Guest chef -- and that sushi! -- return to Cogswell's gala Sept. 23

Fresh sushi was a hit at Cogswell Hall’s annual fundraising gala last year. Chef Heinz Yee and his crew prepared it before our eyes. The owner of Otani Japanese Restaurant returns with that great sushi and other enticing foods at this year’s Coming Home gala on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. You can even bid to have Heinz come to your home and teach six people how to make sushi! Coming Home 2017, featuring emcee Michael McIntyre, will include valet parking, an open bar, live music and a silent auction. Join us in the grand marble lobby of The Calfee Building downtown. It’s the biggest fundraiser of the year in support of Cogswell Hall’s mission to house and help low-income adults. Tickets are $85 ($55 tax deductible).

Click here for tickets and more info!

Five ways you can help Coming Home succeed:

1. “Like” our Facebook page and click “Going” or “Interested” at our Facebook event. It expands our reach!
2. Donate an item to the silent auction: Artwork,“experiences,” overnight or weekend stays, tours, gift cards, lessons … anything of high quality that will draw generous bids.
3. Buy or sell an ad in the printed program.
4. Buy a ticket, and hand out invitations to others.
   
5. Post fliers at your office, library, rec center, place of worship, and restaurants and businesses you frequent.

Questions? Ideas? Have a donation? Need invitations, fliers, etc.? Contact Sakina Kapasi, skapasi@cogswellhall.org.

#PovertyTruths: Housing 'out of reach' for many who work hard

Many hard-working people have a hard time affording decent housing. That fact is graphically clear in a recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “Out of Reach 2017: The High Cost of Housing” documents the gap between renters’ wages and the cost of rental housing all over the United States. In Ohio, for example, the minimum wage is $8.15 but you need to earn $15 an hour in a 40-hour week to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment while spending no more than 30 percent of your income on housing costs. Details at the report’s website, http://nlihc.org/oor, include the map below in a very cool, clickable, interactive, info-filled format.

Our current volunteer needs -- and introducing our new receptionist

Patricia Rollins-Landers (left) now greets Cogswell Hall visitors and callers three days a week. Pat joined us as part-time receptionist in July, bringing years of work experience with Ohio Means Jobs and the Ford Motor Company in Cleveland and AMCO Insurance Company in Des Moines, Iowa. She is our latest trainee from the AARP Foundation’s Senior Community Service Employment Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. Welcome, Pat!

We have two top volunteer needs at the moment:

1. Someone to pick up food weekly from the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and deliver it to Cogswell Hall.
2. People to cover additional shifts at our reception desk (we have various afternoon hours Monday through Thursday). All ages are welcome. Student community service hours are available!

To volunteer in these or other ways, contact Sakina Kapasi, skapasi@cogswellhall.org.

Photo by Hans Holznagel

Partial eclipse, totally good view

To prepare for the solar eclipse that swept the United States Aug. 21, Cogswell Hall resident Lindsey Tehorik went online to learn now to make a pinhole viewer. She used one of the shipping boxes her medicine comes in (pictured in the foreground above). It worked! Residents, visitors and staffers gathered outside that afternoon for a look at the rare spectacle, using Lindsey's box and sharing a pair of goggles brought by staff member Sakina Kapasi. Not far away, Edgewater Park was packed with viewers who applauded when the eclipse hit its Cleveland maximum of about 80-percent coverage at 2:30 p.m. Next chance, 2024!

Click here to see our #SolarEclipse2017 photo gallery!

Photo by Sakina Kapasi

Eating: a popular outing

Going out together for a meal at a local restaurant is a regular and popular activity for our residents. Here Kathy Messmer (left) and Supportive Services Coordinator Adele Brown-Torres enjoy lunch at My Friends Restaurant on Cleveland's West Side. A half-dozen other residents took part in the Aug. 11 outing. It's another example of the unique quality of life Cogswell Hall offers to low-income adults who have disabilities. As independent residents with their own living spaces, they have privacy. And they are free to get out into the community. But they are not alone. Our staff and other residents form a community of support, whether in daily living at the Hall or on occasional group outings. Thank you for your support. You make Cogswell Hall, and the community around us, a place to call home.

(Photo courtesy of Adele Brown-Torres)

Hear Cogswell Hall on the radio

You can hear Cogswell Hall Executive Director Diana Cyganovich twice on Cleveland's WERE (1490 AM) in the coming weeks. Host Ed "Flash" Ferenc will interview her during the 10 a.m. hour Saturday, Sept. 9, on the community-happenings program "Flashpoint." The following weekend she will appear on the disabilities-related program "Starfish Speaks" with host Donna Gilcher during the 1 p.m. hour Sunday, Sept. 17. Diana will discuss Cogswell Hall's work and the Sept. 23 "Coming Home" gala.