CCA News Archive

News, Press Releases and Publications

Duel for the Deal" Benefits Spring Valley and Local Musicians

Gaucho's Brazilian Restaurant of Valparaiso swarmed with people June 27 and 28 as eight local musical acts competed for a coveted one-album recording deal with Philadelphia-based Branding Iron Records. The competition raised money for CCA's Spring Valley, in addition to featuring great talent and a fun atmosphere. Event organizers Jason Hawkins and Tony Mytas, along with Gaucho's owner Sam Baracat, were pleased to present a check for $500 to Spring Valley, as well as the first place prize to local band Lying to Jennifer.

From left to right: Dominic Cortese (LTJ band member), Tony Mytas (event co-organizer), Erin Miller (Program Director of Spring Valley Shelter), Sam Baracat (Gaucho's owner), Jason Hawkins (event co-organizer), Charlie Cate (LTJ band member), RG Skadberg (CCA Director of Resource Development), and Jason Denk (LTJ band member).

Spring Valley Benefits from Youth Service Projects
Multiple service groups volunteered time and donated items to CCA in May (2008).

	Eighteen volunteers with the Calvary Church youth group spent one Saturday painting the multi-purpose room used for board meetings and client classes.
	Girl Scout Troop 311 donated birthday kits, including cake mix, candles, and decorations, to the youth clients of Spring Valley.
	In addition, the Cybearcats, Wheeler High School’s robotics club, donated various paper products to Spring Valley.

Spring Fling Event Brings Together CCA Participants, Staff and Community

CCA’s Spring Valley celebrated the warmer weather in May with its first annual Spring Fling, a week filled with fun, stress-free activities for program clients and staff to enjoy together. The First Presbyterian Church men’s Bible study group (along with their wives) got the week off to a great start by hosting a Memorial Day barbecue for Spring Valley and Greenwich House clients. Almost all of the clients participated, and everyone enjoyed the fellowship and the delicious food (provided by Dairy Queen). Clients enjoyed an ice cream social Tuesday, and Wednesday 74 clients went to the circus. On Thursday, the Child Enrichment staff led a variety of activities for families to participate in together, including designing a family crest and creating a family book. At the end of the evening, each child received two brand new books donated by Luci Hand (author of the children’s books review column “Principal Picks”) and Kappa Delta Pi, National Education Honor Society of Valparaiso University. The Spring Fling festivities culminated on Friday with the first weekly movie night for Spring Valley and Greenwich House clients. Overall, Spring Fling was a terrific success and will definitely become an annual tradition at CCA.

Photo: R.G. Skadberg, Executive Director and Ken Koch, CCA Board member and member of the First Presbyterian Church men’s Bible study, take a break from grilling to smile for the camera.

Law Students Help the Homeless

Phi Alpha Delta, the fraternity of law students at Valparaiso University, recently donated $3,400 to Spring Valley Shelter. They raised the funds through their annual charity auction, a bowl-a-thon and appellate brief binding. This contribution will go toward the costs of providing housing, life skills classes, psychological counseling and case management to approximately 150 homeless families per year.

CCA Announces Staff Changes / Additions

Several new additions joined the CCA and its programs' staffs in April. Erin Miller began as the Program Director for Spring Valley on April 1, 2008. Erin has been working with the CCA staff from since last August as she finishes her Master's in Social Work at IU Northwest.

Tom Isakson, former Program Director for Spring Valley, is now Director of Program Development. He will focus on new and expanded programs for CCA and its programs to better serve our community and clients' needs.

Samantha Grooms joins the full time CCA staff as Program Director of Greenwich House, April 7. Sam has served on the Greenwich House staff as Residential Tech. Sam is also finishing her MSW from IUN in May.

RG Skadberg, Director of Resource Development, added two new Resource Development Assistants. Glennas Kueck joins the staff with a focus on special event oversight. Michelle Richards will focus on marketing and public relations. All are working to expand grant funding.

Eagle Scout Inspires Spring Valley

Nathan Erxleben found the inspiration for his Eagle Scout project at Christian Community Action’s Spring Valley Shelter. When he finished, Nathan left a hall of inspiring quotes for Spring Valley’s clients and made a safe, tidy area to contain the trash.

Erxleben, a senior at Chesterton High School who has been accepted into the US Naval Academy for the fall, saw an opportunity to positively impact clients at Spring Valley using inspirational quotes from Mother Teresa, Oprah, Michael Jordan, Ernest Hemmingway and many others. Erxleben narrowed down the final 19 quotes from many recommendations from friends, family and the community.

“I was only able to finish this project because of the generous support and help of many people throughout the community,” offered Nathan. “I would like to thank The Times, The Chesterton Tribune, Indiana 105, X-Rock 103.9 and Z107 for helping me reach to the community in an effort to compile quotes for the inspirational messages. I would like to thank Ms. Cathy Seely of the Chesterton Middle School for her tremendous support in the effort of collecting quotes.”

He built the frames, produced the quotes and hung them in the hall that leads to the multipurpose room at Spring Valley. The room serves as a meeting and education room for clients, CCA Board and other community visitors. They are near the Child Enrichment rooms, providing easy accessibility for the forty or more children who reside at Spring Valley to be positively influenced during their twice weekly classes.

Nathan wasn’t done though…

Next, he took on task of building an enclosure for Spring Valley’s trash dumpster. The enclosure provides a much more visually appealing and safer area for the dumpster to be located. He and several helpers braved wind, snow and rain to finish the project in the last week.

“I graciously thank Harry Workman for his support and help in the design and donations to construct the gates for the dumpster enclosure as well as the usage of his tools and shop for one of my workdays. Thank you also to Home Depot, Pioneer Lumber, Von Tobel, Entek Fabrications, Family Express, Lakeshore Gymnastics, Walter Erxleben and Dale Kellogg for their generous donations to my project and Northwest Indiana Fence Co. for help with construction of the dumpster enclosure.”

The Eagle Scout Project is one of the six requirements for a Life Scout to complete as he moves to become an Eagle Scout. The projects benefit a nonprofit organization or community in general and provide the Scout a chance to plan, develop and give leadership to others.

“Special thanks to Scoutmaster Mr. David Larimer and Mr. Greg Schoeneck for their help in coaching me through the advancement towards the rank of Eagle Scout,” added Erxleben.

The community can see the enclosure at the Christian Community Action/Spring Valley Shelter, located at 2001 Calumet Ave., Valparaiso. For a tour of the facility to see the inspirational quotes as well as some of the other Eagle Scout and Silver Arrow (Girl Scouts) Projects which enhance the facility and support Spring Valley’s clients during their participation in its programs to build a stronger foundation for a brighter future, contact CCA, (219) 548-2379.

New Porter Health and Wellness Fund Provides New Program to Help At-Risk Adolescents

A grant from a new fund at the Porter County Community Foundation will help adolescents at Christian Community Action’s Spring Valley Shelter manage the unique challenges they face as youth dealing with homelessness.

Children make up more than half of the clients for Spring Valley Shelter. Those 13 and older have special challenges brought on by both their upbringing and the stress of losing their homes, transient living arrangements and/or living in a homeless shelter. Many of these youth are dealing with parental relationships that are not providing them the consistent support they need to cope with the challenges they face living in these situations at an age of heightened awareness and self consciousness. These factors can lead to high levels of anxiety, low self-esteem and issues connecting with classmates. This can also impact their relationships with friends, their ability to apply their best effort in the classroom and to make the right decisions about their livelihood.

This new program will provide a peer support group lead by a Master of Social Work professional who will work with the youth to help to empower them to make better, long-term life choices in a stable, safe environment. The group will allow the participants to discuss the challenges they face with peers who have similar life experiences and upbringing. Some of the areas of focus will include coping techniques, proper nutrition as well as appropriate and positive relationship building.

This new program was made possible with a grant from the new Porter Health and Wellness Fund of the Porter County Community Foundation. This new fund is the result of the distribution of the Porter Foundation endowment – which served the former county hospital – into a fund dedicated to addressing health and wellness needs in Porter County. More than $100,000 was distributed via this fund to agencies across the county in ceremonies held at the Portage Township YMCA, February 29, 2008. Porter County Community Foundation Executive Director, Barb Young, cited the significance of announcing these grants on Leap Day as they represented the “leap forward” the Foundation has made thanks to the confidence and contributions of people like those from the former Porter Foundation.