Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: October 15, 2009
FROM: Linda Anderson Smith
Public Relations Director
Champaign Residential Services, Inc.
1150 Scioto Street
Urbana, Ohio 43078
937-653-1324
lsmith@crsi-oh.com
RE: Charlene Gillis earns OPRA award
Wapakoneta: For Charlene Gillis of Coldwater, providing services for people with developmental disabilities comes naturally. She is known for her big heart and immeasurable respect for the people she serves, which is why she a top award recipient in a statewide contest held by the Ohio Provider Resource Association (OPRA) in Columbus. Nominated by her peers, Gillis is recognized for being a team player and for being a “reliable person who helps to promote structure and consistency for the consumers she serves” and for being a great advocate of their needs.
Gillis is a ‘direct support professional’ (DSP) for Champaign Residential Services, Inc. (CRSI). She has been with the agency since 2002 and is among eleven hundred DSP’s working for CRSI in thirty Ohio counties who provide services for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Gillis works for the CRSI Auglaize Regional office. Her DSP assignments are primarily in Mercer and Auglaize Counties. A small part of the many things she does in her work is to provide homemaker care services, transportation to and from doctor’s appointments, assist with shopping and run errands. According to her nomination form, “she has a huge heart for the consumers and genuinely cares about each one…she invites them to be a part of her family and makes them feel like family.”
Sue Ulis, program administrator for Auglaize, Mercer and Van Wert Counties says, “Charlene is always very kind and thoughtful, not only with the consumers she serves but with her co-workers as well.”
To prove that point, when Ulis announced the impending award to Gillis and her peers, Gillis stated that she wanted to thank everyone and to let them know that she is “representing all of them because they all deserve to be recognized, knowing that they wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing without having a big heart themselves.”
Gillis will be honored later this month at the OPRA Fall Conference at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Dublin.