In December 1998, Steven F. joined Anthesis’ Work Activity Program; even though he was nervous because he had never been in a program before, Steven was excited to gain a new experience and make progress towards his goals. At the young age of 19, Steven had set his mind to gain independence, earn his own money, and find a job that aligns with his interests and passions.
Steven worked as a part of the Work Activity Program until 2011 and, during this time, a staff member noticed Steven’s interest in equipment parts. Soon, Steven was offered a part-time position assisting Richard Chatman, Anthesis’ Maintenance Technician. As Richard’s assistant, Steven was expected to repair yard crew equipment. Even though Steven had very little experience working on yard equipment, that didn’t stop him from learning. Steven used to work on cars with his grandpa, so he applied the knowledge learned from his time repairing cars and applied it to the yard equipment. Steven’s valuable experiences with his grandpa were helpful in his new job; as he explains it: cars have a similar structure to lawn equipment, just on a smaller scale. Richard took Steven under his wing and showed him even more detail on how to properly repair lawn equipment as well as our production equipment. Steven caught on quickly and was given his own area to work on the equipment independently. In that time, Steven was able to repair lawnmowers, blowers, hedge trimmers, and a weed eater. Steven explained, “[The experience was] pretty easy to pick up. But lawnmowers are kind of hard because there are different gaskets for different lawnmowers.” Steven took great pride in the skills learned while working as Richard’s assistant and turned those skills into a hobby that he does on his own time – Steven assists his neighbors in fixing their lawn equipment. He is continually improving his skill through a trial-and-error process and enjoys watching YouTube tutorial videos on how to fix lawn equipment. Steven is especially interested in working on lawnmowers because he “enjoy[s] paying attention to the small details of what makes a lawnmower run correctly.”
In 2011, Anthesis was given the opportunity to put together an enclave for the DoubleTree Hotel. Because of Steven’s reputation for being a hard worker and quick learner, Steven was offered a position as janitorial staff at the DoubleTree Hotel. For nine years, Steven worked at the DoubleTree Hotel until, unfortunately, the enclave was furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Steven joined the Yard Crew as a temporary move until he could be placed in a new position. With his experience and expertise in fixing lawn equipment, Steven was a great asset to the Yard Crew. Truth be told, Steven wasn’t happy with the change, but decided to stay positive and make the best out of this new job experience.
When Anthesis relocated to the new corporate office, the decision was made to hire a participant to support janitorial and general maintenance services. Knowing Steven’s job experience and abilities, Steven was the perfect candidate for this new role. On February 1st, Steven was hired by Anthesis as the Maintenance Assistant. Steven still has a long-term goal to work a job repairing lawn equipment; until then, Steven is excited to apply his skills and experience to his current role at Anthesis.