How long have you worked at the Allen County Board of Developmental Disabilities?
9 years at ACBDD, 1.5 years as a Service & Support Associate
What’s your favorite part of the job?
The interactions with everyone at work; co-workers and the people I serve. I’m very fortunate to have a job that I enjoy and look forward to! Our team is a fantastic group of people. I have awesome people on my caseload, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know and help them over the past year and a half!
What’s been your greatest accomplishment at work?
The relationships I have developed with those on my caseload and their parents and guardians. This is an accomplishment because in an SSA position, you learn so much about people. You need to have a trusting relationship, so others are comfortable with you and feel they can trust you with some of the most personal aspects of their lives. It’s important that someone feels comfortable enough with me to call daily, sometimes multiple times a day, to talk through his frustrations.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Spending time with my wife, Katie and kids, Max and Hannah! I look forward to getting home, playing with them and being together as a family. They are huge blessings in my life, and I try to not let myself take them for granted. Sometimes, I stand outside our garage door waiting to go into the house and just listen to my wife and kids talking. I take a few minutes to appreciate how truly blessed I am. Even when the kids are screaming, I still try to take a few minutes to reflect…and then a few more minutes to let my wife get them under control!
Who inspires you most?
At work, my awesome co-workers, supervisors, and bosses! Their knowledge and dedication to serving others and striving to improve the lives of those we serve is inspiration every morning!
Outside of work, I would definitely have to say my wife. She’s been a Type 1 Diabetic since she was 9. She deals with diabetes and the frustrations of unexplainable high and low blood sugars. She has pricked her fingers for blood tests more times than I can ever imagine; when she was pregnant she did it upwards of 20 times a day!
A few months after giving birth to Hannah, Katie had her thyroid removed and shortly afterwards was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. Although doctors were comfortable they got all the cancer with surgery, she did the treatments required. As of August 2016, the cancer is gone. She never let having cancer get to her and never made it a big deal. I think I let it affect me more than she did her. She never complains about the inconveniences that she has been dealt in life and always just rolls with it. Katie is a genuinely good person with a kind and loving heart. She is an amazing mother and wife. I’m not quite sure that I deserved someone as spectacular as she is, but I’m glad she took a chance! So without a doubt, Katie inspires me.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Probably peanut butter, but Sycamore, an ice cream place in Van Wert, has an amazing pistachio!
What’s your favorite movie quote?
There are so many that it’s hard to choose a favorite! On the more serious side, I like a quote from John Coffey in The Green Mile: “I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There’s too much of it”
But I’m more ridiculous than I am serious, so I would probably go with something like “We got no food. We got no jobs. Our pets heads are falling off!” or “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”
Thank you, Cody!