Disability Mentoring Day 2011 

On Tuesday, October 25, Disability Network of Mid-Michigan partnered with the Great Lakes Business Leadership Network to host the 10th annual Disability Mentoring Day. Expanded to a regional event last year, Disability Mentoring Day matches students with disabilities with workplace mentors in order to explore career interests and opportunities.

Approximately 70 students from Bay, Clare, Midland and Saginaw counties took part in job-shadowing at various businesses around mid-Michigan. Participating businesses included Dow Chemical, Dow Corning, Hemlock Semiconductor, Bay Regional Medical Center, MidMichigan Medical Center, Covenant Healthcare and the Great Lakes Loons.

Tours of business gave students the chance to experience the wide range of employment opportunities available to them after high school. Several of the participants expressed surprise at just how many different careers were available. Tara Moore, a junior at HH Dow High School, particularly enjoyed learning about retail sales at Dow Diamond. "I am excited about a career in retail, said Tara. "Visiting Dow Diamond was helpful because I think retail is a job I could do well."

After job-shadowing, students participated in small group mentoring sessions. In Midland, several Dow Chemical employees also addressed the students as a whole, including Daniel Bugosh, a global supply-chain accountant who was born deaf. Daniel described his experiences growing up, attending college and finding a job. He reminded the students to focus on what they do well and to remain confident in their abilities.

The primary goal of Disability Mentoring Day is to increase confidence among students with disabilities by exhibiting the wide range of employment opportunities available. Lowell Gisel, Skill Development program manager at Disability Network, echoed this goal by paraphrasing legendary basketball coach John Wooden: "Everybody has something they can't do well. But, more importantly, everybody has something they do very well. What's important is not letting what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

For more information on Disability Mentoring Day, please visit  www.dol.gov/odep. For more information about programs for students with disabilities, visit www.dnmm.org.

CMU Disability Awareness Fair

Central Michigan University is holding its third annual disability awareness fair at Finch Fieldhouse on Saturday, October 29th, from 10am - 2pm.  

This family focused event will highlight the university's month-long effort to increase disability awareness this October. In addition to information tables and vendors, the fair will include interactive demonstrations, guest speakers, therapy dogs, engaging activities for children (who are encouraged to come dressed in their favorite costume), and concessions.

For more information, please email Beth Kennedy or visit www.cmich.edu. 

 Lives Worth Living 

On Thursday, October 27, the PBS show "Independent Lens" will air the documentary Lives Worth Living. This film examines the history of the disability rights movement, from its beginning in the years after World War II to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. The story is told through interviews with pioneers of the movement , legislators, and others. Check your local TV listings for show times.

Lives Worth Living

For more information about the film click here. 

To learn more about the PBS Show, "Independent Lens," visit  www.pbs.org/independentlens. 

 Take the Food Stamp Challenge! 

In 2011, Fighting Poverty with Faith is "Working Together to End Hunger." They enlist the moral authority and organizing power of the coordinated faith community to move individuals and communities to action and advocate for clear, immediate policy solutions to address the root causes of poverty.

From Thursday, October 27th  through Thursday, November 3rd, you're invited to participate in a Food Stamp challenge. For information on how to take the challenge, click here. 

The object of this challenge is for participants to live for one week on the average food stamp allotment. Leaders and community members across the nation are taking the Food Stamp Challenge in order to help them better understand how the program works on a personal level and to highlight the continued need for and importance of feeding programs to alleviate hunger in the United States. 

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for administering the Food Stamp Program, the nationwide average monthly benefit in 2010 was $133.79, approximately $4.50 a day or $1.50 a meal. 

Why a Food Stamp Challenge? The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (aka Food Stamps), currently helps nearly 45 million low-income people purchase food for their families - that's 1 in 7 Americans. The program is designed as a safety net to help ensure that people have access to food during difficult times, with the majority of people leaving the program within nine months. More than half of food stamp recipients are children and eight percent are over 60 years of age. Recently, SNAP and similar feeding programs have been under attack; now is the time to say "enough." There should not be hunger in the United States, and we must ensure the SNAP program, and similar feeding programs, are protected during the budgeting process and the re-authorization of the Farm Bill in 2012.  

Saginaw County Salvation Army Holiday Giving Program 

The Saginaw County Salvation Army's annual Holiday Giving Program will be registering families in November. Registrations can be made at the Saginaw office, 2030 North Carolina Street. Walk-ins are welcome and no appointment is necessary.

Sign-up dates are as follows:

November 9th thru November 11th, from 9:00-11:00am and 1:00-3:00pm.

November 14th thru November 18th, from 9:00-11:00am and 1:00-3:00pm.

November 10th, from 5:00-7:00pm.

Single individuals are eligible for the food basket program. Families with children are eligible for the food basket and toy programs.

Social Security Announces 3.6 Percent Benefit Increase for 2012   

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 60 million Americans will increase 3.6 percent in 2012, the Social Security Administration announced recently.

The 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that nearly 55 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2012. This is the first COLA since 2009.  Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2011.

Some other changes that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages.  Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $110,100 from $106,800.  Of the estimated 161 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2012, about 10 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the taxable maximum.  

Information about Medicare changes for 2012, when announced, will be available at www.Medicare.gov.  For some beneficiaries, their Social Security increase may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums.  

The Social Security Act provides for how the COLA is calculated.  To read more, please visit  www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.