Ryan’s Reach 2023
End of year newsletter
What’s New for 2024?
Podcast launch
We are happy to announce that Ryan’s Reach is finally jumping into the “podcast pool” where we’ll be able to expand our ‘reach’ beyond the limits of Orange County, California. As of now Ryan’s Reach has completed three episodes of “TBI Talk” which will soon appear on our ryansreach.com website and will be on YouTube as well as streaming platforms for audio podcasts.
Why do a podcast? Here’s our answer. Nobody chooses this TBI life but when you realize there are others on this same road, it is comforting. The podcast is another way we can reach the TBI community.
The plan is to conduct interviews with guests that have had a TBI experience themselves, or walked through it as a family member, or is someone who works with this community to improve quality of life. Through these conversations, host Lindy Michaelis hopes to bring other parents, spouses, siblings, children and friends the knowledge that they are not alone and offer personal stories, information, education, encouragement and most of all, hope.
Board of Directors
Leaders passing the baton
Mike Michaelis
Doug Corbin
2023 sure has zipped by and Ryan’s Reach has been very busy. At the first Ryan’s Reach board meeting of the year, members elected Lindy Michaelis to be the president. Mike Michaelis and Doug Corbin have been former presidents of Ryan’s Reach and while holding that office, Mike was also the Group Home Administrator for both Ryan’s Reach homes. It was time to lighten his load and give this responsibility to another person on the board.
Another note of thanks must be extended to Ryan Corbin’s father, Doug Corbin. Doug has been on the board from the beginning of Ryan’s Reach and was the first acting president of the board. After 20 years of service on the board, Doug has decided to step down. He has reached his goal of retirement from his job as Vice President, Chief Development Officer at Children’s Hospital of Orange County and as often happens after “retirement,” he found himself with a new goal—starting another non-profit—and we wish him well as he steps off the board of Ryan’s Reach to have time to work on this new and important endeavor to which he feels called.
Thank you, Doug!
OUR NEW BOARD MEMBER Jennifer Mostero
We are pleased to introduce our newest board member to the Ryan’s Reach Board of Directors. Jennifer Mostero has been connected with Ryan’s Reach as a result of the brain injury of her son Kyle. As a 19-year-old college student, Kyle Osborne incurred a brain injury in 2019 when he was hit and run over by a car.
Unfortunately, Kyle passed away in 2022 from new complications of his brain injury, but we recognized the unbelievable support and strength his family exhibited in the 2-1/2 years of caring for Kyle. Jen’s strong desire to serve continues as she reaches out to other families going through this difficult and traumatic experience. She is resourceful, energetic, and wants to be part of helping others. This is a way of honoring her beautiful son Kyle. Jennifer is already a huge asset to Ryan’s Reach and we are so fortunate to welcome her to the board!
(Top row) Mark Desmond, Mike Miller, Tim Healy, Bill Lowrey
(Bottom row) Jennifer Mostero, Bertha Lopez, Lindy Michaelis, Mike Michaelis
Stephanie Poland
New Resident Highlight
Welcoming (another) a new face!
We are delighted to add a new resident to our Tustin home. This home has five bedrooms and we’ve had a great group of four residents there for some time. One bedroom was waiting to be filled.
We were contacted by Becky Poland who had heard about Ryan’s Reach and thought it would be a wonderful group home for her daughter Stephanie. Becky is a single mother working full-time. She realized that she didn’t have the time to provide the social and therapeutic activities from which Stephanie would benefit.
Stephanie and Becky travelled from Sacramento to stay a couple of nights and Stephanie was well received by both Tustin residents and staff. She will be joining us in early January and we’re sure Rebecca will enjoy having another woman in the house!
SHARING OUR STORY …at Dana Hills High School
We were contacted by twins Aiden and Adrin, students who attend Dana Hills High School. They asked if we would come talk about Ryan’s Reach and the reason we started this non-profit in Orange County.
Of course we were delighted to share our story with these students and decided it would be great to bring Brian, one of our Tustin home residents so he could tell his story. He has a big heart and wants to serve.
It was a great experience for us and as a result, the twins also have asked if they can bring volunteers four times during 2024 to help us with anything we need, from beautification of the home or spending time with the residents playing games or just talking. Sometimes it can feel a bit lonely after a traumatic brain injury, and having a good conversation with young people may be the kindest thing of all.
Adrin, Aiden, Brian, Lindy
FEEDING THE BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT - A new focus
2023 has been a year of refinements. Lindy wants to move the focus away from the nuts and bolts of a group home. She says she’d like to bring some “Mom Energy” to the homes and make them feel more like “home” to the residents. To her, that involves caring about nutrition and a healthy diet as much as possible, caring about aesthetics as well as practicality, befriending the neighbors, and nurturing each resident’s body and mind as well as their spirit.
These have always been a concern, but now the kinks of running a group home have been worked out and the focus can now turn to making the homes better. An environment can be created that not only meets what licensing demands, but exceeds it.
Lindy along with Elaine and Bertha, our group home administrators, meet regularly to discuss the day-to-day experiences of the residents. They want to ensure residents are busy, getting therapy, seeing doctors if needed, and enjoying outings, holiday celebrations, and social interaction as much as possible.
This year we’ve worked on expanding the understanding of a balanced diet and healthy nutrition which is so important for maximum brain function. In order to have the best building blocks for TBI recovery we see the need to weed out a lot of the types of foods that don’t add to well-being and are just empty calories, as well as those that may actually do slow but steady harm.
Ryan’s Reach is actively modifying shopping lists and recipes to offer balanced, unprocessed meals as much as possible for the benefit of our residents’ optimum brain power!
Feeding the Body:
Work is good for the mind. We are so pleased that one of our residents, David Perez, expressed a desire to work, and he was able to get 100 hours at a laundromat through Goodwill. When those hours were completed he applied for another 100 hours and finished that assignment. He did so well that he applied and was hired to work at a Goodwill retail store only a couple of blocks from the group home in Santa Ana.
We are very proud of David’s will to work and his determination to be an effective employee. Congratulations to David for achieving this goal!
Feeding the Mind:
Brian and Nathan are attending a support group at the Brain Rehabilitation and Injury Network (B.R.A.I.N.), a non-profit in Cypress. The group is called “Friends of Brain Injury”, and is a weekly gathering of TBI survivors. They can socialize, learn about a different topic each week, and participate in activities that stimulate learning centers in the brain and allow them to work with others who attend the group.
This weekly activity not only feeds their mind, but the soul as well.
Lindy and Mike are delighted to have developed a routine of picking up any resident who wants to attend church on Sunday at Shepherd’s Grove in Irvine along with their son Ryan. It’s a component of care that Ryan’s Reach is happy to provide when it is willingly accepted. At present, three residents attend regularly and they anticipate adding to that number.
Feeding the Spirit:
CAREGIVER APPRECIATION PARTY – Gratitude for hard work and dedication
We couldn’t do what we do without the excellent staff who work there. This can be a thankless job and is sometimes very trying. All the residents are kind and lovely people but through no fault of their own, behavior can sometimes be challenging. Those who take care of them have to be responsible and diligent. Two of the residents are totally dependent, as are two guests who come for a week or two at a time to provide respite for family members. Those family members are able to trust our caregivers to care for their loved ones. Our staff deserves the deepest thanks and acknowledgement that Ryan’s Reach depends on them and appreciates them!
“Family members are able to trust our diligent, responsible caregivers to care for their loved ones.”
23rd ANNUAL DOVE DASH
THANKSGIVING
FACELIFT FOR SANTA ANA HOME
The front yard at the Santa Ana Ryan’s Reach home has had a makeover. The plants that were in the front when we moved in lived out their life span so we planted something new. We’re praying that it grows and flourishes. Part of the “Mom energy” Lindy is infusing into the Ryan’s Reach homes is to really pay attention to how we can keep the homes looking not just adequate, but “lovely”. The priority is always safety, the dispensing of proper medications and daily care, but after that’s all taken care of and if there is time (and funds), we also care about decor and yards and the little touches that make a house a home.
OUT AND ABOUT – Residents enjoy a busy year!
This picture is what Ryan’s Reach is all about. These are our eight Ryan’s Reach residents: Otto, David, Nathan, Wayne, Sean, Brian, Darryl, and Rebecca.
Each person in this photo is someone who started out in this world with a healthy, functioning brain. Each person has their own story of a day in their life when everything changed. The people who loved them entered a world of unknowns with many fears and concerns about what would happen to their son, daughter, wife, or brother.
Ryan’s Reach began with people like these in mind. How can we help? Can we create a way to continue therapy when insurance companies say they’re no longer making progress? Can we create a home life and is it possible to bond with others like family? Can we create a place where fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, spouses and children can come and spend quality time with a person they can’t take care of but still love dearly?
Over the last 20 years we have made therapy possible for TBI survivors who otherwise might have fallen through the cracks. In the last seven years we’ve made it possible for eight beautiful people to live in a home appropriate for their circumstances, form bonds with each other as well as give comfort and assurance to their loved ones. 2024 promises to be a year of addition; a new resident, a new podcast, new fundraising opportunities, new vision and growth. We thank you for caring and sharing in our efforts and look forward to the year ahead. We trust it will be filled with gratifying work serving the TBI community.
Lindy Michaelis
Board President and Founding Member of Ryan’s Reach
How You Can Help Us
Donate online at ryansreach.com/donate
Donate by mail to:
RYAN’S REACH
13 AUGUSTA
COTO DE CAZA, CA 92679
Download the donation form here
3. Donate by shopping Ryan’s Reach Wish List on Amazon
Want to donate something you know we can truly use? Ryan’s Reach has an Amazon Wish List with current necessities. There are many to choose from with prices to fit any budget. Click here to see the list!
Ryan’s Reach taxpayer ID number is 20-0006437
