There is nothing like comfort food for the holidays.  With mash potatoes, corn, turkey, and pumpkin pie, everyone looks forward to the holiday season.  Unfortunately, not everyone has the comfort of these great holiday feasts.

Those of us at OPTIONS' Day Program feel that we have been blessed to receive support from our local community.  The only way we can show our gratitude is to give back to those who need it.

During the holiday months of November and December, OPTIONS' Day Program generated it's own self-advocacy food drive.  Persons served at the Community Integration Services (CIS) Program decorated bags labeled "OPTIONS' Food Drive", dropped off the bags to each of the OPTIONS' departments, sent out flyers, and got into the holiday spirit by spreading the cheer.

"It was exciting to hear the motivation of some of the individuals.  One person came up to me, showed me his bag and exclaimed with a large grin, 'I picked these out from my home'.  I could just imagine how he insisted on taking the cans that came from his pantry to his caretaker," recalled Heather Ducato, CIS Program Manager.
OPTIONS CIS Program collected over 10 large bags and donated them to the San Luis Obispo Food Drive on December 20th, 2006.  It was a cold winter day filled with holiday cheer, many smiling faces and lots of warmth from the heart.

In fact, the personsserved at the day proram were moved so much by the joy that they felt from giving that they decided to take it further - down to matters of the heart.
Through a stethoscope, you could imagine the greater pounding of the patients hearts at Twin Cities Hospital on Valentine's Day, when the CIS Day program showed up with handmade Valentine's Day cards.