1 I 1 ^ ^ INSIDE THIS SECTION
under the sun B?ss^,
STAFF PHOTOS BY SUSAN USHER
WAYNE BOYD, working the Dust Buster crew, cleans the entrance door at the
Brunswick Interagency Building at BCC.
Project Offers Disabled Adults
Job Training, Independence
BY SUSAN USHER
Kelly Humphrey may be in a wheel
chair, but watch him: He's a whiz at
cleaning scuff marks off walls. This
Dust Buster's stretch is just right.
Lisa Hicks blushes and smiles as she ac
, cepts a compliment from a Brunswick Com
munity College trustee for her excellent ser
vice as she helps cater a sit-down dinner.
A usually cheerful John Singleton prides
himself on remembering customers' identi
ties as he runs the cash register for Cook's
| Nook.
Kelly, Lisa and John are just three of the
adults who are developing new skills and
new self-confidence ? and taking home a
small paycheck ? as a result of their partici
pation in Project HAND.
Started last year. Project HAND adds an
other dimension to the Brunswick Inter
agency Program (BIP), Brunswick Com
munity College's compensatory education
program for developmentally disabled
adults. Last year BIP served 90 adults with
developmental disabilities, providing classes
in math, social science, community living,
consumer education, health and vocational
education.
The goal is to help participants develop
their skills and their potential for indepen
dent living to the fullest extent possible.
Funded by a three-year grant from the
North Carolina Council for Developmental
Disabilities. Project HAND offers mentally
retarded or physically disabled adults oppor
tunity for employment. HAND is the
acronym for "Helping Achieve
Independence for the Disabled." Now in its
second year, by 1996 the project expects to
be fully self-supporting, operating on in
come from employment contracts.
The program operates under a sheltered
workshop certificate that is renewed annual
ly. Wages paid clients are adjusted, based on
a wage and hour study that anaylzes tasks
and the time required to do them by a handi
Willi ii mi
' ?
YARD BIRD crewman Terry Prince
trims weeds along the rear entrance
to Leland Industrial Park as reha
bilitation specialist Richard Heil
mows near by.
capped person compared to a non-handi
capped person.
'They get paid for the work they can do,"
said Anita White, director of the interagency
program T
About half of all BIP students are in
volved on one Project HAND crew or an
other. Crew members typically work alter
nate days, both to build up their own stami
na and to allow other clients to work part
time. On a typical workday a client spends
about three hours on the job and three hours
in the classroom.
Crew members learn good work habits,
such as punctuality, as well as practical
skills such as how to punch a time clock.
For many students, crew assignments are
helping fulfill a lifelong dream: having a job
and getting paid for it.
"All of our students want a job. They are
eager to work and want to earn a pay
check," said White, pausing in her com
ments to query a student about his work ex
perience washing pots and pans in the cafe
teria that morning.
"That's one thing about this program that
has been important for me." she said. "The
selfesteem of the clients because they are
getting paid."
However small that check might be, it is a
source of pride and accomplishment, and
nourishment for dreams of even greater in
dependence.
Parents of one student videotaped him
working his first day on the job and receiv
ing his first pay check ? achievements nei
ther they nor he had ever dreamed possible.
Qualified BIP students can work on three
crews, each supervised by a rehabilitation
specialist. Mary Norwood supervises Cook's
Nook. Richard Heil, Yard Birds, and Chyrli
Coleman, Dust Busters. The specialists help
train clients, supervise them on the job and
document their progress toward long-term
educational and vocational goals.
Approximately eight clients work as Yard
Birds. This groundskeeping crew serves cus
tomers that include Leland Industrial Park
and one of its tenants, Telechron; Bolivia
Baptist Church and parsonage; Hardee's of
Southport; three public schools; and several
private residences.
"They're doing a good job." said Tom
Monks, director of the Brunswick County
Economic Development Commission. "We
did a trial run and I was pleased. They clean
up the litter and keep everything mowed and
I like the concept of what they're doing."
Six people currently work the Dust
Busters crew, cleaning the Brunswick
Interagency Program building. White said
she's considering the possibility of the cus
todial crew taking private contract jobs in
the resort community.
A 15-member food service crew, "Cook's
Nook." operates the Brunswick Community
College cafeteria and offers a catering ser
vice. The crew is proud of the sanitary rating
of 96.5 the cafeteria received on a recent in
spection by the Brunswick County Health
Department, up from a 94.
"They learn food preparation, how to take
orders for lunch," said White. "It's run very
much like any small grill."
Since the start of fall term. Cook's Nook,
which is starting its second year of opera
tion. has served an average of 375 to 4(X)
customers a day, Monday through Friday.
Cafeteria lunches such as spaghetti with
salad and garlic bread or country-style steak,
rice and gravy, beans and a roll sell for
S3. 25 each plus beverage. For bargain
hunters or those with light appetites, there's
also a daily SI special, such as two hot dogs
or pizza.
Project HAND expands BIP's ability to
provide job training and job readiness expe
riences for clients.
"We're giving them experience in a crew,
then hopefully they can find a job out in the
community," said Anita White. BIP director.
Those who do well on a Project HAND
crew may graduate into competitive support
ed employment depending upon the avail
ability of jobs and their particular eligibility.
"We've moved four people out so far this
year," said White.
With funding from the N.C. Division of
Vocational Rehabilitation, for instance, John
Singleton was job-coached to work part
time as the Cook's Nook cashier.
Last year BIP was without a job coach,
but is now back on track with a full-time
person, Lelah Keelan, and part-timer, Joy
Knotts. A job coach learns every detail of a
job. then trains a BIP client to do that job,
working with him or her as needed.
Six students have "graduated" from job
coaching to case management, or long term
follow-up. "We have to do a lot of that to
make sure they are handling their money
right and checking with their employeres to
make sure everything is going all right,"
said White.
White said she thinks it is good for the
college and good for BIP to have clients vis
ible and working on campus, mixing with
the general college population.
"It helps other people here at the school
realize that these people can work and can
achieve if they are given proper training,"
said White. "We're not a babysitting service
like some people think. We are here to give
our clients educational and vocational
skills."
!
\
mm ? a %.
BCC TRUSTEES enjoy a dinner catered by The Cook's Nook, which also operates the campus food service. Crew members
Lisa Hicks and John Singleton are serving (from left) trustees A I Wooten, Dave Kelly, Jamie Milliken and BCC President W.
Michael Reaves.
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