Rick - "Man in Motion!"
Rick’s independent life with Avenues started when his parents first learned about Avenues through the school Rick attended - the Institute of Logopedics (now Heartspring), a leader in the treatment of speech and hearing disorders in Wichita, Kansas. When Rick, who is hearing impaired, left the school, he moved into an Avenues’ townhome in 1991 (then known as Builders of Skills) and has become good friends with his roommates – Kevin Healy, David Roma, and Scott Kurschner. Since 1996, Rick has also enjoyed working at the McDonalds in Rolling Meadows, and depending on his schedule, often takes two or three busses from his Niles home to get to work.
While one job is enough for most people, that’s not the case for Rick. When he isn’t working at McDonalds, Rick comes to the Work Center, and according to his supervisor Crissi Houselog, is extremely conscientious and has made a lot of friends. Rick, who takes care of his own banking, also spends a lot of his free time in the community – he loves to shop and people watch at Golf Mill Shopping Center, take walks to Walgreens, and sometimes treats himself to dinner at Bakers Square.
Whenever Rick has the opportunity, he enjoys working with his brother’s carpentry business in Rockford, and has even done a few projects of his own. For the last 10 years, Rick has been building a model cruise ship out of popsicle sticks, and hundreds of popsicle sticks later, it is still a work in progress – just like Rick, a man in motion!
