Randy enjoys working and giving back to the community. His attitude and adaptive techniques for vision loss enable him to work independently.
Randy is a personable, hardworking, responsible, and pro-active person, who happens to have severely impaired vision. He is also a long-time member of a country band, The Nite-Life Band, and he likes to help people, especially veterans and the elderly. Randy was born visually impaired, and he used Lighthouse services in 2015 after an accident caused him to lose more vision. Randy took our Independent Living Skills Program (IL) to regain his confidence and his sense of well-being.
Randy remembers his 2015 IL Program with gratitude—he felt out of touch with everything until he sat down with six of his peers, and realized he had more vision than many others and could do so much more with ease because of his life-long experience with vision loss. So, with this new-found sense of relief, he learned new ways of doing things, plus he encouraged others in his class. When he completed his IL training, he went on to train on computers using adaptive magnification technology. He was so relieved to be able to email his friends and family, and to use a computer independently. He was also assisted with obtaining a computer with adaptive software on it.
More recently, Randy joined our Job Club, which meets every two weeks at the Port Richey Lighthouse. It was during Job Club that he found a temporary position working at Pasco County Elderly Nutrition Center in a 10-week employment program. Randy maintains the kitchen, keeps it clean and organized, prepares food for the center’s patrons, trains volunteers and other workers so they are able to help in the kitchen as well, and he also helps with the center’s Meals on Wheels program. Randy loves working with Pasco County Elderly Nutrition Center—he says you feel like family when you are eating there, and he can’t say enough about the nutritionally-balanced meal each person receives.
In the next few weeks, Randy’s employment comes to an end. He has already started looking for a part-time position similar to the one he currently has. He comes with excellent references. Lighthouse’s Vocational Rehabilitation/Job Readiness Instructor Keith Smith says, “Randy was a great Job Club student. He was always eager to learn from others and very willing to share his knowledge and experience.” Tina Hausler at Pasco County Elderly Nutrition Center says Randy is a great employee because he is responsible, dependable, resourceful, helpful, and works independently. Employers interested in Randy can contact the Lighthouse for more information. People living with vision loss in Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus counties, who are in need of training to deal with the effects of vision loss on independence, confidence, and self-esteem, should also contact the Lighthouse.
Thank you for your consideration.