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THE JOURNEY / 2014 WINTER
A VOYAGE OF HONOR Larry Ballou Larry Ballou has been on a voyage for almost 40 years. He has obediently followed God’s course. Fierce winds have threatened the ship’s voyage, and most often these winds blew in at the eleventh hour. But with God’s humble and obedient captain at the rudder, funding sources were made available, as well as job opportunities. The ADAP Program sails on. A change is coming at the beginning of 2015. This ship will be docked just long enough for Larry to hand over the rudder to a new captain who God has selected to continue the voyage.
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ucked away in the tiny town of Lansing, an agency shines with opportunity and purpose for several special folks. This group of people proudly wears attributes that we all could use more of, especially in the workplace. These include pure happiness, innocence, unconditional love, and positive regard. Their work ethic is alive in their attitudes everyday. They feel blessed to count themselves employed, and appreciate their job opportunities. They don’t drag their feet in dread, but show up, eager and with a full on positive attitude at ADAP (Adult Developmental Activity Program). Thankfully, the director of this program has remained steadfast and shares his influences that have empowered him to share many blessings with this very special population. Born the third of four children, it would be a number of years before I and my siblings would realize what a blessing God had gifted us in the form of parents. Our mom and dad personified the word “service,” and would pass that attribute along to each of their children. Bill and Opal Ballou had married following his term of service in the U.S. Army during World War II, which included a period of several months incarceration in a German Prisoner of War camp. That experience would have a lasting effect on my father, and motivated him throughout his adulthood to try to make life better for others. Following their marriage, the young couple moved to Winston-Salem where they worked and began their
family, returning to Ashe County for the birth of each child. Following my first year in grade school, our family moved back to Ashe County where they established their family home. That home was no more than a quarter mile from my maternal grandparents, where I would enjoy many meals, overnight stays and lots of opportunities to work on my grandfather’s little farm. In addition to my grandparents, there was a third member of that household: my uncle Darrell. All of my other uncles had their own homes, but Darrell, a grown man, was still in the care of my grandparents - he had been born with Down’s Syndrome and an intellectual disability, as well as speech and hearing impairments which kept him from hearing and speaking. Darrell was, for the most part, a happy man content with his life and chores on the farm. He did, however, have no difficulty in communicating his displeasure when something didn’t go his way. It would not be until years later that I would come to understand just how deeply Darrell had influenced my life. I believe God was setting the stage for a job He had in mind for me and He was using Uncle Darrell to prepare me for that job. Following high school, college and my first job, I was hired to become the Executive Director of a newly formed Ashe County non-profit organization created for the purpose of developing a day program for adults with intellectual disabilities. A $25,000 grant from a religious organization pro-
vided the seed money to secure a location for the agency and hire the initial staff. In 1975, we opened the doors of Ashe County ADAP(Adult Developmental Activity Program). As the grant funds dwindled, we learned that a moratorium had been placed on state funding for any new ADAP services. That would be our first of many eleventh hour crisis situations, and just when we feared our service to the people we served would have to close its doors, a new avenue of funding came on the scene. That funding source lasted long enough for the state to lift the moratorium on ADAP services and our agency was included in the state funding plan. During that early period when funding was uncertain, we continued to receive referrals from local agencies. By our third year we realized that the service we needed most to provide our participants was the opportunity to perform real work. We reasoned that the most normal thing for an adult (with or without a disability) to be doing on a daily basis was work. Sprague Electric (now United Chemi-Con) gave us that first opportunity and through the ensuing years we saw work opportunities come to us from Thomasville Chair plant, Gates Rubber Company, Oldham, Leviton, and other smaller companies, many of which are no longer located or operating in Ashe. AEV is the most recent manufacturer to join the ranks of local companies providing work to ADAP. Each of those companies found the workers employed by ADAP to be productive and quality conscious individuals who demon-
