Blog Archives

2nd Annual Small Business Gingerbread Competition - Sandy's Back Porch & PTOEC

11/20/2017

The Small Business Gingerbread Competition is a charity fundraiser affiliated with the famous downtown Belleville Gingerbread contest. Small business display their gingerbread houses and try to rack up popular votes. The winning company receives $500 they then contribute to their favorite charity.

This year Sandy's Back Porch is participating in the contest and selected PTOEC as their designated charity. You can help by stopping by Toots Candy & Bake Supplies @ 314 East Main Street and voting for Sandy's Back Porch gingerbread house.

Pictured below is Sandy’s Back Porch employee and PTOEC member Courtney Hoernis. Sandy has a wonderful selection of Christmas gifts and is located on West Boulevard. Please support those local businesses who support PTOEC!

State Volleyball!

11/14/2017

The Special Olympics State Volleyball tournament was held October 28th and 29th in Rockford, Illinois. PTOEC was fortunate to be able to send two teams to the state competition, the Slammers and Team Fusion. The Slammers received the Bronze Medal and Team Fusion brought home a Gold Medal and trophy.

I'm very glad to have been able to help Tara And Robert Edwards with volleyball this year. They and all the volleyball coaches work so well with our athletes and help them progress in many different areas. They’re wonderful coaches and I appreciate the time and hard work it takes to have two teams at state.

Great job PTOEC coaches!

- Karen Sarahan

Mr. Morgan goes to Washington...

11/5/2017

In June, Stacey Morgan represented Challenge Unlimited, Inc. at the 2017 Grassroots Advocacy Conference sponsored by SourceAmerica in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the conference was to talk to senators and congressmen/women to drive home the fact that funding should not be reduced, but rather to continue funding that would maintain placement opportunities for people with disabilities through the AbilityOne Program. Stacey’s schedule had meetings set up with:

Senators Durbin and Duckworth and Congressmen Davis and Bost from Illinois; Senators McCaskill and Blunt and Congressman/woman Clay and Hartzler from Missouri. In each meeting Stacey informed them of what his job means to him and how it enhances his life.

Stacey made an impromptu speech to 200 people at one of the banquets. Of course he kept the crowd laughing as well as making his point. All in all, Stacey had a wonderful time, made some friends, and came home a much more confident person.

Stacey took the initiative to stop Joseph P. Kennedy III from Massachusetts after Mr. Kennedy made an emotional speech. Stacey consoled him on the death of his father. They embraced and had a few laughs.

When meeting with Congressman Bost, everyone soon realized the two of them had previously met at the Nightengale Inn on Scott Air Force Base where Stacey works. As you can see from the picture, they had a fun time meeting again!

Stacey was also nominated to receive a national award for self-advocacy. There will be 1,000 nominations for the awards. He hasn’t won it, but he is feeling very honored to have been nominated. We won’t know the results until May 2018 when a convention will be held in Indianapolis.

Of course, when Stacey was told that, all he could say was, “GO COLTS”.