SHEP’s Connection Corner - September Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

September 2025

What’s That Smell?

Instead of smell socks we had sensory socks and sensory jars. How Keen is your nose? Each person had to put their hand in each mystery sock and figure out what in tarnation was in that sock by the use of feeling only. We put those noses to work when we popped off lids and passses jars around to get a whiff. What is it? Think you would have guessed 10 out of 10?

The only way to really know if you were there! This was an IamDB event. Cassandra shared some captivating and hilarious stories of how with her being the only deafblind person in the family, she can find things we lose around the house. While everyone else is using their eyes, Cassandra gets busy taking her time roaming and letting her hands and fingers take a stroll through the house until she finds it. Ta-Da! She has saved the day again!

We had some state officials come and visit and join in on the fun!

Be sure to follow us and keep with the events

Cassandra was reading John chapter 10 in the bible.. When you believe no one or nothing can snatch you away!

Jesus says I know my sheep and my sheep know my voice. they listen to my (Jesus) voice and follow me. Think about this. come and learn and when you believe and have a can do attitude, so much more opens up to you. With SHEP serving the DeafBlind community, We encourage you to engage and join us. you will surely find many great opportunities provided to you! educative, informative learning skills and so much more. Learn more about the DeafBlinds’ way of life and you just may happen across a friend of old or new.! Just as the scripture said, HE who believes. Well, what is it you believe? I believe ‘you can’! You fill in the blank after that. When you believe no one can take that away from you.

SHEP was invited on a podcast. She even discussed this mentality of optimism. Cassandra shared how SHEP was born with a little insight into her childhood and educational journey. Connect with us on Facebook and check it out!

Time stands still for no one, not even Dr. Marvel.! We need SSPs. Contact Amanda, ourSSP manager and let’s get you started. See Below of what’s ahead.

Human ResourcesSeptember 21, 2025newsletter, connection, john, chapter 10, september, express clydesdale barn, fall, autumn, asl, deafblind, okcComment

SHEP’s Connection Corner - May Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

May 2025

What's the scoop?!

May the force be with you!
You just gotta love spring rain. One thing to prepare for are the return of the six legged creatures. Gulp! Bugs.
Spring is in full effect!
Parents, The school year and proms are wrapping up and graduation is in the air for many. Perhaps you, reader, are the one graduating! We for sure have some staff families with high school graduates, ceremonies, and gatherings rolling around the corner.
May has quite a bit to celebrate!
Cinco De Mayo is coming in hot and we will surely be celebrating that, too!
Honoring a mom or motherly figure in your life on Mother’s Day? There are so many creative ideas out there. Our president and founder, Cassandra Oakes, has four adult children. and eleven grandchildren. Needless to say, Mother’s Day is a big deal!
In April we showed up and showed out at the resource fair and the deaf nation expo. Oh what a time we had! We met so many new people and linked up with our own active community members.

We want that for all of you! to be able to enjoy each day to the fullest in your independence and socializing and coming together in the community. We are open to ideas and even a nudge or heads up to upcoming events we may not have been informed of. Send us an email and let’s get together! We love your ideas.
Let’s do a bible dig, shall we?
Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages believers to meet together and encourage one another, while
1Corinthians12:25-27 highlights the body of Christ as a diverse group where each part is essential and interdependent.
Speaking of coming together...
May day! May day! We need ssps! Join the team! You may think you need to already know what a ssp is. Nope! Just have a heart to help and transportation and we will train you. Know your abcs in sign language? That’s a big help for some of our clients and...we will teach you!
We have sign language classes coming up. Donations are welcome. We will be posting our summer signing class soon!

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesAugust 23, 2025may, newsletter, spring, okc, deafblind, mothers day, deaf, tulsaComment

SHEP’s Connection Corner - February Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

February 2025

GIVE ME THE SCOOP

We’re already Here!

So no one caught that the last newsletter still said 2024? Hahaha! What did 2024 mean to you? Are there things you are carrying over into 2025? The Bible, particularly in Isaiah 43:18-19, encourages letting go of old things and embracing new by saying, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.".

Sometimes changes come through like a storm. it’s how you react to the storm. How do you navigate when pressure is applied? new members join SHEP regularly for help in their storms. We don’t just help through your s.o.s call (By the way, SOS began as a morse code distress call meaning “save our souls” or “save our ship”. let’s put some praise on it and declare “savior oh savior”!) We also nurture involvement and inclusivity in the community.

With the cold and storms in january we had to postpone our january game day. we were really looking to see who was going to be the victor. Have no fear! Another game day is near. we are having games with sweeties for our february event, saturday the 15th. it will be early enough in the day where you will still have time to go out with your ultimate sweetheart if that’s your heart’s desire. It’s fun to gather with shep friends as well to spend time and show love.

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesFebruary 2, 2025shep, newsletter, okc, deafblind, ssp, february, sweetheartComment

SHEP Connection Corner - April Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

GIVE ME THE SCOOP!

April Showers brings us...Opportunities!

Rain down on me

Blessings on blessings and blessed to be a blessing. James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

We pray the blessings of the Lord rain down on you!

We have been on the move and enjoying the weather.

The season is near! Tornado season...and the constant change in the wind and temperature. April showers brings May flowers, and storms are a-coming.

Here are some things to take into consideration:

Sign up for weather alerts that provide notifications through text messages, emails, and/ or vibrations. Did you know that weather alert radios can provide real time weather updates with vibrating and flashing lights alerts? It’s crucial to have a safety plan in place, especially for tornadoes. What and where would be your safest shelter? Have a safety network in place. This could be neighbors, family, friends, or caregivers.

Our DeafBlind community here at SHEP has been growing. Oh happy day!

Speaking of Happy Day, our camp registration has opened. Camp will be in October, so it’s a hop, skip, and jump away. We have already received registration forms! How exciting! One common question has been the rooming and roommate situation. On your form, please fill it out completely with your requests. We are still gathering information about rooming. We will have a better idea when we get a little closer to the date. Cassandra, our president, and Jeri of Jeri’s House, will be taking another trip to the campsite and will have a better idea of how we will assign rooms between the DB and the SSPs/observers. We’ve already designed the camp shirts, taking inventory, and putting together the goodie bags. If you’ve ever been to one of our hosted camps, you know you’re in for quite a treat!

TAKE A LOOK BELOW!

Let’s Take a Stroll

Need a SSP? Contact Vicky! Want to be a SSP? Request or register on our website:

www.shep-ok.org/sspporgram

Human ResourcesMarch 28, 2024newsletter, shepokc, april, myriad gardensComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - February Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner
GIVE ME THE SCOOP!

What is love?
Love is patient. Love is kind.
We have been in love with the spring weather we have been getting sprinkled here and there! !
We want to interpret our love with an IamDB Valentine event. In the upcoming months we will have fun together with the help of the pitter patter of little paws. We are planning to have a guide dog special!
We have lots of love to give! We want to love on our SSPs as well. We will have 2 events to spoil our beloved SSPs while we recertify them. The OKC team will have a paint and sip while the Tulsa team will go bowling. Next time we may do a switch-a-roo of the activities. We have had questions about recertification for SSPs that are coming up due. If you’re coming up due for re-certification before September 2024, our spring certification sign ups are open. If you will be due September or later this year we will hold another re-certification in the fall. Please contact us so we can get you scheduled, humanresources@shep-ok.org
SSPs anyone?

We have had new SSPs join us! Please welcome Sarah and Ellie! We are pleased with our new SSP chat group. If you are not in the chat group please get the details from Amanda so you can hop in and not miss out.
Guess what! We took a poll towards the end of 2023 amongst our DeafBlind community and decided to get some bling.
Well...a SHEP t-shirt. Hahaha! Those that come to the next SHEP event will get their t-shirts first. After the event we will be sending them out to everyone we polled. No charge! This is all love.
We are working on our plans for the DB camp coming up in October. The theme is Happy Days! Think 50’s Happy rock and roll times. More details and registration forms will be rolling out.
Every month there is something going on so stay tuned!

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesMarch 3, 2024newsletter, february, 2024, db, palentines, friends, heart health, loveComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - January Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

Give Me The Scoop!

New Year, New Opportunities

Goals or Resolutions

Which do you prefer to call it, resolutions or goals for the new year? Well, we definitely have some new events on the way and more opportunities to get you connected and mingling. Speaking of mingle, December had quite the jingling and mingling! Let’s recall a few things that occurred before 2023 came to a close.

Amanda, our SSP manager, opened a restaurant in Midwest City called Bibbs Smokehouse. We were the first to dine and party the day away with our annual Christmas social. That food was dynamite! Of course, we had to dirty the place with some Dirty Santa, that is! What a time it was. Did you miss it? We have quite a line up coming to you for 2024. Some old favorites and some new.

Remember our SHEP van? It has been such a blessing! We have been able to use the van to transport conferences as well as rounding up the Tulsa area gang to join us here in the OKC area. There will be other opportunities where we will utilize the van to include more in various events.

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesJanuary 7, 2024newsletter, new year, manager, january, camp, mingle, sspComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - November Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

What goes up, must come down! And boy, oh boy, is the temperature doing just that!

Brrrrrrr!

I hope you didn’t miss out on the chili! SHEP’s Ho-down at Hope Ranch was full to the brim with conversation and fun. We even pet blind horses! It was a time that was had, indeed!

Earlier on in October on the 3rd, Cassandra, our founder, did a speaking engagement for the teacher of the OSU Stillwater’s ASL class (and former SHEP SSP), Rachel Hollis. Cassandra was able to share with them what SHEP has been blessed to do throughout the years.

It doesn’t end there! Cassandra attended a Christian Deaf Women’s Conference in Norman Oct. 13-15th where she was able to fellowship with other caring and encouraging ladies. In Arkansas, the 19th-22nd, our president and Jeri, of Jeri House, were able to reunite with the DeafBlind community at their DeafBlind camp whilst encouraging and continuing independent freedoms. Due to Covid it had been quite some time since they were able to come together.

Did you know there is a deaf church? It’s actually called Deaf Church Oklahoma (DCO). This is where you wanted to be October 27th. Great food, games, and full hearts. Cassandra experienced it all!

November is here and SHEP chose Tulsa for our event for the month. We will be going to Jeri’s House November 11th. It will be IamDB and fall festival fun. We are blessed to have you all in our circle!

Psalm 107:8-9: "Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." Psalm 95:2-3: "Let's come before Him with thanks! Let's shout songs of joy to Him!”

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesNovember 5, 2023newsletter, november, ranch, asl classs, class, deaf, deafblind, winter, activities, socialComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - September Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

Okay, Summer, It’s time to get out of here!

We have a new SSP certified from the Tulsa area! Welcome KJ!

We made it through the heatwave!

Whew wee! It has been a scorcher. I hope you all have been staying hydrated. Heat exhaustion is a real thing. If you are going to be outside getting some sun, safety is always a primary concern. The good news is the heat is coming to an end! By the way, do you try to recycle? Little things help save the environment one water bottle at a time. This year has been flying by! Where has time gone? We are fast approaching the holidays and the time for family traditions. What tradition do you have? Please tell us! We want to hear them! The picture in this newsletter is of Cassandra at an African birthday celebration. It was a magnificent cultural event. Next time you see Cassandra, ask her all about it!

As the season changes and the air begins to smell different and carry a bit of chill in the air, we switch out our icee drinks for chili bowls. We have some exciting things planned for the fall! Check the calendar for upcoming events.

“For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”-Habakkuk 2:3

We pray over you, giving thanks to be among you in each season. We pray for prosperity and joy in all your hearts and your homes.

Don’t forget to send us an email with your birthday, etc.

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesSeptember 9, 2023newsletter, september, 2023, social, deafblind, shep, ssp, deafblinf, deaf, hoh, emberComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - August Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

The stores already have Halloween out!

Steadily Growing!

We have been doing 1 on 1 trainings to get SSPs certified. We have a couple coming up! Yay! New SSPs!

It was the hottest month EVER!

That’s no exaggeration! July is the hottest month on record for the entire globe. They even said ice in Greenland has melted and formed little tiny lake pools. Let’s see what August brings. I know we are all looking for some relief from the furnace we call outside! Speaking of outside, we had a most refreshing time at the Botanical Myriad Gardens in July. It actually rained and cut our time a tad. It was a beautiful experience. We took a stroll through the children’s garden as well and discovered a vine covered tunnel that led into a secret gathering place. IamBD was cancelled for July due to a loss in the President’s, Cassandra’s, family. Just a couple of weeks before that Cassandra has gallbladder surgery. The good news is she is healed and able to eat more of the foods she loves now!

We are pleased to announce we are on our second contract year with a full staff to serve the DB community! And we have a van to help out along the way! There will be future SHEP related events we will extend van pickup service for. Stay in the know!

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesAugust 7, 2023deafblind, news, social, newsletter, august, july, pool, halloween, drs, ssp, db, fundraiserComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - July Newsletter

SHEP’s Connection Corner

Steadily Growing!

We have 2 new SSPs! One in the Tulsa area and one in the OKC area!

Welcome Juli and Keri!

The rain sure has been showing out!

Wow! July? Already? This year has wings! The earth must be mighty thirsty because it has been raining and pouring. So sorry we had to cancel our zoo outing for June due to the weather. Perhaps we can reschedule in the fall before it is cold and when it is not so hot. Hey! Did you make it out to Tacos for Life on June 20th for our fundraiser night? They reported to us that we made $22.09! Thank you everyone! Now we have a donut fundraiser coming up. Krispy Kreme is where it’s at! Check social media and share, share, share! By using our link to order a dozen donuts we get 50% of every order. Think of how much we can provide for the DeafBlind community with these funds! The fundraiser is from July 10th to the 28th.

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesJuly 8, 2023newsletter, july, van, ssp, events, doghnuts, krispy kreme, fundraiserComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - June 2023 Newsletter

What’s the weather like while you’re reading this? Yep, It’s been all over the place!

Strong and Growing!

We have 1 new SSPs in the OKC area!

Welcome Lee!

Rain or Shine, we’re shining!

It’s June already? Wow! It seems we were just saying Happy New Year. A happy new year it has been, indeed! You guys, we are now officially members of the Midwest City Chamber of Commerce! Are you smiling? Are you jumping up and down? We sure did and are! We had a ribbon cutting ceremony last month and boy oh boy, what a blessing to be in this place. We are having a fundraiser night on June 20th. That’s a taco Tuesday from 5pm to 9om! Tell everyone you know and come out and eat!

Don’t forget, IamDB is in full effect. We are here to help train you on equipment that will help you evermore in your home. I don’t know about you, but my home is my favorite place to be. Let’s accommodate you there! So much is unfolding.

Psssst...Guess what?...The staff is learning sign language. You can help teach us, too! Have any feedback, suggestions, or questions? Reach out to us. We love hearing from you!

Due to popular requests, we now release two months of our activity schedule at a time so you will see we have June and July posted to help you plan ahead.

We have a lot of events coming up! Be sure to check the calendar. See below for some that are coming up.

Don’t forget! Send us an email telling us your birthday, anniversary, or any special event so we can shout you out.

It was raining and pouring, but no old man was snoring! We’re here for fun!

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesJune 1, 2023newsletter, blog, shep, deafblinf, deafblind, deaf, blind, spring, 2023, june, summerComment

SHEP CONNECTION CORNER - May 2023 Newsletter

Steady & Growing!

We have 1 new SSP in the OKC area!

Spread the word and Keep requesting SSPs!

It has been pouring!

Both literally and figuratively, the rain has been pouring and the blessings have, too! Last month we got a grant from the Junior Service League in Midwest City, we are now members of the Midwest City Chamber of Commerce, and….WE GOT A VAN! So much more to come! It’s because of you and the community that it is all possible. “What is in your heart is the overflow of how you live your life.” I just heard that this week. Think about it. And guess what? SHEP has a heart the size of the galaxy for the community.

Oklahoma NewsHuman ResourcesMay 5, 2023shep, newsletter, connection, may, deafblind, van, social, db, iamdb, mwc, midwest city, league, vision, club, changesComment

Info

Action