Stories Archives | St. Ann Center

October-December 2019 Newsletter Cover Story

September 18, 2019/0 Comments/in Newsletter, Stories /by St. Ann Center

Remember moving out on your own for the first time?

Your support gives St. Ann Center clients that same exciting feeling of independence. Just ask Sarah Lapre.

“Some days, I hardly think about having cerebral palsy,” said the self-assured 33-year-old. Born with CP, she’s used a wheelchair for most of her life.

“I just tell myself I’m not letting anything that’s going on with my body get me down. I won’t let anything beat me.”

That hasn’t always been easy. For a time, before coming to St. Ann Center, Sarah did piecework in a vocational training program. The stress was physically taxing. “Around that time, my sister brought my niece and nephew to St. Ann Center for swimming lessons,” she said. “She took one step in the door and called to tell me, ‘You have to come here!’”

In the three years that she’s been a client at the Stein Campus, Sarah has participated in the center’s swimming, ceramics, jewelry-making and art programs and used massage services, as well. But one of the things she values most about her time at St. Ann Center is the confidence it’s given her.

“Here, people let me do what I need to do, handle what I can handle, and trust that if I need help, I’ll ask,” she said. “That freedom has shown me how to be more independent.” Sarah demonstrated just how capable she is a year ago, when she moved into her own apartment. “That was a huge step for me and my family,” she added.

The godmother of her young niece and nephew, Sarah enjoys the intergenerational environment at St. Ann Center. “When the kids ask about my chair, I just explain that, for me, the wheelchair is like my legs,” Sarah said. “There’s no need to be shy around me.”

Not one to shy away from anything, Sarah recently went zip-lining while on vacation and loved it. “I’ll try anything once,” she said, revealing her next extreme sport dream, “I really want to try bungee jumping.”

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Bucyrus Campus Adult Olympics Is Golden

September 11, 2019/0 Comments/in Stories /by St. Ann Center

Competition was keen during the First Annual Bucyrus Campus Adult Olympics. Clients from the Simba, Sarabi, Ubuntu and Akachi units faced off in the Atrium, trying their hands at some challenging events.

At one table, clients exercised their card-playing muscles with an exciting game of Spades. Nearby, a hot game of Uno was underway. Some Olympians strategized over dominoes in one corner, while others were engrossed in a Connect4 match, attempting to stay one step ahead of their opponents.

The Bucyrus Campus pool table got a workout, too, as clients vied to see who could sink the most balls. And the familiar thwack-tap, thwack-tap, of a ping-pong match echoed around the room as players finessed the ball over the net.

The adults rotated from event to event, keeping track of their points along the way. MJ, the Olympian with the highest total, claimed bragging rights along with a prize—a pair of gold hoop earrings.

Working at St. Ann Center Fits College Student to a T

September 4, 2019/0 Comments/in Stories /by St. Ann Center

Rebecca Felden is wearing her heart not on her sleeve, but across a special T-shirt as she heads back to campus this fall.

The graphic design student will start her senior year at UW-Parkside in September. For the last three summers – and during her college winter breaks – she’s worked as an activity aide at St. Ann Center’s Stein Campus, primarily in the northwest and southwest units. Working with people of different abilities and interests, she devises and oversees fun games, projects and other activities that also help strengthen various skills.

Being with clients is definitely the best part of working at St. Ann Center, and her co-workers a close second, Rebecca says. She’s already looking forward to seeing everyone again this winter.

So when she saw a Twitter post about an art teacher who’d had her students decorate a dress for her to wear to a student art show… she adapted the idea to help keep her memories close.

Using fabric markers, Rebecca hand-drew the St. Ann Center logo across an inexpensive T-shirt, then asked clients to add, in a variety of colors, small designs of their choice on the front and their signatures on the back. Creative art projects are an important part of the offerings at St. Ann Center – and many clients are talented artists. And this activity was immensely appealing all around!

As colleagues learned her plan, they wanted in. After a month of working one-on-one with clients, in the afternoons or during moments between other activities, Becca and more than 40 clients had decorated 12 shirts, including one for Shanness Williams, the Vice President of Activities and Intergenerational Development, and for Sr. Edna Lonergan, OSF, St. Ann Center founder and president.

Much to the clients’ delight, the crew wore their shirts this week on Rebecca’s last full day before going back to school, mugging for the camera with props like bright fedoras and cardboard guitars (part of an exercise program). It was tough to tell whose faces had the brighter smiles – the clients seeing the fashion show, or the wearers of the shirts designed just for them.

Golf Outing Sept. 14 to Benefit St. Ann Center

August 27, 2019/0 Comments/in Stories /by St. Ann Center

Enjoy a great day of golf while supporting an important cause at Stu’s Flooring Benefit Golf Outing. The event, sponsored by the local family-owned flooring business, is set for Saturday, Sept. 14, and benefits St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care.

This year’s 18^th annual outing tees off at Western Lakes Golf Course in Pewaukee. Check-in time begins at 11:30 a.m., and tee time is 12:30 p.m. The cost, $125 per person ($130 the day of the event), includes 18 holes of golf with a cart, food, prizes and raffle tickets, followed by a dinner. Individuals and foursomes are welcome.

Steve Ulik, president of Stu’s, became acquainted with St. Ann Center when his grandchildren enrolled in the Center’s unique day care program, which serves children and adults under one roof. St. Ann Center has two campuses, the Stein Campus, 2801 E. Morgan Ave., and the Bucyrus Campus at 2450 W. North Ave. Over the years, the golf outing has raised more than $119,000 for the Center.

All proceeds from the event support St. Ann Center’s Care Champions program, which directly benefits youth, frail elders and adults with disabilities who have no means of paying for services they desperately need. From whirlpool baths and physical therapy to art and music therapy, adult day services promote independence and a sense of purpose. Youngsters in St. Ann Center’s early childhood education program learn to understand and respect the adult clients as they join them daily for intergenerational activities.

St. Ann Center thanks the generous sponsors who support the outing, including Quinn Distributors, Herregan Distributors, The Starr Group, Abbey Carpet Company, WaterStone Bank, Sunshine Cleaning Company, Smooth Brush, All Tile Inc./Carpet Cushions & Supplies and Bill and Jeanette Schweitzer.

Visit stanncenter.org/golfouting for more information on registering. Questions about the golf outing can be directed to Jodie or Cindy at (414) 744-9400 or email cindy@stusflooring.com.

Adult Friends Go to the Movies

August 21, 2019/0 Comments/in Bucyrus Campus, Stein Campus, Stories /by St. Ann Center

By Rebecca Felden, 2019 St. Ann Center Marketing/Communications intern

A group from St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care took a morning field trip to the movies recently, thanks to a kind sponsor who made possible transportation, admission and even popcorn!

The clients, who came from both campuses, split up once the group got to Marcus Southgate Cinema. Nicole, Tenesha and Diane saw Dora and the Lost City of Gold, a live-action version of the Dora the Explorer cartoon series.

“I had lots of fun,” Nicole said, describing the movie as “good, but scary in parts.” She also enjoyed the popcorn, the time with her friends and wearing her seat belt on the bus.

Joyce, Eddie and Mr. Web saw Brian Banks, based on a true story of a talented high school athlete wrongfully convicted of a crime that he didn’t commit, who lost his college football scholarship offers and spent years in prison. The movie portrays Banks’ determination to keep fighting for justice with the help of Justin Brooks and the California Innocence Project, hoping to get his life back and to achieve his dream of playing in the NFL.

The three agreed the movie was especially interesting because of its factual base, and thought it made points worth remembering, like needing to be patient because good things can take time, and that hard work and determination will eventually pay off in the end. As one character noted, “All you can control in your life is how you respond to life.”

Mr. Web, Joyce, and Eddie all said they love being able to get out of their house or group home to go different places, and that a theater trip feels more special than watching a movie at home. Mr. Web and Joyce usually go to the movies with their families; Eddie sometimes goes with others in his group home. Mr. Web is partial to Westerns; Joyce loves horror movies and Eddie likes action and comedies.

The last movie Joyce went to see was Super Fly, a 2018 thriller/crime movie; Eddie mentioned the last flick he caught in the theater was a Marvel superhero movie. Mr. Web, though, couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to a movie theater, so he was especially excited to go with his St. Ann Center friends.

Bucyrus Campus Adult Olympics Is Golden

Working at St. Ann Center Fits College Student to a T

Golf Outing Sept. 14 to Benefit St. Ann Center

Adult Friends Go to the Movies

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