Two New Staff Members Join the Team!
*Please note that shortly after we posted this, Bryce ended up getting accepted into a program at Warm Springs. This program will teach him job and independent living skills. We will miss him, but are very excited for him and support him in this new venture!
Blue Sky Acres is excited to announce that two new individuals have joined our staff through our supported employment program! When we first began BSA, we had no idea about the need for services in this area. We discovered through meeting with the staff at B&B Care Services that many individuals with disabilities have the desire and ability to work, but may not have a workplace that can accommodate them. Some of these young people may end up staying at home while a parent is working and have few outlets for interaction outside of their homes. They may not be able to find a job that is a good fit for their circumstances and may miss out on the opportunity to develop independence and personal responsibility which come with being employed and earning a paycheck.
Blue Sky Acres is a great fit for some of these individuals because we can provide a lot of one-on-one attention and supervision, which is uncommon in most traditional work environments and we have several volunteers who enjoy assisting with this program. We devote time to finding out the areas of interest that these young people have and developing them, thus giving them job skills, which can benefit them in the long term.
The two young men we hired will be working alongside our other staff member, Matthew, for a couple of days a week. Some of their tasks will include painting fences and establishing a raised garden bed, where we will grow some produce. When we get our future property, we want gardening to be a part of what we do, so this is a great opportunity to begin honing this aspect of our program.
First, we would like you to meet Thomas (he is third from the left in the pic above) Thomas is a 22-year-old who found Blue Sky Acres through a connection Karen had through B&B Care Services. She did not realize it when this connection was telling her about him, but later found that she already knew him and that several of our other staff members knew him as well! Thomas was very excited to come out and see everyone again. Everything fell into place so perfectly as we discovered that Thomas loves to work outdoors and that his goal with the money he is making is to raise enough money to buy a Stihl leaf blower. When Karen discovered this, she was amazed because BSA recently purchased our own blower for blowing out the barn. Thomas officially started on February 22nd and Karen said that he accomplished in one hour what she had planned for the entire week, so we are excited that he is such a quick learner! Of course, when he saw Matthew driving the farm vehicle, he wanted to learn how to drive it, but Karen wisely told him that he would have to learn his job first! Outside of working at BSA, Thomas loves basketball and sports.
Bryce is a 24-year-old who is also the grandson of board member, Pam Moore (on the right in the picture above). He also works some at Ebenezer Retreat Center and assists with their landscaping. He will now start working with Blue Sky Acres for one day a week. Bryce will be an asset because of his history with horses and also his skills related to landscaping. Although he can be quiet at first, once you get to know him, Bryce is quite the jokester and knows how to make things fun! Outside of Blue Sky Acres, Bryce enjoys taking care of his hunting dogs.
We would like to open up the opportunity to sponsor these young men. It costs only $150 to sponsor one of them for the month. We currently have two individuals who need full sponsorships and one who needs a half sponsorship of $75 per month. If you are interested in supporting this cause, please contact Hallie at hallie@blueskyacres.org for details.