Life On Purpose : April 2014

Thank you to Becci Terrill, Director of Ministry Partnerships, for writing today's blog.

Each year I have the privilege of reporting on the volunteers that God sends to serve at Shepherds. Reporting usually involves numbers which are important, but they don’t always tell the whole story. While we have been blessed with a great number of volunteers each year, the impact that each volunteer has on our ministry is far greater than any number on a paper ever could be. The bottom line is every volunteer that God brings to Shepherds has an impact. Here are some of the areas where volunteers impacted our ministry this past year:

Maintenance

These volunteers work quietly behind the scenes making sure the grounds and facilities look good and work properly. This can be extremely difficult when budgets are tight. But under the direction of Dave Slye & Steve Gillmore, they make it happen-with excellence!

In 2013, maintenance volunteers finished painting projects both inside and outside all over Shepherds—the Wood Center, the Findley Center, the Harbor, Clark Apartments, the Cayton House and Shepherds College. They built stage extensions for the Bolthouse Center and installed two new kitchens in Cook Cottage. They worked on the roof and did electrical repairs. They cut down and removed trees. For some of the projects, volunteers provided needed supplies to complete the task. Thank you!

Office

Office volunteers work both on and off campus, doing everything from making phone calls to designing brochures. In 2013, adult groups completed two mailing projects saving us thousands of dollars.

Program

Both group volunteers and individual volunteers assist in Day Services and Shepherds Enterprises. In Day Services, volunteers play the piano for music class, do crafts and play games. We even have a therapy dog who visits!

In Shepherds Enterprises volunteers take a seat side by side with residents and clients working on the many jobs that come to us from local businesses. All in all, there are a lot of great conversations and relationship-building going on in these areas.

Shepherds College

Volunteers impact Shepherds College in a variety of ways. Three extra-curricular programs– choir, guitar lessons and scrapbook class– exist solely through the support of volunteers.

Professionals provide video and photography for special events, along with hair and make-up services for graduates. Following graduation transition coaches come alongside graduates to encourage and support them in their pursuit of Appropriate Independence. Other volunteers assist with classroom duties by giving one-on-one attention to students.

Special Olympics

If we didn’t have volunteers, we couldn’t have Special Olympics. It’s that simple. While many staff assist with these programs, they do so on their own time and are engaged in activities that are not part of their regular job. When Special Olympics was restarted in October of 2011, it was a struggle to find enough volunteers to offer volleyball and basketball opportunities for one team. In 2013, Shepherds had enough volunteers for 3 basketball teams, 5 Bocce teams, and 2 volleyball teams. In addition, we had 23 bowlers, 4 softball players, 4 athletes in flag football and 32 in track & field. That’s a lot of impact!

What impact do volunteers have on our ministry?

They provide services and opportunities that would otherwise not exist to help the ministry of Shepherds and the people we serve in their pursuit of Appropriate Independence. That’s priceless.

If you are a numbers person, we’ve got those for you too. The State of WI values volunteer service on average at $18.50 per hour. In 2013, volunteers gave 8,791 total hours to our ministry. Based on the state of WI’s average per hour, their gift of time was worth $162,624.25.

Whether you look at numbers or programs, volunteers have a huge impact on the ministry of Shepherds. We are so grateful for the amazing people God sends to us each year.

If you’re one of our more than 700 volunteers- Thank you! If you’re not currently serving but would like to find out more about volunteering, please contact me at bterrill@shepherdsministries.org. I’d love to talk with you!

This story is one about ignorance. My own.

Several years ago, something bad happened to my family, and I started pulling away from the church. The pastor, bless him, tried to stop the outward ebb of the Griffis family by organizing a motorcycle trip to Iowa. He drafted me as a driver in the break-down van to trail behind several of my dearest friends straddling hogs and Hondas as they roared down hundreds of miles of country roads. He thought it would be healing.

After bad weather, engine trouble, messed up hotel reservations and the awkwardness of dear people trying to pretend that all was right in the world, we headed back home.

I don’t know what road we were on, and I don’t know what state we were in, but I was in the passenger seat with the pastor’s wife behind the wheel, watching our little biker gang take a huge, blind curve. Suddenly, there were rhinoceroses standing at the bend in the road. Even as my mind was registering that these life-sized beasts were made of stone, I jumped, the pastor’s wife startled, and the motorcycle directly in front of us, the one ridden by my friend Angie, swerved and lost control. We screamed and yelled frantic prayers to God as we watched Angie and her bike skid, drag and flip end over end at the side of the road.

I tell you all this as an excuse for my next behavior, even as I know that there really is no excuse.

Due to God’s protection, Angie was banged up, but otherwise healthy. We were all shaken to the core and decided to get off the road as soon as possible to recover. Golden arches appeared after a few miles and, by unspoken agreement, we all pulled off and walked in the restaurant to order.

I was last in line. The girl behind the counter was a pretty teenager with an unsmiling face. I watched and listened as she took my friends' orders in a cold, unfriendly manner without making eye contact. With each order, I felt rage building inside me. She was so rude! I was physically trembling, and my thoughts became loud, angry and unorganized. My pastor was directly in front of me. I could see that he was already defensive when he placed his order, but he remained in control. The girl became surly at a request he made and refused to place his order until he changed it. My pastor, a man who was trying to help me at the worst time of my life, looked upset and confused… and that was it.

Everything in me - the hurt, the fear, the rage - boiled over and that poor girl took the brunt of it all. I told her exactly what I thought of her, her rudeness, her arrogance, her teenaged snottiness. I made her cry. The other staff members gathered around her while trying to placate me. I demanded her manager. A tired-looking older woman approached me with caution, and I let her have it too. Did she care so little about customer service that she would let this insolent jerk behind a register? Why wasn’t this horrible girl in back with the deep fryers? Why didn’t she receive better training? Why wasn’t she disciplined? Why wasn’t she fired?!

The manager endured my barrage of furious questions with lines of exhaustion on her face, and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” over and over again. When my rant was finished, she simply said, “We hire people with disabilities. She has autism.”

The rage was gone, replaced by a soul-deep tiredness. I was raised hearing my dad say, “There’s rarely a reason not to be nice. Show the world kindness.” I thought, ‘Wow. The first time I ever lose my temper in public, and it’s at a young girl with autism.’ Why didn’t I listen to my dad? And why, after working several months in the disability field, didn’t I notice the signs of disability?

It was because, while I recognized the possible speech impediments, disjointed conversations, slack jaws, protruding tongues, flat features and wondering, wandering eyes of some people with intellectual disabilities, I knew next to nothing about autism.

I don’t remember much else from that point onward. Just shame and embarrassment… and a determination that I would learn all I could about autism so, even in extreme circumstances, I could handle the disability with patience, love and control.

Over time, through reading books, magazines and blogs, and through the invaluable experience of getting to know and love the people of Shepherds, I learned about autism.

I learned that not all people with autism are socially disengaged – but some are.

I learned that some people with autism have bright, active minds while others struggle with remedial tasks.

I learned that some people with autism have sensory issues that cause them great stress – and some don’t.

I learned that all people with autism are somewhere on a “spectrum” because they all have different levels of functioning and differing abilities, much as we all do.

I learned that people with autism need support and understanding, not impatience, criticism and judgment.

In honor of this special day, I want to give you something - something that could change your life and the lives of those around you, something I wish I had all those years ago at that counter in McDonalds – knowledge.

Please learn all about autism this World Autism Day and National Autism Awareness Month.