All right, all right.
Beanie talks with friends. Episode 140.
We're in the 14th season.
Are we excited?
Yes, yes, I have some great friends here.
How are you doing, Chloe? Good. Sandy, how are we doing?
I'm good.
We have Sandy and Chloe here today.
Chloe Roberts, I known you for a long time.
Yeah,
Sandy Fenimore just getting to know you, but I'm really looking forward
to getting to know you.
We're here to talk about the fa fa fa fa. Fa.
Fa fa fa favor.
I practice to save Brett FA kills me Brett FA
the all right Favre with
And you are the competitive employment coordinator.
Yeah that's another tough one. Yeah.
Don't say that.
Say that a couple times fast
competitive employment coordinator.
Do you know what that person does?
What's a what's a competitive employment coordinator do.
So I oversee the project search program at UConn health, and I also oversee
all of the job coaching for the independently employed individuals.
And how long you've been with that job?
I've been with Favre for 12 years.
12 years. Very nice, very nice.
So how long have you known Chloe?
About a year.
Nice. Chloe, how's it going? Good.
How is your day today? Good, good.
What about Tommy?
You had a big thing recently. The bridge ceremony.
Can you tell me about that?
What happened at the bridge ceremony?
You graduated? Yeah, it's coming up. It's going.
Not happened yet.
It's going to happen. Yeah.
What's that about?
Is this Wednesday at 330 at my general store,
and we do graduations, we do speeches and
talk about, internships. Wow.
That's exciting.
I'm proud of you. Good job. Congrats. Thank you.
What, are you going to practice? Your speech?
What are you going to say?
You're going to thank Feeney Talks with friends podcast.
Eric Feeney.
Yeah.
You'll probably think your mentors.
Yeah, right.
Oh, my.
My mustache too. Soft? Yep.
Nice.
No, that's so cool.
How long did you train for?
How long was your program.
Thomas?
12 months.
Nice. Now, what are some things that you did?
We did internships.
We did different,
training.
Where was your internships.
At UConn health.
Yeah. Did you do stuff with psoriasis, I heard.
Yeah, yeah. Cool. Tell us about that.
I took a check in, check out and patients.
Okay. You're checking in and out patients.
So you're really welcoming.
You're like, hey, welcome to UConn health.
How can I help you?
And stuff like a wow, really cool.
What else that was that was a little internship.
You had to get trained on something to do that internship.
Right. Epic.
Oh what's that?
Epic's like the software on the computer that you like silk?
All the patient's data.
Nice.
So you're looking at patient data welcoming.
All right.
And you learned a new program. Very cool.
That's awesome. What was your favorite part?
The eating right.
Yeah. The making the food. That's always my favorite.
Yeah, yeah. And Catherine was that at UConn. Health is.
All right.
So what we do a potluck at Thanksgiving.
Practice adult living skills.
We also, make cookies at the holiday time to practice those adult
living and following recipes.
Do you happen to have any cookies on you today? No.
Haha.
That's great.
No. Chloe's so cool to see you. You've.
I mean, and tell us about your job.
You got a job?
Yes, at Beans and Company and Avon.
Beans and Company. Congratulations.
Yeah. That's so cool.
What are you going to do at Beans and Company?
I'm the dishwasher, so I clean dishes.
Nice hot water. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
So I was in the Army National Guard, and it's called, KP Kitchen Patrol.
And I was always washing dishes.
And then when you get in trouble, you got to wash dishes.
And then when our marching ceremonies.
And I was not a good marcher, they put me to wash dishes.
But washing dishes is, is relaxing.
You get you get headphones, you know, headphones.
You could when, when on your phone you wanted nice.
But it's like, you know, just mindfulness.
Yeah. One thing at a time.
Right. That's my that was my goal.
Do you wear gloves.
No. Oh not currently.
Yeah. We used hot like a rubber gloves.
Could you water.
I think the water in the army was 180 degrees.
So, my hands were like lobsters at the end of the day.
Dishwashing at beans and company.
That's very exciting.
Oh, let me see. Do you recognize this shirt?
Do you recognize this shirt? Yes.
What's it say? Everyone. Everyone belongs.
Where do you see these shirts and beans?
Company.
This is my wife's shirt.
That's my wife's favorite place.
She goes there all the time. So shout out to Nicole.
She let me borrow this because I said, hey, Nicole, I need to borrow your shirt.
My friends coming on the podcast and she works at Beans and Company.
She's like, oh, I love that place.
Tell her I said, hi.
I'm Beans.
And do you know Kim and Noel? Yeah.
Would Kim and Noel be good podcast guests? Yes.
So. Right.
Yeah. Came in. Okay. Well, if you're listening, we.
This is an open invitation for you to come join us at the Beanie
Talks of Friends podcast, because you're doing wonderful things over there.
And Ava. Yeah. How long has beans and Company been around?
I don't know, years.
Yeah, a couple years.
I can't remember when they opened, but, before pandemic.
Nice.
Can you name some things that are on the menu?
What would I eat when if I would go there?
I like to get the shrimp tacos. Wow.
So they do shrimp tacos at being the company.
That's amazing. Sandwiches. Sandwiches.
Different coffee orders.
Yeah. Did it actually. Breakfast?
Ooh. Oh, pastries and espresso.
My two. My favorite things.
Wow. Shrimp tacos. Interesting.
Do they do chicken tacos? Fish tacos.
How many shrimp? Just shrimp.
Nice over there.
And Avon beans and company.
And then everyone belongs.
What do you think that means? Is everyone. Belong?
Yeah. I agree. Yeah.
Everyone belongs.
And Beans company
is doing a great thing welcoming everyone and being fully inclusive.
So shout out to Carmen Noel. You got a great thing going.
I'm very happy to visit you. Yeah.
I was going to visit you this Saturday, but you're busy, right?
What do you got this Saturday?
There's some games for Special Olympics.
Whoa.
Summer games and you're swimming?
Yeah.
What are you swimming?
The 400 freestyle.
400. How many laps is 16?
Wow. 16 laps?
Yeah, that's a half a mile.
Oh, because.
No, 18, 18 laps is half a mile.
I think 36 is a full, full mile.
I did it, it's 25 yards.
Yeah, but I be swimming.
It's hard for 16 laps.
It takes me 30 minutes. How long does it take.
You under eight minutes.
Under eight minutes.
Wow. Are you,
Ledecky.
It was.
Susie Ledecky. Is it?
I'm a. Swimmer.
Ledecky.
Anyway, famous swimmer for the Olympics.
So you going to do this.
Yes 16. Times.
Yeah. And flip trends.
Do you flip turns to
now what's the trick to doing flip turns.
Just tuck hard and hold on.
Tuck hard in.
But then do you
do you flip when you see the black line in the middle pool at the back?
I mean, at the end? Yeah.
That's when you start your turn. Yeah. All right.
I got to start doing those.
Yeah. When did you close. You had you had.
Don't want to do that. I.
Will Sandy thank you so much for being here.
I'm going to chat with Sandy a little bit.
Sandy is at forever favor.
Oh, favor. I'm going to get it.
I'm going to get it.
So not again, my name is Eric Feeney, founder
and president of Friends of Feeney.
And this I use this podcast,
Feeney talks with friends, and I talk to wonderful
people that are doing great things in the community.
And, Sandy, you've been doing wonderful things for the past ten years at Bay bar.
As the competitive employment coordinator.
We have some sponsors here. We're at loon.
No, we're not at Luna Pizza, but sometimes we're at Luna Pizza.
This is maximum beverage there.
A sponsor Luna Pizza is a sponsor, Direct Line
Media, Stephania and Dave, their sponsors, Brooke Golf,
the fix, Ivy float
41, Parkville management, Sally and Bob, do you ever go to Sally and Bob's?
Sally and Bob's People's Bank
are our sponsors. And West Hartford Lock.
So with West Hartford Lock, what are three keys that make you great
at being the competitive employment coordinator?
Three keys.
I would say,
being able to read people is very important.
You can, tell when someone is
struggling or unsure of themselves, based on their body language.
So being able to pick up on those small changes to the body language is important.
I would say the.
Verbal social cues. Yeah.
Being having
high expectations is extremely important
when we expect great things, great things happen.
So definitely having high expectations.
I love it.
And, being easy to talk to, it was probably another one.
Because they tarde. Right?
Projects are just hard.
They're going through a lot.
And so being able to have
that balance of being able to have a conversation with the individuals,
as well as being their manager and their boss, is a difficult thing
and something that's very important for their learning process.
Nice.
We got the three keys reading by the,
nonsocial or non verbal cues,
holding high expectations I love that.
That's awesome.
And being able
to have conversations and help them grow. Yep.
That's awesome three keys.
Thank you for your three keys. I think you're doing a great job.
I just saw oh I printed out your.
So I went and Faber's Instagram page.
You got this new position August 3rd, 2024.
So almost a year in August, it'll be a full year. Yeah.
You work with program search now?
Search is caps or project.
Is that a is that a, acronym for something to target search.
Cool. Yeah.
25 competitive employed individuals a favor and you're one of the 25.
We're now up to, 30.
Nice. Yep.
How does someone get involved and enroll to project search?
We hold information sessions starting in the fall for the following year.
And so somebody, was interested.
They can just reach out to me, via email or my cell phone,
and, Yeah, they attend an information session.
They can also go to favors website.
And under a productive day,
there is, project search and they can inquire through there.
And I got you done as s Fenimore at fe bar.org.
Correct.
That's s f and I m r e
at favor f avr h
that work that exposure, right.
And probably messed that up and that sort of list of mistakes today.
And you have a number here 860.
It's not your personal cell phone is a cell
6798980.
So call Sandy.
She's a good friend.
Sandy will get you a job. Right?
Yes. Sandy will train you. Yes.
So that number will get you to Keegan.
That's my assistant manager.
That's our project search office number.
Cool. Project search number.
What? What got you involved?
What made you want to be a competitive employment coordinator?
I've just always been doing it for the past ten years.
And prior to, working for favor, I was working at a grocery store,
and obviously favor paid more and I went in and I was really good at it.
It was just my niche.
And I've grown ever since with favor.
Nice.
Very cool.
So, yeah, you're a coach, you're a teacher, you're a mentor.
Our last guest, Susan, a Verna, wrote a book called fabric.
Be the coach and build the culture every athlete needs.
But she said it can work for students.
Parents. Right. So you want to.
Fabric is an acronym I. It was pretty cool.
It stands for focus, awareness, belonging, repair,
intentionality and curiosity and compassion.
So fabric and then Witness in Wonder is another great book.
So I we have a recommendation portion but a little early.
But these are great books.
You should check out.
So Susan wrote those and I think that would really align with what you're doing. So
and you have a 98% graduate rate.
Placement rate.
Oh placement rate.
Wow. That's impressive. Yes.
How does that happen?
A lot of hard work that the interns do.
And we will, work with them closely throughout the year
to figure out what their interests are and what their skills are, and help develop
those skills that they might not have and want or need.
And then we work, go out into the community
and through things like this, we can find some placements,
you know, and inclusive employment is not a common thing.
It's not as common as it should be.
Everywhere should be inclusive.
And so we go out and we find companies who are willing to hire individuals,
and they also just apply and get the job, that's all.
So it's just a lot of work now.
Do you have companies?
Are you looking for companies that would be more inclusive? Yes.
So we're always looking for companies who would like to hire individuals.
And we can help with,
diversity training as well as onboarding and training of the individuals.
We vet the individuals.
So, typically I would meet with the company and find out
what their needs are and find an individual who meets
that needs and the needs of the company meet their individual's needs,
because it needs to be mutually exclusive.
And we fully understand that concept and that need.
We never want somebody to just hire because, you know, that never works.
They're always the first fired.
So we want it to be mutually beneficial to both the company and the individual.
Wow. Yeah.
My, sponsors are very open
minded, good friends, and I feel like that'd be a good fit.
I mean, you could work at Luna Pizza or Sally and Bob's or Parkville
market has a wonderful opportunities, so maybe we can talk about that.
Yeah.
I put you in connection with some really good people
and some great businesses left that would would be willing to collaborate.
That's awesome.
Great partnership now. So cool.
Perfect.
Right Chloe. Yeah.
What do you like better swimming or grooming horses.
You know stuff.
Or guinea pigs.
To make it harder.
Yeah.
So no can't even pick one new. Wow.
Which one would you like to talk about first.
Your choice.
Who you know. Swimming.
Well how about this picture. Let's do one more swimming.
Pick this from three metals.
That's really good.
Maybe we'll do a color photo. Right.
The fun.
You ready?
Boom. Color photo stuff.
What's the add in after.
It's going to be great.
So tell us about the.
Tell us about your metals, Chloe.
I don't remember. I was like ten years ago.
It really was.
Actually, it was 12 years ago.
And you don't look that different, though.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
She looks a little more mature.
And you are very mature now.
So that's swimming.
How about grooming horses for the Special Olympics at the Farmington Polo Club?
That starts in a couple of weeks.
Oh, which favorite part about that.
Being around the horses.
Do you have a favorite horses name.
No. Can you name some horses.
That's like Secretariat.
Yeah.
Funny side.
There's like 30 whiskey Starbucks. No.
No. Those are a couple of horses from my camp that I worked at. Hi.
Meadow de Campo.
Oh, that's so cool.
So grooming horses?
Yep. Is there a trick to brushing a horse?
Can you go in both directions?
Yes. You can, but you had to go with the.
Where the hell?
Yeah, with the hair. Gotcha.
Should you walk around a horse?
No, no.
Always stay near the horse's.
Where? But but right head.
Stay away from there. But. Right.
Yeah. No one get kicked. No.
Stay away from the butt.
All right, so then, now guinea pigs.
Come on. Tell us about these guinea pigs.
I have two at home.
What's their name?
Violet and Java.
And what do they look like?
What do they enjoy doing?
Eating, sleeping, making noise,
cuddle time.
Do you know my daughter's had a guinea pig
and they got this wonderful, beautiful pig cage.
Do you know who gave it to me?
You know.
That was awesome. Yeah. Thank you for that.
Yeah, it was really nice. You were a good friend that day. Yeah.
Our models be a good friend.
Pick up trash, hold the door, give them a compliment.
And you were. And.
Yeah, you were being, generous and you sharing.
So thank you for that. Like,
My daughter still love it.
We had Eleanor Roosevelt, the guinea pig.
And I forgot the other one.
Yeah, but.
They're they're with a really good friend now.
But thank you for that.
Really nice of you guinea pigs.
You like guinea pig, Sandy?
I had few growing up.
Yeah. Oh, how about Sandy?
Tell us about Shaunie and Stevie and Mila.
Mike, those are my two pitbulls mixes.
And my cat.
Stevie is three, Sean is one.
And my last three.
Got it.
Like a pet shop owner.
Yeah, yeah.
You got you have dogs? Two poodles. Yeah.
And poodles.
How many? Two. So.
Jolene and Hazel.
We have birds and iguanas now, you.
Know, we give the bird away.
Okay?
To a good friend, but.
So you have two dogs, two guineas.
And a lot of fish. And fish.
And a frog that one day.
Oh, a he's like him.
He's almost 20 years old. Oh.
The fish. Yeah, the frog.
Like frog.
Frog with the good life. You know.
Wow. Now you guys got some good things going on with the pets,
with the job search beans and company favor. Yes.
Horseback riding.
Horseback riding was do ride.
What style horseback riding do you do?
I do Western English.
Nice.
And sometimes when the horse gets tired
and we do bareback as is, like his cool off.
Cool off on the bareback.
I give you a lot of credit.
You wear a helmet, right?
That'd be safe.
Do you ever practice emergency dismount?
Oh, do. Ever.
So you definitely do the brushing, dude.
Clean the. Hose. Yeah. Brush the tail.
Yeah.
But isn't like his belly. Don't brush the belly.
No because that's how I got kick one time.
Oh no.
Can have that.
So right.
So we're going to play another game.
So you're at Project Search.
With Sandy during the year you had your activities
maybe Sandy and you guys could collaborate on this.
It's called first last best worst.
What was the first thing you did in Project Search.
The last thing you did.
The best thing that you did and the worst thing that you did?
Project search I don't know. That there's a worse.
And no, that's a good answer. Good answer, good answer.
First, last, best, worst go.
Do you remember the first thing you did?
We walk in. Yep. And you met everyone.
No matter what.
And we don't know where we were going.
So we went to the project search office.
That was the first thing we did was learn how to get.
To the office. Yeah.
What was the last thing you did a project search.
Graduate. Now.
Well that's coming up that, that will be the last thing.
Yeah.
But the last thing you did because Chloe's been employed
for the last couple weeks, so, she graduated.
Yeah. You know, before then.
And so the last thing you did was probably hand out your thank you cards.
Yeah, we do handwritten thank you cards for all of our mentors.
Because they give so much and teach so much to you guys.
Right.
And what else do we give them a jar of.
Alums. Jar of candy.
What's better. Yeah.
And then what's the best thing you think.
Now was your favorite part.
I can't help you with this one.
No, no.
Making friends, eating food, having a party.
Somebody maybe that you learned.
Which one?
Party? Party?
Party is always the best.
Yeah, but I love that I make that recommendation
to all my listeners the handwritten note. So that.
Thank you note, it goes a long way.
Yeah. It's not typed. It's not text.
It's a did you write it by hand?
Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty funny that you.
Yeah. Listen, takes me a bunch too.
Yeah. You should invest in erasable pens.
Go to cricket.
Cricket makes a shout out to cricket.
Press in erasable pens.
It really saves me with my thank you notes because I buy these nice cards.
You mess up one time, you got to waste the whole carton. You.
But now the erasable pen.
2 to 2.
But, definitely,
a lot of my listeners have been doing handwritten notes to mailing letters now.
Handwritten notes.
So good job on that. Hey, I like that forever.
Good job. Sandy.
So first last, you're about to graduate.
First walking into a room, meeting everyone.
Do you like a best friend?
Did you meet a friend there?
A couple.
You know, some people come in.
I knew some. They call.
Ryan Logan.
Shout out to Ryan and Lo, right?
Yeah, yeah. Scott.
Nice,
I love it.
So we're bouncing around.
Ready for some more questions now.
So you're at Project Search.
Which is on can
can Connecticut.
It's at UConn Health in Farmington.
Oh. What's this 225 Commerce drive can address.
Oh that's favorable. Yes.
But you you report where.
So I was reporting to UConn every day until my recent promotion in August.
And now I report to can.
And Keegan is the day to day site instructor at Project Search.
So I just oversee the program. I'm there for support.
Gotcha.
I come in and have lunch.
This is great.
It's one of my favorite, my best parts.
I have a lunch with them.
Lunch is my favorite two at school. Yeah.
Well, not lunch duty, but.
Oh, that's cool. So it's in favor? Yep.
Oh, yeah.
Three graduated from UConn on June 4th, 2024.
It was in the news.
That was cool, I saw that.
Do you have a favorite moment with a teacher?
Favorite moment with Sandy.
Or Keegan.
Or Keegan? No.
Probably lunch.
Having lunch with them.
What are some foods that you eat at lunch?
She usually.
Oh man.
With Wednesday's lunch, I want to come over sushi for lunch and burgers.
Burgers and sushi fries. One.
Sign me up for this program.
All right.
So next question.
Do you have a favorite restaurant.
No. No.
What's your favorite food?
Sushi and chicken sandwiches.
Do you have a favorite restaurant?
I don't know that I have a favorite restaurant.
That favorite food I like pizza.
I so you guys are eating pizza you have you could eat with four guests
anywhere in the world, any time in history
for people who are are you going to eat with at your dinner?
Sushi? Pizza?
I know it could be famous.
Singers, athletes, presidents, moms.
Dads. Sisters. Brothers.
Yes. Hug.
Well, we are on the spot. You have to answer.
So we're.
I'm from around the Phoenix.
So this is episode 140.
And the people need to know.
Who are you in? We're Khloe.
Paul, my family. Okay. Yeah.
Tracy.
Olivia, George and George is dad's name George?
Those are your three people. You're and.
And maybe Sandy.
Who? Ian was, Probably my grandma, my mom, my sister.
Family.
We'll probably go to Italy for pizza.
Get that real pizza. Yeah.
The real sauce.
You like the sauce?
What's Tracy's all right.
So we have a common friend Tracy Roberts.
My mom. My favorite people in the world.
Give me something. How's Tracy at home.
Good, nice.
What's her favorite things to do
besides drive you around? Yeah.
Cook for you, clean for you, take care of you.
Anything else?
Tracy's amazing.
She's a good friend.
We help, we deliver food together.
We take.
We work at school together.
Great pairs.
Great person. Yeah. You know Tracy pretty well.
Oh, yeah.
Best nurse. Best nurse. Yeah, absolutely.
Tracy Roberts, she's a good friend.
Any funny Tracy stories?
Come on, give me something.
Oh, no. Never.
No, I wish I had one.
Let's see.
Tracy.
Nope, nope. No, no.
Oh this is Stephania.
Episode 123.
Stephania.
Do you like superheroes?
Yeah. Do you have a favorite superhero?
No, a lot of favorites.
A lot of favorite questions here.
Batman and
the flash.
Oh, Sandy.
I'd say the Flash or era. Yeah.
I was the good ones.
I was episode 123.
Go back and check it out
now. This is great. So,
beans and company.
So you work from 8 to 12?
That's four. Hours. Yeah.
And a ten minute break.
Are you standing the whole time.
Oh she's constantly moving the whole time.
Yeah I've been around a lot.
There's a lot of Disney.
Do you also have to go get the dishes. No.
Are they brought to you. Yeah.
Do you have the rubber pad or are you standing on the rubber pad.
Yeah. That helps your back. No, no. Yeah.
Well your back still hurt.
Well there's also leaning into the sink.
Yes. Our we'll have to work on posture.
Got to keep your core tight.
Yeah.
Keep your core tight. Yeah.
Try to bend at the waist.
For me.
Chloe.
Korea's grown so much that she started working at beans.
Yeah.
It's truly amazing. Yeah.
The first day was awkward.
Yeah.
Clay's never done dishwashing like this before.
You know, the dishwashing that we do at home is very different, right?
What were some of the struggles you had on your first day?
Making a lot of noise, banging on the desk.
Like the dishes.
The pans on there were big and awkward and knowing how to hold them.
And so they didn't drop and make noise.
And you know when to use the sprayer, when not to use the sprayer.
They like big cookie trays too.
Yeah. Yeah, a lot of that.
The cookie tray and it spills all over you.
I've had that happen to me. No
no no oh no no.
You have the sprayer. Yeah yeah. The suds off. Yeah.
Spray my I. In the dry drying place. Nice.
Like I dip it in this in the sink.
Three different sinks. Right.
Yeah.
Oh yeah. The three sinks. Yeah.
And then you put them in the dry. Yeah. Yeah.
And you know from that awkwardness to today where she killed it,
she was carrying on.
She was kicking. But today.
It's so. Absolutely.
That's great.
She needed no help from the coach today.
She did it completely independently.
Yes. Yeah.
You can do it I knew it, yeah.
Great job. Chloe.
Now, are you the only one
washing the dishes back there, or do you have a partner team?
No. Me?
It's one at a time. Yeah.
We have three individuals that work there. Yeah.
What were
some of them do me remember any of the dishes
that you had like that came through like one to wash today.
Bowls mixing bowls.
There's often a lot of mixing bowls.
Yeah.
The Sizzler plates. Yes the plates.
Lhotse.
I know a lot of pots, a. Lot of pots.
So you're washing stuff that is made the cooking supplies too.
Yeah. Right. So. And baking. Yeah.
Muffin pans. Yeah.
A muffin pans.
The worst you have. Get in there
then you can't rinse them, right?
Yeah.
I feel your pain.
Actually, I wash dishes.
This morning I woke up and wash dishes
in honor of Chloe, and I was like, Chloe's coming on the podcast.
I'm doing these for Chloe. Yeah.
Yeti glass is also very challenging.
You got to. Can't get your hand in there.
Yeah. Did a couple of those today.
Blender today?
Oh, you did a blender. Be very careful.
What are we being careful of?
The sharp edges. Smart.
Say you know you got it.
Have you cleaned the food processor yet too?
Yeah. Yeah.
That's good to watch the blades. Yeah.
And the graters.
High and cheesy. Yeah.
We don't go down.
We go up.
Oh, yeah.
Smart. Yep.
Beans and company.
Do you know where they got their name? Beans and company.
Know who? Do you know more.
Do you know, Kim or Noel?
Both.
I got kimono.
Well, right here.
Kim. Morrison.
Noel. Alex.
Who do you know better?
Who do you interact with more?
Do you see Kim a lot more or Noel can. Kim.
How is she?
Good. Good, boss.
Nice. Yeah.
Kim and Noel, they're coming on the podcast.
Right.
I'm going to have to go talk to them.
You tell them.
Hey, say, I met Eric Feeney and Eric Feeney said he wants you to be a guest.
Yeah.
This is my. Oh, this.
Who's this person right here?
He. Sandy.
Sandy, then my guy right here, David Dukas.
I play basketball with him.
So I was really excited to see him.
Sandy, you got anything on David?
Yeah, he's a great guy.
We worked together on all worked.
It's an initiative to help businesses
find, become an inclusive workplace.
So. Okay, they go to all worked.
So all worked.
These guys are a mixed bunch from all different things come together. Yes.
Oh. Very cool.
And he's.
Is he the director of KT works or is he.
Oh, no.
He's the director of Connecticut Department of Aging, Disability Services.
Cool.
No, this is great, I love that.
How often does this KT works meet.
We meet weekly.
And then the team gets together every month.
So promise you'll tell him.
You know, you met Eric. Feeney I will.
And then tell him he once elbowed me and my chest and my head wants to.
He gets a little.
But you probably don't see that.
Don't pretend I didn't say that part but good baller.
Yeah. Was really talented.
You know still really really good.
Obviously Father Time gets us all, but
you know, what can you do?
How was your day today? Come on.
How was your memorial day? That was. Good.
What'd you do on Memorial Day?
We had hot dogs and hamburgers, and then me, my mom.
My mom took four hours to change the guinea pig room around.
Nice to do.
Different spot because I was getting dirty in that little spot.
So she changed it to the other spot, and now we're not happy.
Oh, you know, screaming at me like, mom, help me.
I'm like, mellow.
Yeah.
I now not a happy
life.
And then today they got stuck today in the house.
What are you going to do?
I was not there because I was not the living room.
How was your memorial day?
It was. Good. Spent time with family.
Nice.
I just want to shout out we marched in the West Hartford Memorial Day parade.
These are our shirts.
We honored Lieutenant Rick Wells from the United States Marines.
Doctor Wells is also a West Hartford teacher.
The marine motto was honor, courage and commitment.
We had some wonderful sponsors on the back.
We had a post parade pizza party at Luna.
Luna Pizza.
You ever have a Luna pizza is good.
Oh, yeah. Luna pizza's good, right.
So Luna pizza.
Great place.
Their sponsor Alex's at the so 70.
Great person.
He'll he's very open and would be willing to talk with you about some employment.
They've our projects search.
Well, now
I teach third grade.
How would you explain what you do
to a third grader?
I would tell them that I teach young adults
who need some additional training and support
to, I teach them the skills
and, techniques or tasks
that they need to be able to get a job and work the job.
And keep the job.
So whether that's interviewing
or talking to their boss,
requesting days off, things like that.
How do I do.
Good.
Oh did you put in for a day off for Saturday.
So did you write a note or did you talk to your boss boss.
And did you approach him and say excuse me boss, can I talk to you?
Is it okay if I take the day off for my swimming 16 laps
in eight minutes?
And what did she say?
She said okay, nice.
That's great.
Beans and company.
Shout out to Beans and company.
Yeah, I got to get one of these shirts.
Did do they have these on sale in the place?
Yeah.
Because they were no longer on the website.
So I'm going to come see you. I'm.
What colors do they have?
Green, black, blue.
I'll be there.
Cool.
We did our three keys. Oh.
Do you have a on?
I ask you a lot of favorites.
Oh. What's what what makes Sandy
good at her job?
Now you're putting her on the spot.
Yeah.
You know, no.
She nice? Yes.
And she funny? Yes. She friendly.
Nice. Funny. Friendly. Yeah.
You hear that, Sandy? Look at that. I was
that was nice that you said that.
Very nice.
Thanks, Chloe.
Yeah, I come.
And how is Chloe now?
What's Chloe's what's the name of their position
when they're in the program?
Are they a student?
Are they. Intern? Intern. All right, that.
Was the, Like, we don't talk about it as a school.
It's work.
We don't go to a classroom. It's an office.
They're not students. They're interns.
Interns?
Good. At.
And she'd be an intern at Project Search. Yes.
But graduating.
Yeah. Next week.
This Wednesday. Wednesday.
Oh, and two days later.
We're celebrating our 10th year.
It's a big milestone.
We were the first in the state to have project search.
And so we're really excited.
We invited back a lot of graduates.
Some of the. Previous year.
Wow. How many people are graduating on Wednesday?
Five. Five.
And Chloe's one of them.
Nice.
Are you excited?
Come on. Give us your speech.
I don't know when I'm going to be a group.
Oh we. Roberts. Oh.
Oh it's a group speech.
Yeah. Yeah.
Can you end it and say
I want everyone to be a good friend.
Everyone belongs be a good friend.
We can work that in.
Yeah. Yes.
Maybe I'd ask your mom if you said it on Wednesday.
What time on Wednesday? 330.
Nice. Where?
Munchkin road.
At UConn.
What's at UConn
now? The UConn near, like the health center
across the street from butchers and bakers, like in that street or.
The other side.
So it's on Munson Road.
On Munson Road. Gotcha.
Nice. Now.
Oh, we could do would you rather you haven't you ever do.
Would you rather
like, would you rather drink
orange juice or apple juice.
Orange.
Orange orange. Orange.
What about.
Would you rather.
What is it?
Have your hair.
Your hair never stop growing.
Or your fingernails never stop growing.
Hair. Hair?
Yeah.
Would you rather play every instrument or speak every language?
Ooh, speak every language.
We have a language. Yeah.
Would you rather be able to,
Talk to animals or turn into an animal?
I talk to animals already.
Yeah. But, at least then I'd know what they're saying.
Back to all day animals. Yeah, yeah.
Good one, good one.
Do you like sparkling water or flat water?
Sparkling flat. Flat.
Pepsi or Coke? Coke. Coke.
LeBron James or Kobe Bryant?
I think you got us there.
Yeah. I love it.
Would you rather would you rather be at favor or Special Olympics?
Special Olympics?
Oh, would you rather ride a horse or swim?
Both.
So you're tough, cookie, I try.
That's the second time I try that. Get you that
you didn't fall for it.
You didn't fall for it.
Anything I missed
about project search that you'd like to share?
How can we get more people involved?
So we are looking for businesses to start a project search.
We've been looking for a second site.
We're hoping in the Bristol area.
It needs to be a large company.
You know, to be able to accommodate internships.
So if any business is interested, that would be fabulous.
We have eight
incoming interns for the fall, so we're full at UConn.
Wow, wow,
wow. Do you have
interns come back and talk to the former interns?
I give a speech.
Yeah, we did that this year, right? Yeah.
Who came back?
Do you remember, Nick?
Nick has been in the office.
Yeah.
Marcus came back and talked to them.
Marcus, talked to you guys about, apartment and independent living.
He recently got his apartment.
He's also one of the only individuals I know that can turn
a 15 hour workweek into a 40 hour workweek.
He loves working.
And, Yeah.
And then Shante came back.
Shante voice for deeds.
She's a self-advocacy coordinator.
So she talked about ad advocacy with the group.
Oh, nice.
Project search, I love it.
What was your role prior to that? You.
So you had a, I was a direct support professional in the beginning,
and then I became the project search site instructor manager.
That's what DSP stands for right here. Yeah.
Direct supports. Okay.
Yeah.
You express with enthusiasm.
I'm passionate about what I do, and I see this as an exciting new chapter. Yes.
Sandy said that.
Does that sound like something Sandy would say?
And then you graduated from Wksu? Yes.
And you got your masters at North Central University?
Yes. Yeah. Where's that? Online. Oh, cool.
Very cool. And would you get marketing?
Yes. Nice.
Would you get your bachelor's in marketing? Marketing.
Would you get your master's in marketing?
Marketing. So you like marketing? Yes.
Big marketing.
Fair.
What's the best thing about marketing?
How do you use marketing in the position that you're in?
Things like this.
I market the program I market to individuals.
I help them put their best foot forward,
advertise themselves in a positive way.
Help grow the program I'm in.
The program started with three interns and a pilot program when I came on.
And, we then had seven and grew
to 20 internships from maybe five.
So it's all about marketing it.
And, our success rate has a huge part of that, too, because,
you know, we've placed close to 60 individuals
in employment, and that is all about marketing.
The resume is a marketing. Yep.
No. It's great.
We I mentioned to to your mom, right.
And then I mentioned it to you and then that's how it got to you.
Yeah.
Yeah. Perfect. I'm so happy that you're here.
Word of mouth marketing.
Marketing word of mouth. He. It's good.
Now that word, the word spreading.
Know you're doing great things.
I'm so happy to talk with you. You are the.
They got to change this competitive employment coordinator.
I joke with the interns because I always talk about my first job,
and my first job was chuck-e-cheese.
It was CSI, and now I am CSI again.
So I started my career as a CSI.
And we talk about first jobs because it's not what you know, it's who you know.
And, a lot of the times and we talk about where we start
and where we end up, and that first job we get
may not be the career, but it is a good job.
And we grow and then we help them find the next job or their career.
Yeah I was a paper boy.
I delivered papers, and then I worked at 7-Eleven like Slurpees
and made hot dogs, and took out the trash and wiped and mopped the floor.
So, got to start somewhere.
And now I clean up messes,
mop the floor in my classroom
surrounded by 21 year olds.
And it's amazing.
And I hear Mr. Feeney, Mr.
Feeney, Mr.
Feeney, 200 times a day.
No, for for for Feeney. So.
Oh. For for for Feeney.
So how old are you?
I would do that. Yeah. 37.
Okay, that's. I think that's the wheelhouse.
So. Yeah.
Eric, my first name's Eric.
Yeah.
And the neighbor was Eric, Mr. Feeney.
Oh, yeah.
I have a shirt that says it's a offense
and it says a speech bubble for for for Feeney over it.
And back in the day, that was my ringtone.
For from the only time someone noticed I,
UberEats guy brought something to school, he's like, oh, here's your food.
I met him at the front door.
He's like, You're Mr.
Feeney, and you work at a school.
I'm like, yeah, he's my uncle.
He goes, for real.
I was like, yeah, buddy, it's my uncle.
It's a character on TV. Oh yeah.
It's like, Will William
forgot his real name.
But Mr. Feeney.
Yes. For for for Feeney,
you're like boy meets World. Yeah.
How about girl Meets World? Yes. Topanga.
You name some other characters.
You know any other Cory characters? Riley.
Yeah.
Riley.
Maya.
Oh, this is cool.
Oh, sure. Oh, yeah.
The neighbor Shawn. He's another guy.
What's Mr.
Feeney's motto for life?
They tells the students,
hey, do good.
Go be great or something.
Yeah, yeah.
Remember that one? All right, too good.
Be great.
Oh, how do we get involved?
Become a UConn health host department.
Email a mentor, conduct the life, employment, skills course.
What do you think?
Agency partners.
Are you working with Arc?
Oh, ten public schools.
So region ten is one of the schools that.
A region ten.
That we work with?
We work with a number of different schools.
And region ten.
It's in Harrington. Okay.
They were one of our founding partners, with for Project Search
and then the Department of Rehab services, or BRS and DDS and,
UConn and save.
I really hope I'm not forgetting somebody.
Babar.
To 1958.
Farrar has been around since 1958.
That's older than me.
Callie, I know you're looking at me. You like you? Probably older than that.
No, I'm not older than that. You,
I was born in 78.
How old? How old am I? Do the math.
Okay. 46.
Good job. Got there. 46.
How old are you, Chloe?
25. 25.
Wow. I've known you for a long time.
Do you know Olivia used to be my girl's babysitter?
Yeah.
Well. Grades. Olivia.
Now can you College sophomore.
Junior. Senior. Almost senior.
She's a senior.
Almost almost a senior in Colorado, right? Yeah.
Writing grants grant writer, right?
No, maybe. I don't know. You like whatever.
It's my big little sis who knows? Yes.
No, but, Olivia was a great babysitter.
Yeah.
You would drop off and pick up sometime.
Yeah. So nice.
I've known you for a long time.
At least 12 years, maybe ten, 10 or 12 years.
You're a good kid.
You're 25 now. Wow.
What's the average age of your interns?
About 20 to 25.
Nice.
We don't have a cap either, so the youngest can be 18.
We've had a few 18 year olds come to the program.
The oldest was 40.
Nice.
Hey, gotta get a job.
That's the word of the day.
Job. Job?
Beans and company.
I'll be there.
I can't eat shrimp.
They. I'll get something else.
What if I can't get shrimp.
What else should I get.
Sandwiches.
Yeah.
Brooke Daley my former well Fin Daley was my student
Brooke Daley gave me a gift card.
Did I mention this on the pad.
Yeah I'm getting I'm going to go.
I've never been but I'm going to use my gift card.
Thanks to Brooke.
She was podcast guest like 17.
But she's great.
So thank you for the beans and company.
Where else are your other interns being employed?
So she's at Beans and Company. Where are your other ones?
So I have another one at Beans and Company. Okay.
And then there's Naples Pizza.
Oh, and fork and Fire restaurant.
Oh, Farmington.
There's one that works at both of them.
There's Walgreens, and one
just got employed at, UConn as a telecom operator.
That's great.
I'm so happy to hear Naples. Great pizza.
Yes, ma'am.
Fort Kent fire. Great food too.
Yeah, that's the one right around the corner.
Right there in the same little cup. Yeah.
Very nice.
Yeah.
One of my former students from the school.
Rogers. What's her name?
She's works there too, but, yeah. No. Great.
Naples pizza.
When I first moved to West Hartford, I was.
I would drive to Naples Pizza for the pizza because we moved from New Haven.
So we.
That's my neck of the woods to West Haven. Oh nice.
Where do you go for pizza in New Haven.
Peppers.
Or what about as a party. Yeah.
Because that's. No, that's our Sally's.
It's our East Haven now. There's West Haven.
Oh. Which pizza.
Buffalo chicken.
Oh go ahead, let's go.
That was you know, game day Connor from the yard goats.
No that's his favorite pizza.
Buffalo chicken.
Good one.
Now he likes buffalo Buffalo chicken ranch.
Yeah that's a good one too.
Wow. Anything you like to share Chloe.
How's it going again.
Any closing remarks recommendations.
Any books that you're reading?
No TV shows, podcasts are.
Not okay.
Swim 16, 16 laps to Saturday.
Yeah.
Graduation.
New Haven in New Haven at Southern Connecticut University.
That's where I went. I'm a fighting owl.
Hoot, hoot.
And you're central.
Central? That's the Blue Devils.
Yes. Way cooler than any owl
marketing major Sandy Fenimore, from favor.
Hey, we're going to fix that up in the beginning.
When I chop that up. Favor?
Any closing remarks or recommendations or.
Just if you're looking for a job, favors hiring.
I'm hiring for job coaches.
So if you care about population and want to make a difference
in somebody's life, fill out an application or hiring.
For a job.
Coaches like similar. What?
Your DSP position?
Yep. So we're hiring in residential.
So it could be the independent apartments or going into somebody's house
doing in-home supports or group homes or hiring for day
programs, group supported employment, which is similar to a job coach.
And then I'm hiring as well for a couple of job coaches.
Great.
And our board of Ed department is hiring.
So we have a transition program, Riverbend Transition Academy at Kansas.
So we're also hiring for somebody there.
Next lot busy.
Yes, a lot of openings.
Doing great things.
We're growing like crazy.
That's so happy to hear Chloe.
The the growing. Yeah.
Thanks to wonderful people like you.
He he. Your hard work makes it all happen.
Right? Yep.
Beans and company.
Thank you.
Beans and company.
Thank you. Naples pizza fork and fire.
Walgreens.
Those are wonderful businesses.
I love to hear being people, being supportive
and collaborating, collaborating with people of all abilities.
That makes me excited to hear.
But Beans and Company is a special place.
You're doing special. Thanks so.
And Chloe, I can't congratulate
you enough on your bridge ceremony on Wednesday years.
I'm very excited for you.
You're a wonderful person, a good friend.
So I have. To send you pictures. Yes.
Please do. Yeah.
My mom do wear Crocs.
No. Well, you were crocs.
No. My giblets. And those are. Yes.
Be a good friend.
There's a sticker, the Van Gogh sticker, and some Crocs, but you can gift it.
Or maybe put it in your.
It also works on your lanyard.
So you can put it in your lanyard or your crock.
But I can't thank you enough.
I had a wonderful time learning more about the program.
They are.
The Arc of Farmington Valley Incorporated started in 1958.
We're here with the intern extraordinaire Chloe Roberts.
She's a swimmer.
She's,
works wonderful things with the horses and guinea pigs.
We're here with Sandy Fenimore.
She is the competitive employment coordinator.
Competitive?
It's like I'm going to get a job
I think of.
Well, some days I'm like that.
Yeah.
And thank you.
Favor for everything that you're doing.
Yeah.
We're going to say be a good friend on three.
Ready. Are you ready?
Oh wait wait wait wait wait wait.
Upcoming events. Upcoming events.
We have our cornhole event Saturday.
This won't come out by then but we have a yard
a Bristol Blues game July 12th.
All you can eat, all you can drink 25 bucks Bristol Blues on July 12th.
Please join us.
Then we have a Yard Goats game August 16th.
It's a Friday.
Maybe that's August 15th.
I'm terrible, but please join us for that.
And then our fourth annual golf tournament at Tonks.
That's September 13th. That's a Saturday.
Do golf know? Do you golf.
Do you like the yard goats?
I'm a.
Big sport person.
This is great.
I just want to throw on the upcoming events.
Now on three we're going to say be a good friend.
Ready? One, two three. Be a good. Friend.