Meet Caleb Miller
From the desk of Jackie Garman, Program Director
Our Supported Employment program here at Blue Sky Acres has taken off at a rapid pace! We just finished building and delivering over 65 bluebird houses for the holiday season and our newest employee Caleb Miller was a big part of that process.
Caleb graduated from high school here in Effingham County and immediately entered the workforce, trying out a few different places of employment in the community. He came to us through B & B Care Services of Springfield, GA. His job coach there, Mrs. Molly Marchese heard about the great things happening at BSA and had a hunch Caleb would be a good fit for our program. We offered a trial period of a couple of work shifts, giving Caleb a chance to see if the woodshop environment would be a place he could handle. We quickly discovered not only would Caleb adapt to the environment easily, but he was a perfect fit! We offered Caleb the opportunity to come to work for us and he proudly accepted with great enthusiasm!
We provide job mentors for our employees and Caleb has been paired up in the shop with Mr. Mike Felipe. They are developing a fun relationship, saying things like, “It’s hammer time!” and “that’s the way uh-huh, uh-huh I like it!” when a task is completed. Caleb has learned how to use templates to mark the different pieces of wood, and how to mark and score wood with a handsaw miter box. He can use the drill press and even the planer to prepare the wood planks. With Mr. Mike’s supervision, Caleb has become an expert at hammering in nails for the birdbox assembly with great precision. He is a very hard worker and will complete any task you set before him. He has commented many times about how much he loves to come to work!
The woodshop environment has changed for the better with Caleb joining our team. We soon discovered that he was good friends in high school with Thomas our other employee and they have been able to continue that friendship here at Blue Sky Acres.
We hope to add many more employees to our Supported Employment program just like Caleb because we are “Better Together”, one of our Core Values. And when an employee says they love to come to work for us…”that’s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh we like it!”
To donate to our Facebook fundraiser and help support Caleb, you can visit the link below. We are over halfway to our goal! If you would prefer to give on our website, you may do so at the following link: https://blueskyacres.org/how-to-help/