Life At Home Of Hope
Our Mission is to empower people with disabilities. This is what it means.
-
There’s nothing extraordinary about Guy Bivins’ morning routine. Every weekday he wakes up at 5:45, takes a shower and gets dressed. He shaves. He makes his own breakfast and he eats. In short, he does what most of you do every morning before you go to work. After breakfast, he watches the news. He likes Channel 6. After the news, Guy leaves for work.
-
Guy works at the Woodshed, a local gas station and convenience store. He sweeps inside and outside, takes out the trash, cleans bathrooms, and does whatever else is needed. He loves his job because he gets to talk to people. As he puts it, “people like me!” He says it’s because he does a good job, and because he’s so friendly.
-
During his breaks, he reads travel books from the shelves. At 11:00, he stops and eats his lunch. Guy likes bologna sandwiches and chips. His workday ends at 2:30. He usually drops by Home of Hope’s snack bar after work and talks with friends before heading home for the evening.
-
Guy lives in his own home. He does his own laundry, then makes himself comfortable in his favorite chair and watches Channel 6 some more. He likes to color while he watches TV. He says it relaxes him.
-
Sometimes he rides his exercise bike before dinner, which he eats around 6:00 PM. After dinner, he puts his dishes in the dishwasher and takes out the trash. Then he might just watch TV some more, or depending on the evening he might go bowling, go to a Home of Hope dance or other activity, or just sit on his back porch and watch the birds on his bird feeders. If it’s too hot outside, he’ll just watch the birds from inside from that same favorite chair.
-
At 9:00, Guy sets his alarm clock for the next morning and goes to bed. He turns on FM 96 and listens to it while he goes to sleep.
-
Guy turns 63 in December. He loves the life he has, loves his job, enjoys the time he spends with others, and enjoys the time he spends on his own. He has the life and daily experiences most of us might expect, and might even take for granted. But Guy was born with physical as well as intellectual disabilities. His path to the life he leads was never a given.
-
He has a staff member who works with him at his house, making sure Guy has what he needs but never doing for Guy what Guy could do for himself. He has a job coach who takes him to work, is there whenever Guy might need help with a task or with knowing what to do next, and drives him home again at the end of the day. He has a team of people who help to make sure his plans for his own future are supported. He has family members who he visits on holidays and who stay involved to make sure the support he is given is what he needs.
-
Guy filled out the application for his job at the Woodshed himself, and interviewed for the job. He’s proud of that, just as he’s proud of everything else he does for himself and for others throughout the day. Behind the scenes, a full team of people work together every day to make sure he has that opportunity.
-
Guy is one of more than 250 men and women Home of Hope supports throughout northeastern Oklahoma, in homes, in work places, and through an incredible range of quality of life activities. Some are as independent as Guy, while others need more personal support with daily needs such as feeding and self-care. Each of them has a story. Each of them deserves as much independence as they can possibly achieve. And at Home of Hope, each of them has a team behind them, supporting them, encouraging them, and passionately working to give them as much dignity, independence, and opportunity for achievement as they can possibly achieve.