Families Update from the Leadership Council

October 20, 2023

New Hope Families,

Fall is most certainly here and this week, as well as all next week, we will be celebrating on campus and through New Hope! Stay tuned for some SPOOKtacular photos of all these great events!

As we continue our important work, we have several exciting things to highlight and talk about this week.

• On-Campus Trick or Treating (Services). Today, our on-campus program did some early bird (or bat, as the case may be) trick-or-treating in the Activity Building. Everyone participating seemed to have an enjoyable time. Some homes even coordinated their costumes in true Halloween spirit! This is always a fun event for those we serve, as well as for our employees, who go above and beyond to make this an enjoyable event!
• Halloween Dance (Services). Tonight, our residential departments will be having a hauntingly fun Halloween dance in the gymnasium, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. We all know those we serve love our New Hope dances, and we are looking forward to another fun event. A big thank you to the staff for working hard to make this possible through the planning, decorating, arranging for transportation, scheduling and more. We know these events are no small task, so we appreciate every effort that goes into making them happen!
• Winter Wonderland (Mission). Since 2019, the Bargain Shoppes had operated a Christmas Boutique in downtown Carroll. Last year, we lost our lease for that space and subsequently moved our Christmas Boutique. However, the Bargain Shoppes still had plenty of Christmas trees for the upcoming season. In true New Hope fashion, our Bargain Shoppe team regrouped and are reinventing into a Winter Wonderland. The Winter Wonderland will be located in the Activity Building Mall area, and will be a two-day sale, open to the public and widely advertised, on Thursday, November 9, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, November 11, from 9:00 to 3:00 p.m. We are looking forward to trying something new and continuing to raise funds to further New Hope’s mission.
• DIA Audit (Quality). Over the past several months, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) has been performing an audit of New Hope’s Medicaid billing procedures. During this time, they audited billing and statements for a six-year time frame (this was extended a bit because of COVID). We are happy to report that not only did New Hope pass the audit, but the auditor also remarked that our billing and receipts files were remarkably well put together, complete and organized. Hats off to everyone who had a role in making this audit go smoothly. This is another example of our New Hope team enriching the lives of those we serve by ensuring the behind-the-scenes paperwork needed to operate our organization is done correctly and accurately.

As always, our focus remains on the five core values of mission, workforce, services, quality and foundation. As we continue to consistently live our mission daily, please know your questions and concerns are important to us. Do not hesitate to reach out to any member of the Leadership Council at any time. We greatly value the feedback we do receive and want to hear from you.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

LeAn Taylor, Chief Program Officer

Kim Platt, Chief of Community Operations

Lacie Tedrow, Director of Quality Assurance & Staff Training

Danielle Fineran, Director of Finance

Angie Owen, Director of Development

Sarah Foley, Director of Marketing and Retail Operations

Kandi Quandt, Director of Employee Success

Shanon Lux, Associate Human Resources Director

Rhonda Feldman, Executive Assistant

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