61041pg001-004.QXD 9/11/06 2:05 PM Page 1 November 2006 Vol. 22, No. 11 A newsletter just for you! AnAgencyYo u ShouldKnow: Occasionally, the Pen Pal will highlight a non-profit agency whose efforts have Kids Hope United benefited our community. If you know of such an agency, please let us know! As a child, Crystal Price, 26, witnessed her alcoholic father abuse her The majority of KHU cases are referred by juvenile courts or state mother. Unfortunately, as happens with many children exposed to this type agencies. However, the agency also offers Head Start, an early childhood and of behavior, she had repeated the pattern. While raising four children, she after school program. was involved with drugs and endured domestic abuse from her long-time “It’s not just about those who are abused and neglected, but our boyfriend. When her boyfriend was sent to jail, the Department of Children programs keep [kids] from becoming abused and neglected,” said KHU and Family Services got involved, along with Kids Hope United (KHU), to president and CEO, Martin Sinnott. “We help support kids and those at help Crystal secure the resources she needed to get back on her feet. greatest risk. What we are really about is keeping families together, reuniting Price and her children were among the approximate 2.9 million kids with families when they’ve been removed, and creating forever families referrals received annually involving abuse and neglect of minor children. when families are not capable of the first two.” KHU is a private, human service organization based in Chicago that serves “The child welfare system here is broken,” added Sinnott. “There is a more than 15,000 vulnerable children and their families in Illinois, lack of good, qualified, trained foster parents, as well as an inability to Wisconsin, Missouri and Florida. Although founded as an orphanage, along support those parents. As a result, kids are bounced between foster homes. with its partner agencies, KHU focuses on collaboration, innovation, results, Our staff’s ability to step up and work with kids is just remarkable!” hope and leadership. We have to prevent a pattern of children moving through a lot of In the business of protecting children, “We don’t want to see any child placements. Instead, we must ensure and support the family and the suffer or be neglected,” said Delstene Atkinson, the Kids Hope United community,” he said. “We have an obligation to use our limited resources in Executive Vice President of Fund Development who helps determine how ways that have the biggest impact and to improve the system.” funding is allocated. “We need to be unrelenting to prevent additional damage to these kids During Price’s last pregnancy, KHU helped Crystal get the medical and build coalitions with other agencies to extend our help. We need to work help she needed to become “clean” and healthy. They also helped her find through other folks and collaborate on legislative issues to get the best safe housing, worked with her to construct a household budget, taught her results. I think it is up to child advocates in the field to change things.” more positive parenting skills, and obtained both medical care and emotional “Child abuse and neglect can be eliminated if we get serious about it,” counseling for her entire family. said Sinnott, “We take our work seriously and understand it is important to “I see a [positive] difference in my children now,” said Crystal, “and, the future. I maintain hope that we thanks to Kids Hope United, I’ve come far -- from being nothing to being make a difference.” able to believe in myself.” In exchange for the help she is receiving, Price must serve a total of 300 community service hours and consistently demonstrate she is working to improve her life. Vicki Carpenter, Crystal’s KHU family support specialist said, “Crystal is delighted with the results and appreciates everything we do.” Check out Office Living—Quill’s bigger and better online community page. Make your work easier and your life simpler with articles on career development, office management and efficiency tips, fun surveys and quizzes as well as human-interest features. Find it all at www.quill.com/officeliving 61041pg001-004.QXD 9/11/06 2:05 PM Page 2 NationalNational GameGame && PPuzuzzlezle WWeekeek Have you found yourself surrounded by eraser shavings as Want to celebrate Game and Puzzle Week with your you attempt the new game called Sudoku (pronounced sue- whole family? Plan to have a night of games and puzzles that dah-koo). The game is showing up everywhere, and in case the whole family will enjoy. Let a family member choose their you were scared away by the number game, we’re going to favorite game that’s age appropiate for the whole group and introduce you to this not-so-scary game of logic and start having fun. Whether you play one of the many versions reasoning. of Monopoly or simply put together a jigsaw puzzle, the Ideally, each Sudoku puzzle should have 1 solution and outcome will always be the same. Instead of sitting in front of should be completed without random guessing. The object is the TV or computer, your family will be talking, laughing and to fill in all of the squares with a single digit number (1-9) bonding. Planning game night weekly or even monthly can without repeating a number in a single row, column or 3x3 have a positive impact on your family that's low on stress and square grouping. big on fun! Does it still look like an irritating 2-dimentional Rubik's Here are some games for a variety of age groups: Cube®? The best way to solve the puzzle is to put the numbers 1-9 each in the empty boxes. Then through process of Ages 3-6: Hi Ho Cherry-O, Sequence for Kids, Candy Land, elimination, erase the numbers that couldn't possibly be the Cranium Cariboo, Gigglepants, Don't Spill the Beans, Don't answer and see what you're left with. This still can be a bit Break the Ice, Boggle Junior tricky once you've eliminated all of the obvious ones, but if you're careful there's almost always another number you can Ages 4-8: Chutes and Ladders, Zingo, 1-2-3 OY!, Pegs in erase without having to make random guesses. the Park, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Memory, Perfection, Are you Phrazy? Ages 6-12: Blokus, Trouble, Connect 4, Apples to Apples Junior, Cranium Cadoo, Cranium Bumparena, Pictionary Junior, Operation, Brain Quest, Guess Who?, Mouse Trap, Silly Sentences Junior, Your Number's Up Ages 8 & up: Payday, Word Spin, Cranium Conga, Blink, Swap, Scrabble, Sequence, 20 Questions, Phase 10, Baffle Gab, Rack-O, Visual Eyes, Monopoly, Jenga, Battleship, Clue, Cranium Whoonu, Such & Such, Picdoku, Tattletale, In celebration of National Game and Puzzle Week Triology, Collide-O, Family Feud, Rummikub, Yatzee (November 19-25), try your hand at a Sudoku puzzle at www.dailysukoku.com. The site has great features that allow Ages 12 & up: Cashflow, Mall Madness, Nymble: you to play online, print out puzzles, get the solution to any Game of Equal, Ingenious, Upwords, Wordigo, Sudoku puzzle found anywhere and get hints when you're Apples to Apples, Cranium, Squint, My Word, stumped! The Whole Brain Game NewsNews YouYou cancan useuse Prepare Yourself They can happen at any time—pipe burst, electrical surge, appliance leak, Frozen pipes—Remove garden hoses from their spigots, cut off the water kitchen fire, sewage back-up or a natural disaster. These misfortunes can often take supply to outdoor faucets and leave the faucets turned on to drain pipes before the a toll on you and your house. Below are a list of ways to help you prepare for these frosty weather arrives. Insulate vulnerable pipes with heat tape or heat cable (sold unexpected problems and keep you safe. in hardware stores). Open the cabinets under sinks to expose them to as much heat Power outage—Limit the number of appliances plugged into each outlet. If as possible. If you’re leaving for an extended period during the winter, turn off the you lose power to one part of your house, it’s likely you have too many appliances main water supply, set the thermostat at no lower than 55 degrees and keep the sharing the same outlet and overloading the circuit. Keep extra batteries on hand and cabinets open. know where to find the nearest flashlight. Also, be sure to back up your computer Household fires—Keep flammable objects (blankets, pillows, toilet paper, files regularly so you don’t lose any important information/documents. etc.) away from your nightlights. Also consider using nightlights that have cooler, Smoke detectors—A smoke detector may be purchased for $5 to $20 at mini neon bulbs instead of four- or seven-watt bulbs. When you’re washing/drying most retails stores. Make sure you choose one that was tested by a nationally your clothes, clean the lint screen/filter after each load. Fires can occur when lint recognized laboratory and put one on every floor of your house. Smoke alarms builds up in the dryer or in the exhaust duct. Lint can block the flow of air, cause should be placed near bedrooms either on the ceiling (at least 6 to 12 inches away excessive heat build-up and result in a fire. from the wall) or on the wall (6 to 12 inches down from the ceiling). Be sure to test Natural disaster—Pick a designated shelter area for your family in the event the alarm monthly by pushing the test button and replacing the batteries every year.