As told by Joyce Sampson, Direct Support Professional
I’ve been a champion for people with developmental disabilities ever since my own son was born with a disability. Joining Jubilee as a direct support professional matched my passion.
I’m a big advocate for people doing exceptional things.
Molly and I started working together when she joined the Jubilee family this Spring. She lives at home, and her parents are a great help as I get to know Molly better and support her.
We talked about what Molly wants to achieve, and she told me she wanted to volunteer. We started cold-calling businesses. We weren’t making much progress, so I said, ‘we’re going to do this the Joyce way. Let’s start networking.’
Before we set out, we did some role-play to practice asking about volunteer opportunities. We started in downtown Kensington, and Molly worked on her conversation skills with the different shop owners. We struck gold at Look Again Resale Shop run by the Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington.
Michel Heubner, the store development manager, was gracious and welcoming. When Molly asked her if they had volunteer opportunities, Michel replied with ‘we’d love to have you, would you like to try for 15 minutes right now?’
Molly started with writing down the prices of each item as Michel gave it to her and she did so well Michel told her she’d give her more challenging work, like deciding how much each item should be priced.
Connecting them was a great feeling. I’m excited to see what Molly will achieve as we continue to work together.