“Thank you Jesus that my mom and dad come see me work at the Olive Garden. I love my job at the Olive Garden.” – From Rachel’s morning prayer earlier this week.
“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rachel graduated in May. For those of you who have followed for a while, you know that the end of June is when her post-secondary plans became clear. That’s when we announced that she had been accepted in the first Bear POWER class at Missouri State University in Springfield. There is a lot to love about this new Bear POWER program. One of the things we really liked was that the program launches in January as opposed to August. I could argue the pros and cons of starting in August or mid-year, but our family liked the January start date. We felt like a few months to work on some of the needed independent living skills and avoiding the chaos of the August onslaught were good things.
We don’t have an entire gap year, but we have a gap semester. With the gap semester comes the need to fill Rachel’s days. She had a lot of activities over summer. It was important to her to be involved in the final student ministry activities that were planned like camp, mission trip, and local volunteer opportunities. We made the decision that she could wait to get started with Voc Rehab (VR) and look for a job in August. We also registered for a program at our local community college called CLEAR. She would have classes two days a week for about eight weeks. Rachel is accustomed to being very involved and very busy so those few weeks where there were no classes found Rachel a little lonely.
In August, she started a program with Voc Rehab called End Dependence Kansas, and she began visiting potential “work experience” sites. She really enjoyed this, and I thought that VR was doing a good job with Rachel. In the meantime, I reached out to some of my own contacts and did some digging with places that Rachel had expressed an interest in or that we thought might be a good fit. I hope I am now retired from my extensive schlepping activities, but through those schlepping activities, I’ve made a few contacts. Now, if you do not know what schlepping is, I will impart knowledge. Schlepping is asking anyone and everyone for anything and everything without shame. One of my schlepping routines was for PTO. When I was schlepping for the middle school PTO, we needed someone to donate bread and salad for teacher’s conference meals. We had no money, and we had parents who were donating crock pots with soup and desserts. So I offered to try to find someone to donate. My immediate thought was the Olive Garden. I didn’t know anyone at the Olive Garden and didn’t have any past history, but I never let that stop me before. So I called my friend Jennifer and invited her to lunch at the Olive Garden.
It never hurts your ask if you are spending money at an establishment when you are asking for a donation. During our lunch, I told the server that everything was great but was the manager in. Yes, I will get him. In just a few minutes a young man appeared and introduced him as the manager. I introduced myself and told him what I was doing and asked if the Olive Garden might donate salad and breadsticks for the 75 teachers who would be eating at the conference dinner. He said, “Who is providing your other food?” I explained parents would donate crockpots of soup for the main dish. He said, “I’ll do everything.” I said, “For free?” He kind of laughed and said, “Yeah, let’s get it on the calendar. I think it’s important for us to support the community and this is one way we can do that.” That was my easiest ask EVER! I love to tell that story because people are afraid to ask for donations but you are going to get one of two answers. Sometimes, it’s a yes. Sometimes, it leads to greater and more meaningful things.
What does any of this have to do with Rachel having a job? Well, she was recently hired as an Olive Garden hostess. That day and that ask translated into more than just a meal for teachers. It translated into a partnership. The manager and his business have been so generous to the Olathe community. He continued to partner with us to feed teachers, and he would always want to know what other events I was involved with that they might help with. He was especially interested in how Olive Garden could do more for individuals with disabilities. And they have done a lot including hiring people with disabilities, not just Rachel, to work there.
Rachel loves pasta, and she loves the Olive Garden. She loves eating there and every time she would see the manager, she would tell him she wanted to be a hostess there. In fact, you may remember that she told us back in May she might work at the Olive Garden while she waited to go to school.
I called the manager to talk about the possibility of Rachel applying for a job there. He explained to me what she needed to do, and I brought up a job coach. He said, “If she is hired and you want her to have a job coach, we can do that but I don’t think we’ll need to do that. We have a great team and they support each other. I believe our team will support her.” I told him I would always rather she be treated like everyone else, but if she was hired and needed to adjust, we could. With our help Rachel went online and applied for a hostess job. Our timing was good because several employees had left for college. She was contacted by email to call and set-up an interview. She called and set-up the interview. We recruited her targeted case manager to go with her. I didn’t want to go with her because she wouldn’t have wanted me there. Since she’d never had a job interview and didn’t know the interviewer, we thought it would be good to just have extra ears in the room. The targeted case manager took extensive notes and said “Rachel needed no help. She did great.” They invited her back the next day for a follow-up interview. I took her and waited in the car for 45 minutes or so. She came out with a big smile on her face and I could hear her saying “I got a job. I got a job.” And she did! I didn’t even have the camera ready because I didn’t think she would be hired on the spot!
She started with training about three weeks ago and reports that all is great. Rachel would be a great life coach because she always says everything is great. I can’t always depend on her version of the story. I will say that so far I am very impressed by their culture. For starters, there is a story in the host training manual about excellent service provided to a child with Down syndrome who visited the restaurant. One of the managers told me that everyone seems happier when Rachel works. The manager went on to say that she had observed and was encouraged by the way the other employees are protective of Rachel. It does appear that the natural supports that are providing the support she needs. she is having to lean about managing priorities. She wants to add her earnings to her ABLE account. While she is working, the recently passed ABLE to Work legislation will allow her to save more money in her ABLE account.
This month is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month. This blog lets me promote both. Like her friends, Rachel wants to work. It’s not just about money. It’s about dignity and respect and self-actualization. She needs a little extra help, but places like the Olive Garden recognizing the valuable contribution someone like Rachel can have in their workforce and with their guests says a lot about their culture. Kudos to Olive Garden and their team members for creating an inclusive culture and for walking the talk.
What about Down syndrome awareness and acceptance? Imagine the many guests who will see Rachel and experience Rachel and maybe they will change their culture. And maybe the family with the little child with Down syndrome will meet her and be encouraged. And maybe the most important take away is that our very best way to create awareness is by just doing life, just being kind, and just being Rachel.
