Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month Luncheon 2019

As March comes to a close, it’s so wonderful to take some time to reflect on how amazing Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month is. We have been honored to be able to speak to Ohio State Legislators, have a fun evening dancing the night away, had a few Sensory Sensitive Movie showings, two Lego Club events, hosted our annual coloring and essay contest with all public schools in Knox County, and we had an amazing luncheon where we were able to honor so many great community leaders who make Knox County so amazing to live, work and thrive in.

At our DD Month Luncheon we discussed how technology can assist people who have developmental disabilities be more independent and have fuller lives. We were also able to honor 6 different people/groups who make Knox County so amazing.

Local Hero Award: Terri Pribonic, New Hope Industries

Employer Award: Justin Newell, Kenyon College Athletics

Community Partner Award: Public Library of Knox County and Mount Vernon

Community Partner Award: Premiere Theatre 7

Dedication Award: Tiffany Cagnon, Midwest Community

Individual Spotlight Award: Jocelyn Gilardi

Thank you for making Knox County so great!

Events, StoriesBrittany CoonMarch 29, 2019Mount Vernon Nazarene UniversityDevelopmental Disabilities, developmental disability awareness month, Disability Awareness, luncheon, awards

Special Olympics State Skills Tournament [basketball]

Athletes from Knox County traveled to Hilliard Darby High School on March 23rd to compete with other athletes from across the state of Ohio in the Special Olympics Basketball Skills Competition! All of our athletes won ribbons and medals and had a great time competing!

EventsBrittany CoonMarch 26, 2019Hilliard Darby High SchoolSpecial Olympics, Basketball, Knox DD, Knox County Ohio, Basketball skills

Lego Club: Sandwiches, Burgers, Subs & More!

We love getting to watch creativity and imagination take over as people come together to build amazing creations at Lego Club. On 3/14 we had a great turn out and had some pretty stellar pieces made! The theme was “Sandwiches, Burgers, Subs & More!” (a theme that was submitted by a kiddo!! Great thinking!) and the pieces that were created were extraordinary!

If you have a great idea for a theme, feel free to email it to Brody Boggs (bboggs@knoxdd.com) and he’ll try to add it to the calendar!

Events, Lego ClubBrittany CoonMarch 20, 2019Mount Vernon Nazarene Universitylego club, lego, imagination, creativity, inclusion, Inclusion works, MVNU, Mount Vernon Ohio, Knox DD, Knox County Ohio

DD Awareness & Advocacy Day

“The Developmental Disability (DD) Advocacy and Awareness Day is an annual event that has taken place for over a decade at The Ohio Statehouse in March which is DD Awareness Month. The purpose of this event is to educate and empower people with developmental disabilities, their family members and other community allies to come together on a single day to advocate policy issues which impact the lives of people with developmental disabilities.”

Knox County had several self-advocates attend this event and were able to advocate for people with disabilities in our communities. Great job, everyone!

https://ddohio.wordpress.com/about/

Events, Aktion ClubBrittany CoonMarch 8, 2019self advocacy, advocate, Advocacy, deve, Developmental Disabilities, Disability Awareness, developmental disability awareness month

Boots & Belles : DD Awareness Month Kickoff Dance

For the past few years, we have held our annual Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month Kickoff Dance— This year our theme was “Boots & Belles”. We collected donations for Riverside Recovery Services- they enjoyed spending the evening with us, collecting donations and helping us tear down decorations at the end of the evening. Thank you everyone who made this night a success!

Please enjoy some of our photos! If you have any you’d like to share, feel free to send them our way!

EventsBrittany CoonMarch 6, 2019Knox County Career CenterDance, DD Month, Developmental Disabilities, Disability Awareness, Inclusion

Lego Club: Out of this World Spaceships!

Thank you to everyone who came out to Lego Club at MVNU on 1/31! We had another great turnout and families enjoyed creating fun ‘out of this world’ Lego Creations!

Events, Lego ClubBrittany CoonFebruary 22, 2019Mount Vernon Nazarene Universitylego club, lego, Inclusion works, Inclusion, sensory inclusive

Lego Club: Captivating Castles

On January 16th, over 60 people joined us and built their very own Castle Creations! Everyone had a great time— especially those who won door prizes!

Thank you everyone for joining us and to MVNU for hosting us! Stay tuned for our next Lego Club event in a couple of weeks!

Students, Events, Lego ClubBrittany CoonJanuary 23, 2019Mount Vernon Nazarene UniversityLego, Lego Club, Inclusion works, Inclusion, play together, play Comment

It takes Heart

The Knox County Chamber of Commerce holds their Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony each January. The Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities was nominated for and received the Heart Award, which honors a Chamber member that “achieves and maintains architectural design that compliments our community.” The All-Inclusive Playground that has been built at Memorial Park has been a massive project that broke ground in September and was completed in December of 2018. This playground will be a wonderful place for all families to come together to play and make wonderful memories!

Thank you, Knox County for helping us make our community a wonderful place to live, work and play!

Awards, StoriesBrittany CoonJanuary 8, 2019Heart Award, Knox County Chamber of Commerce, Award, Playground, Inclusive Playground

2018 Holiday Video

The staff at the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities wish you a wonderful Holiday season!

StoriesBrittany CoonDecember 10, 2018happy holidays, holiday video, theres no place like homeComment

It's a Wonderful Life [Orange Barrel Productions]

Knox County is an amazing place to live. We have such great supports, opportunities and a wonderful community of people. Orange Barrel Productions has been so inclusive to some people that are in our program and have included them in this year’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” performance.

You can catch Joe, Devine, Paul and David give exemplary performances at any of their upcoming shows. The show is scheduled for November 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 & 17. All shows begin at 7PM and tickets are $10.