Warehouse worker grows with job

By Libby James
Correspondent

In the year since Austin Bell began work as a warehouse assistant at High Country Beverages in Loveland, operations manager Steve Nichols has noticed subtle changes among the other employees.

"Those of us who work here have had our awareness raised about people with developmental disabilities," Nichols said. "Our morale is better, and we've made a new friend."

Bell, 23, a client at Foothills Gateway Rehabilitation Center, found his job through the center's work program. When he moved from Longmont to Berthoud with his family as a teenager, he became a Foothills Gateway client and began learning work skills as a member of the center's cleaning crew. Before long, he was ready to seek supported employment in the community.

With the help of his job coach, Jerry Mortellaro, Bell went through the necessary steps from completing a resume and application to preparing for a job interview. He did well and liked the work at his first job in the Shopko warehouse in Fort Collins. But when the business closed, he found himself in the job market again.

High Country Beverages, a beer distributor, has long been a supporter of Foothills Gateway. A little over a year ago, the company offered to provide work for a center client if the right person could be found.

"We put together a job description we thought would work for us and approached the center," Nichols said.

Several Foothills Gateway clients were invited to spend a day at the High Country Beverages warehouse to determine the suitability of the work for the client and the client for the work. After a day, Bell was selected for the position.

At first he worked half-days, three days a week, but gradually his hours have increased until he now works five hours a day, five days a week. Aside from mopping, sweeping and hauling trash, Bell operates a Zamboni-like machine that keeps the warehouse floor clean and dry. He also has primary responsibility for High Country's new recycling program.

Bell thrives on a job that provides him with variety and challenges. New responsibilities and friendships have encouraged him to become more outgoing and to advocate for himself, something he seldom did in the past. He's convinced that without help from Foothills Gateway, he would not have the satisfying job he looks forward to each day.

In November Bell and his girlfriend, Nicole, also a Foothills Gateway client, attended a gala celebration for the 35th anniversary of the founding of Foothills Gateway. To his surprise, Bell won an outstanding employee award as part of the kickoff for a fund-raising campaign. Called "give ability," the campaign hopes to raise $350,000 to supplement the work of the center with special emphasis on the needs of young people on a waiting list for the center's services.

In 1972, when Foothills Gateway opened its doors to 65 clients, the founders could not have imagined the growth the center was to experience. An unusual cooperative endeavor between Gateway Easter Seals Center of Fort Collins and Foothills Service Center of Loveland, plus a generous land donation from Madge and Les Everitt of Fort Collins, made the center possible. Any petty jealousies or competitiveness between the two communities faded in the face of a joint effort with a single goal. Today the center, located halfway between Fort Collins and Loveland off Highway 287 on Skyway Drive, serves 1,100 people and has a waiting list.

Many of the prime movers in the early days were parents who wanted to make sure their children would have the best possible services and educational opportunities. Back then, classes were conducted at the center, but as public schools began mainstreaming students, the center shifted its focus to concentrate on work and independent living programs for older clients. An on-site work program doing contract labor for area businesses employs about 250 people at any given time. Some clients use the program as a stepping-stone to jobs in the community, while others prefer to remain on-site. Some have been employed at the center for as long as 20 years.

The center currently assists clients from ages 2 months through 93 years. Parents of the youngest clients receive help from a case manager as they work to coordinate community resources to make sure their children's delays are addressed fully and as soon as possible. When children reach the age of 14 they become eligible for the waiting list for the center's work programs. They may begin a work program at 16 when they are no longer required to attend school.

Two volunteer service leagues, one in Loveland and one in Fort Collins, continue to work year-round for the benefit of the center. A foundation board oversees and coordinates fund-raising, which includes a golf tournament, a Taste of Loveland event at The Ranch, the Kitchen Kaper Home Tour in Fort Collins and a comedy night.

The center's $16 million budget is derived 83 percent from state and federal funding and 17 percent from a property tax and private donations combined. Community outreach coordinator April Rikhoff explained that the need is great for quality-of-life assistance for clients, which could be anything from providing specialized dental care to assisting with car repair.

When a work program client becomes ready for community employment, a job coach steps in to assist with job search tasks as well as setting up workable transportation and making sure channels of communication remain open with the employer. Job coaches become less involved as the client becomes comfortable with his or her work.

Some Foothills Gateway clients live at home with their families. Others need 24-hour supervised care. Still others live in group homes of two to six people with a staff member on duty 24 hours a day. Host families in the community take clients into their homes, treating them as they would a family member. Rikhoff said that these relationships often become very close and last for many years.

Clients interested in independent living can receive help from a center staff member to find appropriate housing, grocery shop, plan meals, pay bills and even discover recreational opportunities in their neighborhoods. Housing is subsidized through a HUD program, the only way most clients are able to afford rent.

Bell lives in Berthoud with his parents and rides a public bus to work. But that will change soon as he is looking forward to living independently within the next few months. He's number three on a waiting list for HUD housing assistance, and when his turn comes, he plans to find an apartment in Loveland so that he will be closer to his work. His newfound self-esteem has made it possible for Bell to get his driver's license and own a car.

When asked "Are you nervous?" about an upcoming plane trip to California with Nicole to meet her mother for the first time, Bell said, "No. Not yet."

It looks like 2008 may turn out to be a very good year for Austin Bell.