Peabody Reed Road residents give back

PEABODY-Joshua Olson is grateful for the care he receives as a developmentally disabled individual and for the chance he will have tonight to offer a helping hand at My Brother’s Table in Lynn.Olson, a 31 year-old Brookline resident, is joining four Reed Road volunteers who will be among 15 people serving meals to people who are less fortunate than they are.The Reed Road residents are Lois Wilcon, Bill Reid, Susan Wierzbicki and Tyrell Eskeridge. Reed Road is a group home run by TILL, Inc., (Toward Independent Living and Learning).Residents traditionally require help with all aspects of their own daily living, many living in group homes, and for that reason, they are proud to assume the role of helping other people.”The effort they put in and the satisfaction they get out of it is incredible,” said Betty Kirkorian, who has coordinated the volunteer program at My Brother’s Table for years, is in charge of Peabody’s TILL office.”Everybody has done for them and they know it and they want to contribute a little bit back. They have gotten an increased level of self esteem from volunteering in the community and having a different perspective of what life is like outside their particular home.” Olson is from Worcester but has lived in a group home in Brookline.”For me, going to the soup kitchen, I always come out of there with a different perspective on life,” said Olson. “We always think that we’ve got it bad, but there are people who have it worse? I think there are a lot of people that need help that never get it and when I can help them get that piece of help that they get denied on a daily basis, I think it’s worth it to make their day better.”A well-organized program established specifically to coordinate community service at TILL, encourages participation from about 200 individuals who live in 45 group homes within 30 communities.The program is designed to not only make them feel better about themselves, but to experience the meaningful joy of giving and providing something to the communities that have long-supported them.Involvement at My Brother’s Table four times a year is only one example of TILL’s community service. Last year, TILL individuals raised and donated more than $5,000 to the Walk for Hunger, the Lowell Cancer Walk, the Heifer Foundation, the Westboro Ambulance Fund, and a Braintree dance. Other efforts held across eastern Massachusetts are regarded as priceless – donating Mother’s Day gifts to a homeless shelter, running a car wash to support the Autism Project in Lynnfield, supporting animal shelters in their communities.The mission of TILL Inc. is to focus and expand on what their clients can do, not what they can’t.”Being part of a community involves interdependent relationships. The people supported by TILL take this philosophy seriously by reaching out and becoming part of the fabric that strengthens the communities in which they work and live,” said Dafna Krouk-Gordon, founder and president of TILL Inc.”Giving back is as important as knowing how to accept assistance graciously and respectfully. The volunteer projects in which TILL is involved strengthens the abilities of the people whom we support as well as highlights the abilities, not the disabilities, that tie us all together.”Paula Aiesi, who works specifically to coordinate the volunteer efforts as director of Community Connections, says volunteering adds a certain purpose and healthy perspective for individuals with developmental delays.”It’s community involvement, it’s giving back, but it’s also ownership of their involvement,” said Aiesi.”Anyone can raise money for anything, but people have been trying to find something that has meaning to the people we serve? (It answers the question of) What do you do that is a part of a whole that is maybe making a difference? And that is giving back.”Mary Magner, interim executive director at My Brother’s Table, describes a special chemistry between TILL individuals and those who come to be served.”We love ha