Remote services transform him from quiet, unsocial to confident, thoughtful leader

By Dave Vis, Lead Virtual Services Facilitator, Rock County Opportunities

I would like to share a story about a client who I serve at Rock County Opportunities (RCO) in Luverne, Minn., and how our Virtual Service program (remote services) has positively influenced his life. First, I would like to give a little background about this individual. I have known him for over six years, and we have always had a pretty good relationship.

This man normally kept to himself while he was at the RCO building. He did his jobs, which could at times be very stressful for him, but when he was done, I mostly saw him drawing pictures by himself, or watching movies on his portable DVD player.

Social interactions are sometimes a challenge for this man. He is one of the kindest, gentlest people I have ever met, but sometimes the way that he says things gets interpreted wrong by his staff and peers. He has been known to be very blunt and will say what comes into his mind. For example, he has told staff that he doesn’t care for their new haircut. I know that he doesn’t say things like that to be cruel; he’s just being honest. To him, telling somebody that their new haircut is bad, is just his way of saying, “You didn’t need to change the way you look! You looked nice the way you were!”

The COVID-19 pandemic left this man stuck at home. When we started Virtual Services in June, he was one of the two individuals I had in mind for our first week trial run. I called him to ask if he would be interested, and his response was that he did not know how to use Zoom. He said that he would not try it until he understood everything about Zoom. I told him that I was still learning too, and that I would teach him everything I know about Zoom and that the rest we would learn together. Learning together is exactly what we did.

Since then, this man has become a leader in our Virtual Service program. I really don’t think I could do it without him, or if I did it certainly wouldn’t be as fulfilling for the other members involved. We start every day with this man telling us today's National Day. We have had Cookie Day, Young Readers Day, World Tsunami Awareness Day, Love your Lawyer Day, and even an International Day For Preventing Exploitation of Environment in War and Armed Conflict History!

There have been dozens, if not hundreds more. He finds these all by himself from newspapers, internet sources, or television, and keeps them logged in an organized notebook. He tells us the national day, then we research that day as a group. How do people celebrate? When did it start? Things of that nature.

He also leads an art class on Tuesdays and has led many other sessions as well. One thing I like to do is show how classic literature and films influence the art and entertainment media of today. When we talked about The Wizard of Oz, he took the reins and organized a whole lesson on television shows and movies that featured Wizard of Oz references. He even researched when in the movie/show the reference occurred. It was so interesting and fun to work with him on that.

Watching this quiet, socially insecure man become a confident, critical thinking mentor and leader has been one of the highlights of my career. It goes to show you that there are silver linings to be found in our world during these troubled times.

There are some things, after this pandemic is over, that I wish to stay the same.

[The unnamed RCO participant in this story does not have a media release so he is not identified or pictured.]