Cierra is a dedicated employee at Pioneer College Catering located in Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s dining hall. She enjoys her position in the dish room and appreciates knowing what her job duties are and the support she gets from her coworkers and supervisors.
Pioneer College Catering has been a wonderful employer for people with developmental disabilities in our community— thank you for all you do!
Erik has been working for Park National Bank for almost a year— and he has been enjoying this wonderful opportunity! He does a wonderful job sorting through the mail, delivering the mail to the different departments, organizing bank deposit sheets, putting postage on outgoing mail and more. He enjoys that he is able to work at his own pace and he is able to meet new people. Erik has become a valuable asset to Park National Bank.
Thank you, Park National Bank for this partnership!
Steven is a wonderful employee at Pioneer College Catering located in MVNU’s dining hall. He is responsible for refilling all of the clean plates, silverware and putting anything else away to keep the dining hall clean and ready for all of the faculty and students as they come through getting their meals. Steven loves the consistency of his job and appreciates knowing what his responsibilities are so he can complete his job in a timely manner and do it correctly.
Anna is an independent provider who has been working with Devine in her home and helping her connect to the community.
On April 25, 2019 the Knox County Chamber of Commerce held the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Harmony Playground, the new fully inclusive playground in Mount Vernon. Harmony Playground has been a wonderful collaborative project with the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Crossfit 1808, the Knox County Health Department Creating Healthy Communities and many other wonderful team members that brought together this amazing playground for all families in Knox County and beyond.
Carol Grubaugh, with the Chamber of Commerce led the ceremony and we heard wonderful remarks from Katie Fiorilli, Crossfit 1808 & Caroline’s Classic; Tami Ruhl, Knox County Health Department Creating Healthy Communities; Steve Oster, Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities; and Mayor Dick Mavis, City of Mount Vernon. Thank you to Jamie and Levi Sanders for cutting the ribbon!
Thank you to everyone who helped make this project a reality, and thank you to everyone who came out to the ribbon cutting ceremony!
Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities
The Ariel Foundation
Diversified Products & Services
Richard & Arline Landers Foundation
Crossfit 1808 Caroline’s Classic
United Way of Knox County
Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon
The Energy Cooperative Operation Round Up Foundation, Inc.
The Ramser Family
Licking/Knox Goodwill Industries, Inc.
Knox County Health Department Creating Healthy Communities
Women United
First-Knox National Bank, Division of Park National Bank
Elks Care, Elks Share - Mount Vernon Elks #140
Celestine Watkins
Siemens Energy Systems, Inc.
Mount Vernon Rotary Foundation
City of Mount Vernon
Knox County Foundation
Foundation Parks Conservancy
Concepts in Community Living, Inc.
Margo de Camp
Steve Oster
Kim & Pam Rose
Ian & Charlotte Watson
Creative Foundations, Inc.
Gordy & Fran Yance
Delta Kappa Gamma of Knox County
Knox Community Hospital
Chip & Katie Wilson
Marc & Jen Odenweller
Geotechnical Consultants, Inc.
The Marlow Family
Deb Romas & Associates
Dr. Robert & Patricia Ronk
Riverside Recovery Services - Where Recovery Brings Hope
Amy Albery
Elena N. Brechler
Craig Black - Tricia Moore - Andrew & Anna Breen
Team “Neverquit” - AFC
Adam Daniels - Ben Durbin - Natalee Johnson - Trista Butler
Brock M. Evans
Lara K. Farmer
Built By Unity
Hanna Ford
Matthew Gibson
The Hickman Family
John & Kristin Hofferberth
Matthew Kelling
Always Forward CrossFit
Tara Lamb
Alex Lambert
Melissa Leonard
Ron & Natalie Lucas & Family
Dan & Rebekah Mullins
Emily Nussbaum
Alicia Olson
Evan Palmer
Kathy Patton
Chad & Tami Ruhl
Holden Richards
The Ruffner Family
In Memory of Dorothy “Dottie” Marchal
Megan West
Neal Bell - Justin Satin - Loriann Fuhrer - Kris Whiting
Nichole Williams
“N8” Woodford
Dick & Peggy Mavis
Flappers Bar & Grille - Norm & Erron Porter - Steve Oster
Benjamin Peter Ollis
Lucy Peterson
Barbara Jordan
Anonymous
Easterseals Central & Southeast Ohio
ViaQuest, Inc.
Gantt Homes Inc. & The HIVE
Teresa Bemiller
Joe & Miranda Conkle
Nick & Katie Fiorilli
Rhonda & Chuck Gherman
Steve & Kathy Greenich
Mike & Karen Hagans
Jaclynn Mahle
Joe & Sally Nelson
Donald & Nancy Omahan
Friends of Kelly Shoemaker
In Memory of Ashton Cordray
Moms of Mount Vernon Giving Back
Athletes from Knox County traveled to Hilliard Darby High School on March 23rd to compete with other athletes from across the state of Ohio in the Special Olympics Basketball Skills Competition! All of our athletes won ribbons and medals and had a great time competing!
We love getting to watch creativity and imagination take over as people come together to build amazing creations at Lego Club. On 3/14 we had a great turn out and had some pretty stellar pieces made! The theme was “Sandwiches, Burgers, Subs & More!” (a theme that was submitted by a kiddo!! Great thinking!) and the pieces that were created were extraordinary!
If you have a great idea for a theme, feel free to email it to Brody Boggs (bboggs@knoxdd.com) and he’ll try to add it to the calendar!
For the past five years the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities has thrown our annual "Summerfest" to celebrate summer, sun and have fun! Each year carries a different theme and activities- this year we celebrated with many different organizations across our county! We love being able to partner and collaborate with so many amazing organizations to help with inclusion and break down barriers for the people and families in our program!
It was wonderful watching everyone interact with the various booths set up from community partners and having conversations by asking unique and thoughtful questions to all of the first responders that came to support our event! Thank you to everyone who helped make last week so successful!
Thank you to all of the organizations that helped bring such fun to our day! Knox County Sheriff, Mount Vernon Police Department, Fredericktown Police Department, Mount Vernon Fire/EMS, Danville Police Department, Lashley Training Center, Knox County Health Department, Mount Vernon Street Department, YMCA, Knox Community Hospital, Ohio State University Extension, Center for Disability Services, Easter Seals, ODOT, Help Me Grow & Early Intervention, Knox Area Transit, Prosecutor's Office, Ariel-Foundation Park
If you ever make your way to Danville, OH you are sure to run into Linda. She is always buzzing around town and knows everyone! She is a diehard Danville Blue Devils fan and is always cheering them to victory alongside her friends and new acquaintances.
Linda grew up in the Youngstown, OH area and went to the Youngstown School for the Retarded where she learned to twirl her baton—which she still does proudly! Her family relocated to Knox County many years ago and she loves the Knox County community.
Twenty years ago Linda was able to land her job at the Knox Community Hospital food service department with help from her friend and boss Parker. She enjoyed doing dishes, building friendships and having many celebrations alongside her co-workers. Earlier this year she retired with 20 years of dedicated service at KCH! When she retired her coworkers put together a photo album to help her remember all of the fun memories they have made together over the years. When she recalls all of her years at KCH, her favorite part of it all was all of the people that she was able to work with.
Now that Linda is retired she has more time to spend with her boyfriend Tom. She loves getting to go to the Hangout for dinner, watch TV and just hang out for date night. She loves to go to secondhand stores with her friend Lacey to buy artificial flowers. They then create new beautiful arrangements with all of their flowers! Her home is adorned in their beautiful creations and she is excited to help create floral arrangements for her nephew’s upcoming wedding!
She enjoys talking to the students at Danville Elementary and High School as they walk past her house and always makes sure to talk to the teachers and crossing guards! She loves to go to the High School basketball and football games and walking around town talking to all of her friends and neighbors.
If you see Linda out and about make sure you congratulate her on her retirement!
When you first meet Daniel, the first thing you notice is his soulful eyes and passion for sharing his story. Due to nerve damage from surgery, Daniel is legally blind. He wears an eye patch over his right eye most days because the light causes his eye to become sore from trying to focus. Daniel also struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety.
He attributes his passion for music in helping him deal with his emotions and overcome adversities. He studied and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Kenyon College. He is classically trained in piano and keyboard and since graduating college he mostly composes melodies and rhythms on his computer using MuseScore, a program that helps him write. He has recently learned about Braille Music and is learning more about transcribing music into Braille through a program on his computer. Daniel sometimes finds it difficult to write music in ways that most other composers write. He stated that most composers sketch music out on paper, but he cannot do that. Instead he types it in Braille. He is hopeful that once he is fluent in Braille it will help him be able to learn more languages.
“Writing music is just something I need to do”
"Writing music is just something I need to do," said Daniel. It helps him deal with his emotions, "some styles can help you focus or calm down." When he is writing, he feels like it helps him focus on the emotion he is trying to work through; whether that is a romantic feeling, sadness, anxiety. Daniel also really enjoys singing in choir with his church and singing every year for the Messiah at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
When Daniel isn't writing music or singing, he enjoys working at Kenyon College assisting with website maintenance and maintaining servers for Biology experiments. His hours vary depending on the needs of the students and he appreciates the flexibility he has with his job. He feels that his Master's Degree in Applied Statistics from Rochester Institute of Technology helps him with the experiments and maintaining them well.
He enjoys reading about technology and learning about the different devices that are out there that can help people. He feels statistical thinking methods play into determining what devices can help meet different needs. He enjoys helping Kenyon students who have accessibility needs by scanning in materials to help them learn easier.
Daniel appreciates any help he can get; whether it's from a device, his parents, his church family at First Church of God, Kenyon College or from support staff who occasionally help him clean his apartment. He has been evaluated for adaptive equipment for people who have difficulty with their vision. He has a magnifier, sock blocks (help him keep pairs of socks together), Braille display on his computer, and a computer screen reader. All of these devices help him live independently in his own apartment, create music and work.
If he could give advice to anyone who is struggling, it would be "be more proactive in seeking help."
![Special Olympics State Skills Tournament [basketball]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a14344e64b05fdd8a136c29/1553536912838-JSSXETOANNISUUBFNJ5M/Knox+special+olympics-50.jpg)
