Disabled Adults Find A Way To Give Back

By Jeff Gill
The Times
Gainesville, GA
Dec. 1, 2009

OAKWOOD — A movie about children collecting their pennies for a good cause inspired one group of developmentally disabled adults to engage in volunteer efforts of their own.

The result was the creation of Partners Who Care," made up of participants at Enhanced Life Services, a nonprofit residential and day program based in Oakwood.

As part of the program, the adults participate, with the help of staff, in the Gainesville-Hall County Meals on Wheels program.

Twice monthly, they stop at the Gainesville-Hall County Community Service Center on Prior Street to pick up the meals, then deliver them, along with a copy of The Times, to recipients living along the program's route No. 5 in Gainesville.

"We're looking for places where we can contribute and volunteer, and Meals on Wheels was one of the ones that was pretty obvious," Enhanced Life Services Director Patty Moore said. "And they were advertising for needing help."

One of a person's basic needs is "to feel needed and to feel like they're giving back," she said.

"Otherwise, they just consume ... and that's an artificial life. For them to function (normally), they need to be giving something too."

The agency's participants are the ones who initially pushed for the program.

They watched the inspirational movie on a Friday about six months ago and then, on the following Monday, "all the participants were coming in with their money saying they wanted to give their money," said case manager Robynn Boland.

"They didn't know where to put it, so we had a big bucket (for the money)," she added.

"And so, that's how it all kind of got started, with them talking about how they could give back to the community."

Moore then held a contest on naming the group.

So far, the program is working well. "They love it," Moore said.

The participants geared up early last week for a Meals on Wheels run the next day, making Thanksgiving cards in the offices off Old Flowery Branch Road.

A few of them headed out in a staff member's minivan last Tuesday, hauling trays of food from the trunk at each stop and then knocking on doors announcing "Meals on Wheels!"

"We work as a team," said one of the participants, Russell Reed, who was aided by Wesley Petraroi. "We take turns giving lunches to them."

Reed said he felt they "did a pretty good job" and the key to the program is volunteering and teamwork.

The agency's participants, ranging widely in age and degree of disability, have steered the program, Moore said.

"They made this contract with one another of what they felt the rules should be," she said. "So, that put them in charge and it gave them a kind of a government in their environment. What we have found is that if they are invested, they are excited about it and very compliant.

"They are really just like everyone else — it's just that they needed someone to help them figure out the best way to handle things."

Moore's own start in the field began when she was working at a rehabilitation center in North Carolina and was asked to help some clients who weren't adjusting well.

"They happened to be persons with mental retardation. This was my first introduction to this whole population," Moore said. "And I just fell in love with them (and decided) this is what I need to do."

After moving to Georgia, she opened a host home for those with developmental disabilities.

"I felt there was no control, no structure over what happened to them ... and so I decided to become a provider," said Moore, who started Enhanced Life Services in 2002.

She said she is looking to expand Partners Who Care efforts "wherever we can find something."
Moore said she is looking forward to Goodwill of North Georgia setting up operations at the Merchants Crossing Shopping Center off Mundy Mill Road in Oakwood.

The nonprofit corporation provides job training and employment services to people having trouble finding work and who may want to change careers or start their own business.

Rashida Powell, a Goodwill spokeswoman, said she expects the operation to be open by mid-December.

"We feel there is going to be a good opportunity through Goodwill to help," Moore said. "... However we're going to give back is what we're going to do."

jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/26629/
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