Stories - Continued
Born
on February 9th 1966 Ralph Steele is the youngest of five children.
He has accessed Community Living Burlington's services for many
years.
Starting when he was a young baby Mrs. Steele found an article in The Hamilton Spectator that gave mothers of children with developmental disabilities the chance to help each other by volunteering their time, taking turns to look after each others children, therefore allowing the other mother a time of respite.
Ralph attended Mayfield School which was a segregated Life Skills program for children with disabilities. He accessed this program until he was able to attend Lord Elgin High School where they provided a life skills program in a regular high school setting. Staying at Lord Elgin High School until the age of 21, Ralph graduated. After high school Ralph was ready to get a job.
His first job was at ARC Industries which was then located on Northside Drive. Ralph stayed at ARC for 2 years, then he decided he wanted a job out in the community. With assistance from the Supported Employment Program through Community Living Burlington, Employment Support Worker Debbie helped match Ralph with an appropriate job, a job that Ralph would truly enjoy.
Ralph's first community job started at the Tim Horton's on Plains Road in Burlington. Ralph learned the bus route to get to and from work and worked 8 hours a day. When some financial problems arose Ralph moved to the Tim Horton's on Walkers Line and currently works there form 9:45 until 1:45p.m, 5 days a week. Ralph has been working at Tim Horton's for 16 years and is a competitively paid member of staff. Ralph keeps busy at work with duties such as washing tables, sweeping and mopping the floors, clearing trays and tables and greeting the customers with a smile.
As the question arose "What does Community Living Burlington mean to you?" Mrs. Steele; proud mom of Ralph was pleased to say that with the help and support from Community Living Burlington it has provided Ralph the opportunity to work and contribute to his community.
