Adam Lee is the boss…on the bus and at the various Ankeny restaurants he visits regularly.
As an associate on an Ankeny school bus for special education students during the year, Adam helps students get settled and buckled up. “They’re pretty capable,” says the also very capable Adam, “but I’m the boss of the bus.”
Adam started the job at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, and despite his MR diagnosis, he and the driver are responsible for the safety of the children on the bus. He also works part-time in the bakery department at the Ankeny Hy-Vee, bagging and labeling products for sale.
For more than six years, Adam has been a client of Candeo – formerly known as Creative Community Options – where he has learned to shop for groceries and other skills for daily living.
The 23-year old has some heart problems, too, and has learned to shop for low-sodium foods. “Sometimes, finding food that’s good for me is hard to do,” explains Adam, who is also legally blind and must use a magnifying glass to read food labels.
He lives independently in a house on Ankeny’s south side and is visited several days a week by Candeo staffers Barb Sauer and Lee Anne Lewis. Adam and Barb or Lee Anne will visit the grocery store, discuss nutrition or work on his food preparation skills.
Other times, they’ll support him to see a movie at the Springwood Theater, where he enjoys the free popcorn on Tuesday night. On Friday mornings, you’ll find Adam and his staff at the I-HOP, one of his favorite Ankeny restaurants.
When you talk to Adam, you’ll find food is a central theme to his discussion. His Candeo staff assist him with reading the recipes in his cook books (“I love beef stroganoff!” he says) and meal preparation as needed.
When he describes the house that his mom, step-dad, sister and brother-in-law fixed up for him, he says it’s close to the Dairy Queen, where he enjoys M&M Blizzards!
At Benchwarmers, another Ankeny eatery, they know that he wants spaghetti, “but not the fried kind,” he explains. At I-HOP, it’s French Toast.
