Tom lives independently in an apartment in DeLand receiving support from a Supported Independent Living Coach. He relies solely on his income from SSI, Food Stamps, and money he makes working on contract work at the workshop to live on. He has worked at light assembly for many years in the workshop at the ADT II Program at The Arc of Volusia, DeLand Center. Tom expressed a desire to his Living Coach and Support Coordinator to become employed and earn a competitive wage in order to increase his income and standard of living.
At the end of July 2007, Tom was referred to The Arc of Volusia, Inc. Supported Employment Program by Vocational Rehabilitation. This was a natural choice as Tom was familiar with the Employment Specialist in DeLand, Brian Bury. More importantly, Brian was familiar with Tom. They had talked many times about what type of work Tom wanted to do, and Brian had had the opportunity to actually observe Tom at work and knew what he was good at.
Tom and Brian went to TJMaxx in DeLand, and Tom applied for a job as a processor there. Brian was familiar with the job and the environment because he had supported someone else in that position at that store. He was acquainted with the management and store associates, and knew that this would be a good fit for Tom.
In September 2007, Tom began employment at TJMaxx as an Associate working in Processing. Tom works on delivery days and works with the store team to offload the truck (which many times has over 300 boxes of mixed merchandise on it), unpack, sort and to stage the merchandise for delivery to the sales floor. TJMaxx has a policy of “Door to Floor in 24” which means that Associates must work quickly and accurately to prepare the stock to go to the sales floor and to keep the receiving area clean and tidy.
Tom has become an important part of the processing team at TJMaxx. They rely on his speed, attention to detail and organizational skills to accomplish the “Door to Floor in 24” goal. TJMaxx has become an important part of Tom’s life. Tom earns over $135.00 per week working part-time there. Tom now has money to pay his bills, get back and forth to work and enjoy leisure activities in his community.
Tom’s natural and paid support team worked together to support Tom to accomplish his goal to become employed and earn the money he needs to live a full life. The skills he used at the workshop and the information his coach was able to glean from that work helped create a good job match for Tom. He was able to realize his desires and continues to do so with the support of his Supported Independent Living Coach, his Support Coordinator, his VR Counselor, the ADT Program, and natural supports at his apartment complex and in the workplace.
