Deneen

Employment is a necessary key to accelerate down the road toward independence. Several honored guests recently shared their knowledge, tips, and strategies for success with Living Resources College Experience Employment Class. During these ZOOM educational sessions, our students were provided with insight into a variety of occupations. Tom DeByle, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for NN, Inc. Mr. DeByle shared that he has an accounting degree and has held a wide variety of jobs that have taken him throughout different parts of the United States and all over the world. While he travels extensively for his work, he considers [...]

Georgia O’Keeffe once said “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” Inspired artist Nadine Nandkissore, would certainly agree. She came to the United States from Guyana 20 years ago, when she was 18 years old, and has attended classes at Living Resources Arts Program since 2014. Her mother Mary said there were limited services for people with disabilities in Guyana at that time. The family’s move here brought Nadine a tremendous opportunity for a colorful future. Nadine loves keeping busy. Prior to the COVID [...]

Nate Gier has been making art at Living Resources for more than half of his life. Always fascinated by portraits, at the age of 12, Nate created a 2x3 foot rendition of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “Mona Lisa.” When asked what attracted him to the "Mona Lisa" at that young age, he said, “I liked her smile.” And he still does. With the encouragement of Sergio Camacho, Assistant Director of the Art Program, Nate re-created her twice, each time starting with a bare canvas, applying his ever growing skills into newer, more detailed renditions, most recently in his preferred medium of [...]

Ashley Lawyer has been part of the Living Resources family for over seven years, receiving services from our Supportive Employment program. Her undeniable work ethic and hardworking frame of mind makes Ashley a valued employee at not one but two jobs! During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Ashley began the year working at Image Data as a document prep specialist Monday through Thursday and on Friday she worked at Hannaford Supermarket. Shortly after the Pandemic began, Ashley was furloughed from Image Data for several weeks, but rather than sit and wait for her office to reopen, she increased her hours at Hannaford temporarily, [...]

“Never Underestimate the Healing Power of a Quiet Moment in The Garden.” Josephine Albert Jonathan Carroll is an expert gardener who learned his craft the old fashioned way; with a shovel, some dirt and a lot of hard work. The individuals in our Longmeadow residence typically spend their daytime hours active in their various Day Program settings, but the Pandemic brought that to a halt. As a result, Brendan Mooney, the father of Jon’s housemate Kevin, has provided a variety of activities to the house. He brought over a cook book so everyone could bake cookies together, a dance DVD for [...]

It has been a memorable Spring for Maurice Vanness, who resides in one of Living Resources residential homes and receives supported employment coaching. Working with his employment Coach, Maurice has been a valued employee of Hannaford Supermarket on Wolf Road for nearly 20 years. During his time with Hannaford, he learned to navigate and manage his commute utilizing the Star bus system, plan his daily activities, and accomplish his many job related challenges. This year certainly presented Maurice with challenges like no other. In order for Maurice to continue to work at Hannaford, he had to agree to strict guidelines at [...]

Kevin Steitzer, a graduate of the College Experience and his Career Counselor, Frank Padula are a solid team. Frank started working with Kevin in 2018 when he was a Dietary Aide at the Teresian House. Frank supported him in many ways during this job, but it became evident that it was Kevin’s dream to work with animals. Knowing that it was an important part of Frank’s job to advance Kevin’s career, he worked with Kevin to help him secure employment at the Guilderland Animal Hospital. Kevin soon realized that this job was not the best fit for him, so they moved on [...]