by Kim O’Brien Root
For the past four years, for four days a week, Jonathan Armer woke up, got dressed and diligently went to his 8 a.m.-3 p.m. job. There, besides happily performing his daily duties, he talked to friends, drew pictures on his breaks and socialized whenever he had the chance.
It wasn’t a huge job. It didn’t even pay very much. But for Jonathan, who has Fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition that causes an intellectual disability, having that job at VersAbility Resources gave him a purpose. When his mother asked him what he did every day, his answer was simple: “I work. Duh.”
Then, this past spring, the coronavirus brought the country to a screaming halt. And it meant the many people who depended on VersAbility’s resources were sent home to shelter-in-place for their safety. Like people everywhere, the jobs at VersAbility were put on hold. VersAbility has been helping people with disabilities since 1953, growing from a group of concerned parents to the non-profit organization it is today. It helps more than 1,300 people with disabilities of all ages live, work and thrive in the Peninsula, Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck communities, providing early childhood services, student services, day and recreational support, residential, and four diverse employment programs.
Jobs, like the one that Jonathan has, are available thanks to federal contracts with companies such as Newport News Shipbuilding and Dominion Energy. VersAbility employees get hired to do jobs such as scanning documents and assembling and packaging various items.
The pandemic meant everyone in the program had to shelter in place, VersAbility wanted to make sure that their employees weren’t forgotten. So the organization quickly launched a program called Reach Out to make sure that everyone who depended on VersAbility knew they were still valued and were missed.
We wanted to create something that would allow them to still feel active and still feel connected to us as a work family,” said Kenita Ricks, VersAbility’s director of programs.
Through Reach Out, VersAbility has been making sure to regularly call the 100-some people in their work programs. Since March, most have remained home with their families, vulnerable to any kind of return to work because many have underlying health conditions. So the phone calls checking in have been welcome distractions.
I know it’s just a small reach out, but we know their lives were completely disrupted and we wanted them to have contact with someone in the building,” Ricks said.
Many of those in VersAbility’s programs don’t exactly understand what’s going on, Ricks said. Some have wondered if they did something wrong. They don’t know why they can’t work, or see their friends at the job sites every day.
“It’s really hard to explain to someone who may have limited capacity to understand what’s going on,” Ricks said.
So the program went a bit further. With the help of community donations, VersAbility employees and volunteers put together bags of goodies to hand out to those in the work programs — items such as crafts, puzzles and workbooks to help them keep their minds engaged at home. So far there have been two drive-by giveaway days, during which the outreach kits have been handed out with much fanfare from the curb, keeping everyone socially distant and safe while having fun.
Jonathan was a goody bag recipient on Sept. 25, which happened to fall a few days after he turned 23. He’s been in the work program for four years, after first going through the Transition to Work program through the Newport News school system. His mom, Lori, said VersAbility has changed her son’s life.
“It has truly made a difference in Jonathan’s life,” she said of her son, who can’t read or write and is on about a 5- or 6-year-old level. “It just really gave him a purpose. It gave him something to do. It gave him something to look forward to.”
When the pandemic meant Jonathan could no longer work at his job — which most recently had him assembling items for Solo USA, one of the many companies VersAbility has contracts with — he became anxious, his mom said. He knows he can’t go back now because of the germs that are there, but he talks about missing his friends.
The day he got his goody bag, as VersAbility staff cheered, waved signs and shook pompons outside their building on 58th Street in Hampton, Jonathan couldn’t stop saying, “It’s my birthday!” with a wide, dimpled smile. Inside a bright purple bag were items chosen just for Jonathan: his favorite snack of popcorn, a Rubik’s Cube, a word search puzzle, coloring pencils and a mask with little bowling pins all over it, because Jonathan loves to bowl. He proclaimed everything “super.”
“It was the perfect fit,” his mom said. “There was nothing in that bag he did not like.”
As part of the Reach Out program, VersAbility is keeping up the regular telephone checks and hopes to continue to provide even more outreach kits to employees. Fortunately, their jobs will still be there when it’s okay for everyone to safely return — staffers, particularly those who usually train and assist the workers, have taken over the contracts so that the jobs can be maintained.
“We hope to keep Reach Out going as long as possible,” Ricks said. “We want them to feel some sort of love from us.” Volunteers are always welcome at VersAbility to help with everything from making phone calls to putting together the outreach kits. Donations are also welcome, both monetary and new items to go in the kits, such as snacks, workbooks, arts and crafts, puzzles and crayons. Want to learn more? Contact Kenita Ricks at kricks2@versability.org