Special-needs adults offer special delivery

PLEASANT GROVE — With a smile on her face and a basket full of food, Debbie Stewart bounds up William Kinross' driveway.

Kinross, 82, waits expectantly at the door.

Stewart lays out on the table two lunches of beef stew, blueberry cobbler, oranges, rolls and salad — one for Kinross and one for his wife, Claire, 87, who has Parkinson's disease.

"I love helping," Stewart says.

Stewart, a 33-year-old woman with Down syndrome, is a client of the Alpine Transition Employment Center, 350 N. State, Lindon. The school aims to help students and adults with special needs transition into the workplace. It also serves as a work center for adults with disabilities.

Stewart is part of an ATEC work crew of individuals with multiple disabilities. The group completes jobs such as washing and folding towels for local high schools, and they participate in weekly community outings like hikes through the canyon, said Laura Fox, job coach at the center.

In May, the crew started participating in the Meals-on-Wheels program, bringing lunch to homebound seniors.

"I think it's wonderful," said Kinross, a Pleasant Grove resident and Meals-on-Wheels recipient. "It makes it so much easier on me."

Around 11 a.m. each Tuesday, a five-member crew, along with a supervisor, piles into a van and takes a seven-mile loop around Pleasant Grove to deliver nine meals to seven homes.

The crew members take turns putting food in the basket and taking it into the homes.

Liz Merrell, volunteer coordinator for Meals-on-Wheels, said she was looking for a group of adults similar to those at the transition employment center to volunteer. Meanwhile, center director Ron Story was looking for a service opportunity for the center.

"It's a miracle how it happened," Merrell said of the partnership. "They are two vulnerable groups who are serving each other."

Merrell went with the crews the first time they delivered the meals, and she had a blast.

"It was so fun," she said. "At first, I was a little nervous, but it was amazing. (The seniors) lit up as soon as (the crew) came in. It's hard for me to describe it. It just makes you so happy."

Merrell said the interaction with crew members may be the only contact they have all day with the outside world. It reminds the seniors they are not forgotten, she said.

The partnership also allows transition employment center clients to give back to the community.

"They are used to us serving them, and now they get to serve other people," Fox said. "It gives them a sense of accomplishment, and that would make anybody feel good."

Fox said she has seen changes in crew members who participate. They look forward to it and will argue about who gets to go, she said.

"They love it," Fox said. "Every time we get back, it's such a great day."

E-MAIL: slenz@desnews.com