Cindy's Bi-weekly Letter 2/6/23

Good Morning Members, I hope to find you well. It is a very cold Monday! I don’t know where you all live, but I know in the Milwaukee area we got about 7-8 inches of snow recently. I was hoping we wouldn’t get any snow, but here we are. Groundhog’s day was Thursday, February 2nd. There are a lot of reasons I won’t put my faith into a groundhog. You have to drag him out of his sleep for all of a few minutes and he is probably very cranky just to see if we are going to have 6 more weeks of winter. So, who knows because I know our zoo groundhog is stubborn and crabby? Just a little Monday humor from Cindy. I don’t have many updates on COVID this week. I think it is starting to slow down and the number of people in the hospital are less. I think COVID seems to be pretty stable, but of course there will always be more strands of it. I think the flu is a concern currently, especially, with older adults and children. The weather can take a toll on your mental health. Now it is a little warmer than last week, but there may be more snow in our future. This can affect how much you are able to get outside. So, it is good to find things do around your house. This weather can get you down and depressed. Like I said in my last letter it isn’t good to stay in bed because that doesn’t help. It is good to work on something things and have stuff to do. I was in my house most of the weekend and I started to work on my valentines and I was watching the Princess Diary movies. I also, was listening to jazz music because it is nice and calming for me and my kitty. You can also make some hot chocolate and call some friends. There are so many things to do like baking, cooking, puzzles, or crafts. It is important for me to talk to you about this because you are my members --and I want you to know that there is stuff for you to do and people you can reach out too. I know it can be harder if you don’t have family or you live alone, but take time to reach out and do something fun for you. Just say to yourself, “I do matter. I do matter.” Don’t forget to check out our website for People First Wisconsin for events coming up! We have the meet-up tonight from 4:30pm-5:30pm and Thursday is from 6pm-7pm. On March 23rd we will be having a Disability Advocacy Day. Here you can go up to your state legislators about anything you want to see changed. If there is anything I missed please look at our website for updates: http://www.peoplefirstwisconsin.org/ As a reminder that there is a primary election is on February 21st for Wisconsin. There is also early voting in February, please reach out to me or someone from The Disability Vote Coalition if you need help. The deadline to get your ballot by mail was February 1st. I mailed my completed ballot on Friday. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain. It is important for people with disabilities or anyone who is a minority to vote. Here is helpful information from The Disability Vote Coalition: Voting in Person? If you are voting in person, make sure you are prepared to vote! • Check your polling place as it may have changed: https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/Find-My-Polling-Place • View your ballot and review candidate information: https://www.vote411.org/wisconsin • Bring your photo ID. Information is on https://bringit.wi.gov/ If you have questions, contact the Disability Rights Wisconsin Voter Hotline at: 1-844-347- 8683 or email: info@disabilityvote.org You can call my cell phone @ 414-852-6462 8:30am - 5:00pm, Monday - Thursday. If I am unable to take your call, I will call you back. You can reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or 988 has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), and is now active across the United States. This is the website: https://988lifeline.org/ Here is a quote today from Maya Angelou: “I was very blessed to have family and friends, but particularly family, who told me I was not only all right, I was just right, so I believe that my brain is a good one, and it's lasting me very well.” - - Maya Angelou Sincerely, Cindy Bentley Executive Director People First Wisconsin