Imagine growing up and wanting to have your own apartment, a job and friends. Now imagine trying to do that with a developmental disability that sometimes is the first thing people see about you.

The road has not been easy. Margie, a longtime Laura Baker client, had to learn how to manage her money, do housekeeping chores and grocery shopping, including menu planning. Margie started out living as a teenager in our first group home on the Oak St. campus. She will tell you right away that her life dream was to have her own apartment. “I had to work hard to earn it. I had to show my staff and family that I could do it,” she says.

It took years, but her diligence paid off when her support team agreed that she was ready to try living on her own. Sometimes she learned the hard way about writing checks with insufficient funds. She reports that hasn’t been an issue for a long time now.

Now imagine having a friend who just shows up and hangs out with you and doesn’t make you prove or earn anything. Janet Tritch, Margie’s friend, laughs. “There’s a lot of people who could learn that lesson,” she says. Janet volunteered at last year’s LBSA Charity Golf tournament and decided to apply as a volunteer to spend one-on-one time with a client. “I wanted a meaningful volunteer job that involved having an ongoing relationship with another person,” she explains. “In college, I volunteered with Special Olympics and got hooked.”

Donor contributions to Laura Baker Services actually help make all this possible.

Margie and Janet get together a couple of times a month, enjoying each other’s company. They share some interests, such as baking, shopping and watching old movies. Margie says the main pleasure is “just having someone to interact with”. Janet says “it started out as volunteering, but now it’s become a friendship.”

Margie has a Laura Baker staff member who supports her in some areas for a few hours a month, mostly with scheduling her many activities around her job. Margie sings in the LBSA choir, does Special Olympics and has a large network of friends.

Bonnie Martinson, LBSA Director of Community Services, says that Margie has good reason to be proud. “She’s become so independent in so many ways, it’s wonderful to watch.”

Thank you to all who made this life dream possible.