Goodwill Pleased to Participate in Honoring Director Martin at Common Threads Event!

 Ohio Valley Goodwill was pleased to be in attendance at the 5th Annual ” State News You Can Use” with Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities presented by the Common Threads Network on Tuesday, October 30th. The 5th annual event provided not only educational updates from the Department of DD  but also, provided the opportunity to honor retiring Director,  Dr. John Martin. Martin has served as the Department’s Director for more than twelve years and is  retiring at the end of the year.  Representatives of six County Boards of Developmental Disabilities were on hand as well as a number of service provider agencies and families for the informative  half day training event and retirement celebration. Presenters included Steve Beha, Family Outreach and Education, Ohio Department of DD, Lori Horvath, Deputy Director, Medicaid Division and Director Martin. Topics included “Strengthening Family Connections,” “Medicaid Services Update,” and “The  Director’s Perspective.” The Common Threads Network’s mission is to provide information to help all families and family members with disabilities they support lead the conversation about what they want for their lives. Following the interactive program and discussion, a formal retirement celebration ceremony was held for Director Martin.

All of the County Boards in attendance presented Director Martin with gifts (some of which were hand-crafted by artists with disabilities) and tributes to his years of service. The  celebration was capped off with a video tribute produced by Ryan J. Braun, Director of Community Relations with Hamilton County DD Services.