA. We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel at I-64 & Broad St.

We learned a lot in our class about advocating for ourselves & to stop using negative words like “disabled”, “handicapped”, “special needs”, “suffers from”, “afflicted with” and DON’T APOLOGIZE!

Ukrop's Golden Gift Program

The Mill House partcipates in the Ukrop's Golden Gift program. Customers of Ukrops
should have received a yellow card in the mail with their total points for 2009. To read about the program visit the Ukrop's site:

http://www.ukrops.com/org/login.asp

Please mail your Ukrop's Golden Gift Points to The Mill House by June 10th:
7812 Shrader Road
Richmond, VA 23294

Messages for the Old Building

* It was nice being here. See you!

* Adios!

* Off to bigger and better things!

* I enjoyed the time I was here.

* Nice knowing you.

* Goodbye!

* Sorry for your loss.

* I'll miss all your creaks and cracks.

* Bon Voyage! Thanks for the memories.

* Thanks.

* Bye, peace, good riddance and I'll see you when I see you!

* Ditto.

* Goodbye and thanks for the memories.

The last day at Staples Mill Road...

The final day at 5711 Staples Mill Road, Richmond, VA has arrived! We have spent the last few days packing and have left out only the stuff (furniture) needed for the program for today.

Funny stuff found while packing:
- Chocolate Donut underneath all the computer programs.
- Microwaveable Egg Cooker that cooks your eggs in the shape of eggs.
- 17 million pots and pan lids... Where are all the pots?
- 1ft by 6in ice block in the drink fridge of the snack bar.
- Hidden trash (plastic bags... nothing perishable) in our dried flower pots.
- Thousands of unidentifiable bits of plastic.
- over 15 unusable computers... YAY for computer recycling.

Our new address will be: 7812 Shrader Road, Richmond, VA 23294.

A Day at The General Assembly
by a Mill House Member

On Friday, April 3, I and 27 other members began our seventh once-a-month weekend of an 8-session “Partners in Policymaking” class at the Sheraton Hotel on Broad St. at I-64. We’ve been taking this class since September and graduate on May 16. After breakfast on Saturday the 4th, all 28 of us plus the 2 staff in charge rode down to the General Assembly where we spoke about various disabilities which most of us have. Some were parents of children with disabilities and a couple of them had disabilities themselves. After lunch we walked to the Capitol and into the House of Delegates room where we did a “mock vote”.

After giving them a brief story line on my life history, I mentioned the fact that VA spends $20 per year for services for people with brain injuries, but over $1,000 per year for the same services for people with mental retardation. There is also a long waiting list for members at each of our clubhouses. As a result, brain injury survivors cannot access appropriate services in their community. So I asked them “Why can’t the state fund the same amount toward brain injury and its survivors as it does other similar things?”

Some of the General Assembly members recognized me and remember not only me but others as well from The Mill House as we have spoken to them for our clubhouse a few times before – me, 3 times. Everyone truly enjoyed themselves this weekend; a fun time was had by all.

We are now the OWNERS of the new building!

Just wanted to let everyone know, we closed on our new building for The Mill House today, so we are now the owners! Construction permits were approved by the Henrico County this week and we hope to begin our new building next week, with a planned moving date towards the end of April. Our new address will be: 7812 Shrader Road, Richmond, VA 23294.

Partners in Policymaking

“Partners in Policymaking”: People Learning History, Attitudes & Perceptions About Disabilities & People with Them

· Minds are like parachutes- they only function when open.
· Disabilities are a natural part of life; 1 in 5 Americans have one, making people with disabilities the largest minority group in the country.
· A disability is, first & foremost, a medical diagnosis. It simply represents a body part that works differently. Stop using the words “wrong”, “disabled”, “special needs” and DON’T apologize!
· VA is the 6th Richest state, but it ranks 48th. In Medicaid money given to people to support community programs. Instead, most is going to institutions.
· Words like “handicapped”, “suffers from”, “afflicted with”, victim of”, “low/high functioning” or “special needs” are archaic terms (no longer used in federal legislation) that evokes negative images of pity, fear & more. “Handicapped” is often used to describe modified parking spaces, hotel rooms, restrooms, etc. But these usually provide access for people with physical or mobility needs & no benefit to visual or hearing impaired. This is one example of the misuse of the “H”-word as a generic descriptor. “Disabled” is used to describe vehicles. Sports reporters say “the disabled list”; they once said “injured reserve”. Other uses today are “broken/non-functioning”. People with disabilities are NOT broken! If a new toaster doesn’t work, we say it’s “defective” or “damaged” & return it. Shall we return babies with “birth defects” or adults with “brain damage”? The accurate & respectful descriptors are “congenital disability” or “brain injury”.
· 75% of all people with disabilities are unemployed because employers doubt they can have valuable job skills. If merchants saw us as customers with money to spend, we wouldn’t have so many inaccessible stores, theaters, restrooms, and more.

Meals on Wheels

When we go to Meals On Wheels, we get in a van, and drive up to the office where the Meals On Wheels site is at. We get all of the meals and we go to the Fairmont house to deliver them. When we are done we come back to the Mill, because we have the bags that are ours so we do not need to give them back to the Meals On Wheels station. We help out about 12 people every week. :)

Check out the Meals on Wheels Website and consider volunteering with this great organization: http://www.mowdelivers.com/

Interview with a Communications Unit Member.

I have been in The Mill House since September 2005. I am in the Communications Unit. When we move I am going to go to the Kitchen Unit because I want to do something different. I was born with hydrocephalus (water on the brain). I am “29 again” (41). I have a friend at The Mill House from way back. I have known her since I was 14. I enjoy typing & photocopying. The photocopier has lately been amusing me because of the “Read-End” message that I do not know the meaning of. I love to read (especially fiction & the “…For Dummies” books), listen to ancient classical music (especially the King’s College Choir of Cambridge, England), play the piano & organ, & walk in the park. Twitter is a sound that birds make. Cute word, isn’t it?

Feelings towards the move.

We asked several people at The Mill House how they felt about moving and here are the responses:
1. I’m excited, can’t wait!
2. I think its going to be roomy.
3. EXCITED!
4. Good I’ll be able to help people.
5. Good. Fantastico!
6. Looking forward to it.
7. Positive.
8. Overwhelming.
9. I don’t know.
10. I don’t have a choice.
11. I’m so impatient that I’m fidgeting!
12. Great.
13. Great. We’ll finally have a bigger place.

Our New Building!

The Mill House will move to a different location sometime at the end of April. Below you can view a video of our new building:

Background of the Mill House

The Mill House, operated by the nonprofit organization, Community Futures Foundation, is an innovative vocational rehabilitation program for individuals with brain injury who live in the Metro Richmond area. The program seeks to help survivors of brain injury achieve greater levels of independence and productivity.

http://www.communityfuturesva.org

Our first blog!

Welcome to the Mill House's blog.