Larry Fort has served as a volunteer and board member at Blue Sky Acres (BSA) since February 2021.

Prior to volunteering at Blue Sky Acres, Larry retired from a position as Chief Operations Officer at Effingham Hospital. He also owned his own construction company. Although he is involved in many
aspects of BSA, the program nearest to Larry’s heart is the supported employment program which hires young adults with disabilities.

Larry originally started volunteering as a job mentor, which means he worked alongside a staff member with a disability. The individuals that Blue Sky Acres employs were unable to work for other businesses
due to their need for direct supervision, which we are able to provide through this program. Larry began his volunteering by working alongside a young man with Down Syndrome, Matthew Redhead. Matthew
developed such a close bond with Larry that he even asked for overalls for his birthday so they could match. Larry quickly recognized Matthew’s knack for using tools to repair fencing and gates on property
and began to teach him more of those skills.
Matthew learned so much that they began to run out of projects to do, which sparked the idea that Matthew and other individuals could create products to be sold. Larry pursued a connection locally with someone who had an old airplane hangar and now allows BSA to operate from that facility.

Although we currently employ four staff members, Larry believes that we will be able to double that number in the very near future. Since opening the shop in October 2022, this program has generated over 100 birdhouses and other products for sale and raised over $3,000 that goes back into the program. This will eventually allow BSA to hire more employees and put the proceeds back into the program, becoming more self-sufficient.

Larry also enjoys working with other staff members and each one of them adores “Mr. Larry.” He sees the potential in them and serves as a mentor that is both willing to accommodate their limitations while
searching for ways to challenge them to overcome them and use their strengths. In addition to job skills, Larry focuses on developing character traits such as discipline and personal responsibility. These work skills transfer into the lives of the staff members and each of their parents have noticed a positive difference in their children as a result of being a part of it.

Larry has put in over 700 hours with BSA so far this year and countless other hours that could not be recorded, helping to prepare the workshop and materials to make it ready for the staff members to work
in. In addition to helping with the supported employment program, Larry serves as treasurer for BSA and is an advocate in the community. He has also volunteered in our Therapeutic Riding Program as a horse leader and sidewalker. It is our pleasure to nominate Larry as volunteer of the year!

This story was used as our application for the Herb E. Jones Rotary Club Volunteer of the Year in which Larry won first Runner Up! We celebrated him at a dinner on January 27th, 2023 and Blue Sky Acres was awarded with a $300 check.

Larry and Matthew are pictured here in their matching overalls.