$2,518 Raised In Grandest Style

A memorable summer night out! Heinz Hall was alive with world-class melody, harmony and rhythm for the Community Partners Concert on June 24. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) led by Maestro Lawrence Loh delivered an outstanding performance with musical selections from feisty “Carmen.” A surprise special guest conductor, former Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl MVP and Community Partners Honorary Chair, Mr. Lynn Swann, received enthusiastic ovations from the audience.

Featured violinist, Gareth Johnson, 2010 Sphinx competition winner, was unforgettable; he amazed everyone with his technical mastery. Gloria Gaynor took the stage following intermission and had the audience on its feet with her final selection, "I Will Survive."

In its fourth year of participation, TSI sold fifty tickets for the concert and will receive $2,518 from the PSO as a result of those sales. Although we were $500 short of reaching this year’s goal, we were successful in surpassing last year’s sales figures. A big thank-you is extended to all Board members, staff and vendors who supported TSI by attending the concert and/or selling tickets. Each year proves to be more exciting than the last; and we hope for even greater success next year.

The Sphinx Competition offers young African American and Latino classical string players a chance to compete under the guidance of an internationally renowned panel of judges and to perform with established professional musicians in a competition setting.  Its primary goals are to encourage, develop and recognize classical music talent in the African American and Latino communities.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra donates its time and services to the Community Partners Concert. Fifty nonprofits from the area participate. Each organization asks its partners and donors to purchase tickets. Designated proceeds go to the individual nonprofits. This year, a total of $69,816 (representing 1,567 designated tickets) was raised by designated ticket sales to the concert. In seven years of the Community Partners Program, a total of $539,000 (over ½ million dollars) has been raised by and for the PSO's Partners.

06/24/2010 — Support TSI While Enjoying the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Gloria Gaynor

Don’t miss your chance to hear the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) perform the 2010 Community Partners Concert featuring the Grammy award winning music of singer-songwriter Gloria Gaynor and the winner of the renowned 2010 Sphinx Competition, violinist Gareth Johnson.

The impressive event is hosted for the second year by Honorary Chair and former Pittsburgh Steeler and Super Bowl MVP, Mr. Lynn C. Swann. Gloria Gaynor’s dance, pop, disco and R&B sounds open the musical performance and it concludes with an accompaniment by the full Orchestra led by Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh. If you are a fan of Gloria Gaynor and the PSO, then this is one event you must attend.

The event takes place on Thursday, June 24 at 7:30 PM in Heinz Hall. Ticket prices range from $21.50 to $125.50 – the high-end ticket includes a post-concert reception with Gloria Gaynor.

Support Transitional Services, Inc. (TSI) by purchasing tickets for this wonderful concert and selecting TSI as the organization to receive your ticket proceeds. For assistance ordering tickets to guarantee support for TSI, call Gerry at 412-461-1322 ext. 222. For more information about the concert, contact the Heinz Hall Box Office at 412-392-4900 or visit www.pittsburghsymphony.org. Make sure TSI’s code, 18221, is used when the tickets are purchased. Sample the sounds of Gloria Gaynor at www.gloriagaynor.com.

The PSO’s Community Partners Program is a collaboration of 50 Pittsburgh area nonprofit organizations. In 2010, the Community Partners Program celebrates its seventh year of this innovative approach to fund-raising and community partnership: all proceeds from designated ticket sales to this annual performance are donated back to the Partner organization by the PSO. Patrons select one of the 50 participating Partner organizations to support with the cost of their ticket purchase.

10/04/2009 — TSI Raises Over $2,000 for NAMI of Southwestern Pennsylvania

Early in the morning on Sunday, October 4th, 2009, a group of TSI employees, their family members, friends, and even dogs gathered on the front steps of the Cheese Cake Factory restaurant in the South Side. The group of twenty-seven, “TSI Titans,” met to represent TSI in the Third Annual Southwestern Pennsylvania NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) walk. They joined over 2,000 other walkers who congregated in the courtyard of the Southside Works shopping and dining area that morning to show their support for NAMI and the organization’s mission. The Titans walked three miles along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail with other walker teams formed by organizations such as Northwestern Human Services, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Mercy Behavioral Health, Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Mon Yough and Family Services.

The walk was a wonderful opportunity for the TSI team to enjoy some time outdoors with family, friends, and co-workers, get some exercise, network with other service providers and show our investment as an agency in supporting recovery and wellness in our community and region. In addition, the TSI Titans team was able to raise, on behalf of our organization, $2,125.00 for NAMI of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

NAMI of Southwestern Pennsylvania is a grassroots organization which works to provide support, education and advocacy for people living with mental illness in our region and their family members.

NAMI Walk Photo Gallery

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06/25/2009 — TSI Community Partners Project with The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for a concert with Chaka Khan

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra teams with legendary singer Chaka Khan and 50 area nonprofits for the Sixth Annual Community Partners concert.

The event, hosted by Honorary Chairman Lynn Swann, takes place on Thursday, June 25 at 8:00 p.m. in Heinz Hall. The PSO’s Community Partners Program is a collaboration with 50 Pittsburgh area nonprofit organizations.

In 2009, the Community Partners Program celebrates its sixth year of this innovative approach to fund-raising and community partnership: all proceeds from designated ticket sales to this annual performance are donated back to the Partner organizations by the PSO. Patrons select one of the 50 participating nonprofit Partner organizations to support with the cost of their ticket purchase.

PSO Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh leads the Orchestra in the first half of the concert featuring cellist Tony Rymer, 2009 Sphinx Competition Winner. Don’t miss this chance to hear the PSO, Sphinx Competition winner cellist Tony Rymer, and Chaka Khan performing her Grammy-winning R&B hits with the PSO.

Ticket prices range from $21.50 to $112.50 – the high end ticket price includes a post-concert reception. Designated ticket proceeds from this event will benefit the participating nonprofit Partner of your choice. Please consider supporting Transitional Services, Inc (TSI) by purchasing tickets for this event. Make sure that you use TSI’s code, 11793 when you make your ticket purchase.

For more information contact the Heinz Hall Box Office at 412-392-4900 or visit www.pittsburghsymphony.org.

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06/26/2008 — TSI Community Partners Project with The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for a concert with Isaac Hayes

Mark your calendars now for the Community Partners Concert on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 8pm at Heinz Hall. TSI is supporting this successful and very entertaining concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The ticket proceeds will once again benefit TSI and other nonprofit organizations.

Don’t miss this chance to see legendary Isaac Hayes, an American Grammy Award and Academy Award-winning soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger and actor. The concert will also feature the 2008 Sphinx competition winner.

When making a ticket purchase, please be sure to inform the box office of Transitional Services, Inc.’s code (6678) in order to assure that appropriate funds are dedicated to our organization via the ticket purchase.

Tickets are available beginning Monday, February 25, 2008. Prices start at $21.50 each. You may contact Transitional Services, Inc. for more information at 412-461-1322 ext. 222.

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07/04/2007 TSI In the News — Women's Recovery Stories Illustrate The Importance of Un-Dependence Day

TSI's peer specialist, Jeannette Lee, shares her recovery experience with the Post Gazette. "Sometimes other people have to have faith in you before you can have faith in yourself..." Learn more about Jeannette's personal recovery insights and read the full story below.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007
By Laura Yao, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Diane Johnson at her home in Garfield Friday.

In 2006, Diane Johnson lay in the hospital tied to her bed, her hands wrapped in fingerless gloves. She called out, thinking she had been kidnapped and was being held in a basement somewhere, her clothes and shoes gone. She punched a nurse.

Ms. Johnson was getting a brain tumor removed. Mired in depression and schizophrenia at the time, she remembers none of her hospital stay.

She laughs easily now, recalling the story. At 51, her recovery from decades of illness -- both mental and physical -- is almost complete. These days, she speaks of her experiences as though they happened to someone else, a person she knew long ago.

After her only brother died in 2003, the depression she had always suffered took a turn for the worse. She also developed schizophrenia and psychosis, and was hospitalized multiple times.

For three years, her doctors upped her medication as her symptoms worsened, not thinking to check for physical problems.

"I was going downhill. I was seeing things, I was scared to leave my home. I had chairs up to all the doors of my house. My speech was slurred, I was falling out of bed," she said. "My doctor just kept giving me more medication."

Finally, without her doctor's approval, she went in to the hospital for shock treatment in April 2006.

During pre-treatment brain screenings, they found a spot on her brain. As it turned out, a brain tumor -- which, after 10 years, had grown to "the size of an orange," she said -- had been pushing on her brain, causing 90 percent of her schizophrenia.

After the surgery, she had to learn how to walk, speak, and write again. Her hair still hasn't grown back fully, though she wears a wig. Her recovery was hard -- but "I'm still here, I'm alive," she said.

This year, people like Ms. Johnson of Garfield will celebrate a different kind of independence.

On July 7, Un-Dependence Day, sponsored by the Allegheny County Coalition For Recovery, is dedicated to raising awareness and celebrating recovery -- either from drug and alcohol addiction or from mental illness. The event will start at 11 a.m. at Carnegie Library on Forbes Avenue, Oakland, and will offer food, music, balloon animals, and a puppet show to attract the public.

"A major goal of the event is to reduce the stigma associated with those who have behavioral health issues," said Bobbi Donovan, communications specialist with the Coalition For Recovery. "We want to break the barriers of 'us' and 'them.' Everyone is recovering from something."

Recovery comes in all shapes and sizes. Jeannette Lee of Wilkinsburg experienced a different kind of struggle from Ms. Johnson. Ms. Lee, who has been clean for almost 11 years, was once addicted to cocaine.

"I started using drugs when I was 13 -- alcohol and marijuana," she said. "I thought I'd never do crack cocaine, but I started, and it was a life of homelessness and despair. It was basically suicide."

Ms. Lee also suffered from depression and schizophrenia, and later, bipolar disorder.

She went to rehab, but would get out and continue her drug habit. It was only when her neighbors called youth services on her that she decided to clean up.

"I didn't want to lose my kids," she said. "I was helped by the people who called Children and Youth Services on me. I give them credit."

But to recover is not simply to stop using drugs, or to stop seeing visions.

Recovery is multifaceted -- it is first to recognize the problem, and then to address it, said Wesley Sowers, medical director for the Allegheny County Office of Behavioral Health.

It is to assert yourself in the world, and to reinhabit your old life.

"In the end, recovery is about developing hope and a sense of personal power," said Mr. Sowers.

For Ms. Lee, recovery was about finding the things she valued most.

"I have a job now, and a life that's free of drugs." She is married to a man she met in a support group, and has three children.

Ms. Johnson lives next door to her mother, who calls her "the miracle child." She has two grown daughters, and a long-term boyfriend who has stayed with her through the hard times.

"I met him when I was sick and I kept trying to get him to break up with me, kept trying to push him away," she said. "He just wouldn't do it."

Both women agreed that having the support of family and community was integral to their recovery. Now, both are using their experiences to help others.

Ms. Johnson, besides being the secretary for Un-Dependence Day, sits on the boards of the Peer Health and Advocacy Network and the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers' Association.

She has written letters to mental health agencies urging them to provide physicals for mental health patients.

Ms. Lee is also involved in outreach and advocacy. She works as a peer specialist at Transitional Services, Inc. She has started a support group called CORE -- Creating Options in Recovery and Education -- which offers four weeks of recovery skills for people with mental illness.

"Sometimes other people have to have faith in you before you can have faith in yourself," she said. To that end, she brings CORE to support people in homes.

Ms. Johnson and Ms. Lee say that a key aspect in recovering fully is acceptance.

"I'm not ashamed. Everyone has problems," said Ms. Lee. "I know I have limits and I accept that. The slow turtle always wins the race."

Ms. Johnson keeps a similarly positive attitude. In her family, her brain tumor has become a joke. "Everybody just calls it 'the orange,' " she said.

That she is doing better is apparent to everyone around her.

"I used to have so much sadness or anger on my face. After the surgery, my whole face was swollen and lopsided," she said.

"Now, I feel so empowered. Everybody who sees me is in awe."

(Copyright, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2007, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)

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06/21/2007 — TSI Community Partners Project with The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for concert with The Fifth Dimension

Transitional Services, Inc. joins the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in their 4th annual Community Partners Project Concert on Thursday, June 21st at 8:00 PM with The Fifth Dimension! Enjoy a groovy night out with The Fifth Dimension and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Chelsea Tipton III, with a special performance by the winners of the renowned Sphinx Competition, violinist Elena Urioste (2007) & violist Kaila Potts (2004)!

Conceived as an annual collaboration with Pittsburgh area nonprofit organizations, the PSO Community Partners Concert celebrates its fourth year of this innovative approach to ticket sales and fund-raising. Patrons earmark the cost of their ticket purchase to benefit the participating nonprofit of their choice. The PSO donates the orchestra services and secures corporate sponsors to underwrite out-of-pocket costs associated with the guest artists and concert production. Proceeds from the concert are distributed among participating partners. As a participating partner, Transitional Services, Inc. benefits in part by receiving a portion of the proceeds from the community sponsored concert. To select Transitional Services as the recipient of the proceeds from your ticket purchase, please enter "2480" in the downloadable ticket order form below.

This season we welcome back the PSO Community Partners Honorary Chair, MAX STARKS of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

For additional information or to reserve your tickets, download a concert brochure with ticket order form today!

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