Tony knew his Lucas DD service and support specialist was visiting him recently at the Living Stream Adult Day Program.
Our 90 SSAs regularly check in and visit the thousands of individuals with developmental disabilities that we serve in Lucas County. But this visit in particular had a big surprise in store for Tony.
The Clearwater Council of Governments (COG) is a membership of county boards of developmental disabilities in Crawford, Erie, Huron, Lucas, Marion, Morrow, Ottawa, Richland, and Seneca counties.
The COG regularly donates its old computers, generally 2-to-3 years old, to individuals served in its 9-county area. As demand far exceeds supply, the COG holds a lottery and draws names of individuals submitted by each county board.
As SSA Sarah Reynolds arrived at Living Stream, Tony met her outside by her car. She casually handed him a laptop and asked if he’d mind holding it for her while she got her stuff.
“He was so eager to help me,” said Sarah, who could barely contain the excitement for what she was about to tell him.
Once they were settled inside, Sarah dropped a major hint. She turned to Tony and said “Now, you open your laptop and I’ll open mine.”
Tony had been looking into buying a computer or tablet. Living in a licensed group home, he has a very limited budget to spend on those things, especially when he has other bills he’s trying to pay down.
This is why Sarah had entered his name into the laptop lottery and why, as you can see in the pictures, it was such a precious moment when she told him he had won that lottery and the laptop was his.
“It was such a morale booster to be able to be involved in something so awesome!” Sarah said.