Supervised Visitation Facility – Grand Opening & Open House

A little over 2 years ago the Youth Service Bureau of Jay County, Inc. (YSB) was fortunate to have the opportunity to apply for funding through the Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana initiative, a Lilly Endowment project. The YSB was selected to receive 100% of the funding that was requested which included funds to help with employee retention and recruitment, basketball court improvements at our Residential Facility, a new van for the Residential Program, a camera system for security and safety, and the creation of our Supervised Visitation Facility.

I am thrilled to announce our Supervised Visitation Facility is finished and ready to start serving our clients! We will be having an open house to celebrate the opening on September 18, 2025 from 12 pm to 5 pm, including a special ribbon cutting ceremony at 1:30 pm. The address for this event is 603 West Arch Street Portland, Indiana which is our main office. Please enter the event through the east doors of the main office. There will be food and refreshments available.

The creation of the Supervised Visitation Facility came about because of the need for safe, private, and adequate space for supervised visitations. Through our community based contract with the Department of Child Services (DCS) we provide a lot of supervised visitations. Many of these are conducted in the community, which while not ideal, is our only option many times. Community locations are often public places like parks and libraries. These spaces are typically great spaces, but do not provide the privacy that families need for these types of visits. Sometimes, conversations must be had in these visits that could be embarrassing to parents if done in public. Sometimes, there are safety concerns around the location. For example; a park close to a busy street where a young child could run into the street or a public space where someone could show up who has been court ordered not to.

Our new facility provides clients with a safe space as the yard is completely fenced in with a 6 foot high privacy fence. This not only provides the much needed privacy for the client, but also keeps the little children contained within the area while keeping any unwanted visitors out. The supervised visit building provides the same opportunity, but for the entire year. Going to the park is an option in the warm months, but when the weather is bad inside places where kids can run around and be kids during a visit is very limited and with no privacy. Our building provides ample space for kids to run around and play during a visit any time of the year.

The outside space consists of a play set with 3 slides and a climbing wall, swings, balance beams, a climbing turtle, a merry-go-around, a small sandbox, picnic tables, a basketball court, and a walking path. Our inside space includes a comfortable seating area, a basic kitchen area, a basketball goal, toys, and a large wide open area to run and play.

We would like to thank Muhlenkamp Construction, Hatzell Bros. Standing Seam Solutions, Moeller Door and Window, Denny’s Door Company, Fullenkamp Drywall, Bryan Sutton Painting, D & D Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning, Wabash Electric, Gabbard Fencing, KBL, and Serendipity Play Systems for helping to make this dream come to life.

We also want to give a very special thanks to the Lilly Endowment for creating this forward thinking, highly needed, initiative to help improve the lives of our youth!

Please stop by on the 18th of September to see the facility in person and let us tell you more about the work we are doing here at the YSB.

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YSB’s Sidewalk Project Complete!

We are very excited at the YSB for our fresh new sidewalks and our cross walk!

We would like to thank Matt Shauver and the Portland Street Department for their excellent work on repairing our sidewalks. For anyone with a sidewalk in dis-repair I would highly recommend reaching out to the street department and getting on their list for sidewalk repair. It is a great deal for the community as the city covers the labor expense and the property owner only has to pay for materials! Feel free to drive down West Arch Street and check out their work if you are on the fence about moving forward with a sidewalk project. I don’t think you will be disappointed!

We would also like to thank Matt and the Portland City Council for assisting us in putting in a cross walk. This cross-walk runs from our parking lot to the main entrance of our office at 603 West Arch Street. At the YSB we have a number of clients with younger children and having a cross walk at this location creates a much safer space for them to get to our office.

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YSB Sidewalk – 1/3
YSB Sidewalk – 2/3
YSB Sidewalk – 3/3

4th Annual Deakota Engle Memorial Cruise-In

On August 1st Brian Taylor and our friends at RU Recovery in Wells County hosted the 4th annual Deakota Ingle Memorial Cruise-In. The event was held in the parking lot of Yergy’s State Road BBQ in Bluffton, Indiana. It was a fabulous evening! The weather was perfect, the air was filled with great music and the wonderful smell of BBQ, and everywhere you looked there were amazing cars to look at! The YSB was honored to be the recipient of the proceeds from this event which equaled an impressive $750! We were also pleased to be able to send our residential youth for the event. They were a little late in getting there but still enjoyed the music, the cars, and playing some corn-hole. Thank you to all who helped with this event, those in attendance and those who donated. We at the YSB could not do all that we do without the support of the communities we serve.

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RC Visits KI!

   In what appears to have become a summer time tradition, our Residential kids once again visited Kings Island.  There’s something magical about stepping through the gates of Kings Island. Whether it’s the smell of funnel cakes drifting through the air or the distant screams from the towering roller coasters, the excitement hits you the moment you arrive. The magic seems to intensify when taking kids that either have never experienced a roller coaster, or are terrified to experience them again.  The day started early, with the sun shining and a perfect forecast for roller coaster hopping. Our first stop? Orion, the park’s massive giga coaster. Standing at 287 feet tall, it looked both terrifying and thrilling from the ground. The first drop was a rush unlike anything we’d felt before—wind whipping past, stomach dropping, and a mix of fear and exhilaration that had us laughing uncontrollably by the end. After that it was a constant blur of massive drops, and high banked corners, followed by constant laughs alongside comments like “Oh my gosh! Can we ride that again”? Or “Oh my gosh I’m never riding that again”! 

   After a lite lunch, a few more rides, along with half a dozen trips to the beverage center, it was time for a Kings Island classic.  LaRosa’s pizza!  We each devoured a few pieces of pepperoni pizza and a couple of breadsticks and hit the rides again.  Over the course of the day we rode all the classics: The Beast, a wooden coaster that feels like a wild trek through the woods, and Diamondback, with its smooth drops and iconic splashdown at the end, and Banshee, an inverted coaster that feels like you are flying.  As the sun began to set, we slowly made our way to the main entrance (after one last stop at the beverage center), to get a good view of the nightly fireworks/drone show.  Tired, and sweaty we made our way back to the van to begin our long trek back to Portland. During the day this staff person heard something I will never forget.  After we had successfully rode all the coasters, one resident turned to me and said “this is like one of those good memory days, because I faced my fears and rode everything”.  I’m not sure it gets any better than that.

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RC Visits KI – 1/6
RC Visits KI – 2/6
RC Visits KI – 3/6
RC Visits KI – 4/6
RC Visits KI – 5/6
RC Visits KI – 6/6

Celebrating Joe Boggs’ Term as YSB Board Member

Thank you Joe!

At our board of directors meeting on 5/22/2025 we honored YSB board member Joe Boggs. Joe has been a member of the board since October 2021. Joe has been instrumental in helping to improve the YSB employee wellness culture during his time on the board! Joe was directly involved in the Youth Worker Wellbeing Project which was funded by Eli Lilly and implemented through the Indiana Youth Services Association (IYSA). Joe took time out of his schedule to attend these sessions in Indianapolis with PJ Corwin, Executive Director, and Heidi Bouse, Business Manager. With this project Joe helped to schedule the sessions for employees to learn about the 8 modules of wellness and provided space for this at his church. Joe and some other board members were able to be a part of these sessions. Joe also participated in our mind body medicine skills group alongside 7 other employees, in addition to other YSB wellness trainings along the way. 

Joe has been a “Wellness Champion” for the YSB! 

We cannot thank him enough for all that he has done for the YSB and our community! 

Thank you Joe and good luck with your new assignment in South Bend!

Agency Outing – Escape Room!

For our latest employee wellness initiative – agency outing we checked out the escape rooms at Escape Muncie. We met early that day and had some great food at Amazing Joe’s in addition to celebrating Karla Eberle’s Birthday! Then we proceeded to Escape Muncie where we split up into two teams of 7.  One team consisted of Scott Bissell, Karla Eberle, Hayleigh Fuller, Bri Davis, Ashlyn Maloy, Christy Nel and Marsi Dow. This group took on the mansion escape room. The other team consisted of Dave Milligan, Dawn Milligan, Erika Limbert, Elyse Bost, Kim Atkinson, Heather Hall, and PJ Corwin. They took on the challenge of the classroom escape room. This is clearly a group of pretty smart individuals with some great teamwork skills as both teams successfully escaped their respective rooms with just minutes to spare! All in attendance had a really good time despite some friendly discussions afterwards around which team actually escaped first!

Thank you to Escape Muncie and their staff for a very fun evening!

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Christmas Celebrations!

It brings me great joy to share the story of another Residential groups Christmas experience here at the YSB!

As always our Christmas celebration spans the entire month of December with special recreation activities! The favorite continues to be our Secret Santa activity. Each resident had two staff assigned to them this year. One staff bought them $5 gifts for the 16th and 17th while the other bought them $5 gifts for the 18th and 19th.  On the 19th which was the night of our Residential Christmas Party, the residents opened their big gift from their Secret Santa’s. Some staff chose to team up for this gift and others wanted to purchase their own, so residents either received one $40 gift or two $20 gifts.

It was a little sad this year as this was the first time in 26 years that Tina Bechtol had not prepared the Christmas dinner. Tina retired at the end of November after preparing our Thanksgiving dinner one last time. Thank you for all your years of service Tina!

We were very fortunate to have Kim Atkinson, “the new Tina”, Yvonne Duff and her son, Blaine Duff prepare the Christmas dinner for us this year. All of the food was very, very good and no one walked away hungry! Some of the residents ate so much that they had no room for any of the wonderful desserts!

 

Once everyone was finished eating we worked to prepare the lounge area for gift giving time. The first gifts to be passed out are the Secret Santa gifts. The residents open them and then try to guess which staff had them. Surprisingly, there were two correct guesses this year! Staff and resident alike really enjoy the fun and mystery around this activity. It never fails that at least one resident is completely shocked by which staff person had them and how well they did at getting things the resident really liked.

After Secret Santa the residents receive their haul of Christmas presents. Each resident gets a large Santa bag filled with gifts. The residents open them and then take turns sharing what they received. This year there were some new shoes, a lot of new clothes, some art stuff, a camera, and a robe, to name a few. The resident that received the robe was very excited about this gift!

One resident was shocked when the rest of the presents came out. She thought that the Secret Santa presents were the extent of their Christmas. She was very grateful for the Secret Santa gifts, but was blown away when there was so much more! When I asked her how she would communicate to those outside the YSB what Christmas here is like this is what she told me, “Even though it is a residential home the staff love us, take care of us and try to treat us like family”.

 

The residents always receive really nice name brand items that they often times do not have the opportunity to receive outside of care. It is always thrilling to see their reaction when they receive something that they really wanted, like the robe for example! I think he wore it the rest of the evening! Yvonne Duff, typically does the majority of the Christmas shopping for the residents each year. Yvonne has a special shopping ability which allows her to be able to pick out just the right gifts for each resident.

A lot of the time our residents are able to go home and be with someone from their family for at least part of Christmas day, but sometimes there are one or more who have no place to go for Christmas. When this happens we make sure that they have some additional presents to open Christmas morning along with having a big breakfast and getting to stay in pajamas for most of the day. This year we had three residents who were not able to have a Christmas visit.

On behalf of myself, the Board of Directors, staff, and most importantly the residents, we would like to thank all of this year’s donors as it is your support that allows us to create these life-long Christmas memories!

Wine & Canvas Agency Outing

On November 9th, the YSB had its latest agency outing. This event was a wine and canvas event for staff and one guest. Twenty-seven attendees enjoyed painting their version of a flower portrait. Our agency outings are a direct result of our employee wellness initiatives and this activity had one of the highest votes for activities that staff wanted to participate in. Some of us are better painters than others, but everyone had a great time giving their best effort. Please take a minute to look at the pictures to see how much fun was had!

We want to give Allison Smiley a big thank you for being our art instructor for the night and the Tipsy Glass Winery for assisting us in selecting the beverages for the evening!

We would also like to give Carla Loy and Bear Creek Country Event Center a huge thank you for donating the space for us to have this event!

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B.A.S.E. Program Awarded Randolph Community Foundation Grant

We are extremely grateful to the Randolph Community Foundation for the grant award of $2,500 which is funded by the EDP Renewables Charitable Fund ($1,500), the James and Linda Noffsinger Fund ($500), and the David and Lisa Jennings Charitable Fund (($500). These funds will be utilized specifically for the B.A.S.E. school program for the 2024-2025 academic school year to purchase needed clothing items such as shoes, personal hygiene items, recreational games/therapy, food items, and art/misc. items.

Due to this generous contribution, we project that 45-55 youth attending the B.A.S.E./Alternative school program will be positively impacted this academic school year. Each student will be given a personal hygiene kit around Christmas time that can be utilized throughout the year. Other items will be given throughout the year based on need, participation in ongoing counseling, and for students who progress through phases in the program through attendance and positive behavior.

Staff also work with students in the program to purchase food items, demonstrate safe food preparation, and increase life skills in cooking/cleaning. Students will often come in without proper footwear, in some cases they are completely worn down or are not the right size because it was handed down to them by someone else. Students without proper footwear can obtain shoes through the use of these grant funds. Youth often need additional food items due to not having consistent meals at home. Funds will be utilized to purchase these food items. Funds will also be utilized to purchase additional indoor/outdoor games that will allow students to learn new games, interact and cooperate with others, and develop strategies. Funds will be utilized for art/STEM items that allow youth in the BASE Program to practice positive interaction with others, demonstrate social skills, practice art techniques, demonstrate their creativity, and utilize problem-solving and reasoning skills.

Thanks so much to the Randolph Community Foundation for investing in our youth and helping make a positive impact on students in Randolph County!

– Chris Dubach
B.A.S.E. Program Manager

Winter Heating Safety – Healthy Families Blog

heating-fire-safety-handout-pdf

Click Here to Download

Free Heating Fire Safety Pamphlet

Provided by U.S. Fire Administration

Healthy Families wants to present our community with information on heating safety as temperatures drop. During the colder months, there are heat-related risks like fire, carbon monoxide poisoning, and other health hazards. Heating safety is paramount for young children who may get hurt if the proper precautions are not taken.

If you plan to use a space heater, make sure to keep any fabrics or flammable items at least 3 feet away from the heater to lower the risk of a fire in your home. Always plug your space heater directly into an outlet in the wall, as power strips and extension cords are likely to overheat and cause a fire. When using space heaters and kerosene heaters, make sure that they have an automatic shut-off when tipped over. This is important for homes with children or pets that are likely to bump into the heater. Refueling of kerosene heaters should always take place outside when the heater has cooled to avoid pollutants in your home.

Fireplaces are likely to have embers or sparks that escape, so placing a screen in front of the fireplace is important in preventing a fire. Make sure to extinguish the fireplace each time you leave the house and place ashes in a metal container at least 10 feet from your home. If you heat your home with a wood stove or fireplace, do not burn paper in them, put the fire out before you leave, and make sure to have your chimney inspected and cleaned yearly. Furnaces should also be inspected on a yearly basis.

If you have any concerns about fire safety in your home, contact your local fire department for advice and assistance. Here, you can find the contact information for each fire department in Indiana: https://ivfa.org/directory/. To protect yourself and your loved ones, staying vigilant about heating safety is crucial. We hope you stay warm this holiday season, but do it safely!