Posted on June 16, 2015
AJ was awarded the Maryland Association of Community Services 2015 Achievement Award on Thursday May 14th in Baltimore, Maryland. Anthony received this award because of his hard work and dedication in his community job at Fill-Er-Up in Freeland, Maryland.
AJ began receiving Penn-Mar Residential and Supported Employment Services in June of 2010. For three years, AJ worked predominantly on supervised enclave contracts with the assistance of a 1:1 job coach. AJ expressed an interest to work for a community employer. With the help of a Penn-Mar job developer, AJ was hired in April of 2013 at the Fill-Er-Up in Parkton, Maryland working as a Stocking Associate. AJ was initially hired at four days a week, four hours each day. Recently, AJ began working five days a week.
As a stocking associate at Fill-Er-Up, AJ’s primary job duties include: facing and stocking product, general upkeep of the convenience store and parking lot and assisting customers with locating merchandise. In this position, it is very important to always provide excellent customer service. AJ is courteous and has a great sense of humor. He takes pride in his work and enjoys greeting and interacting with customers throughout the day. As a result, AJ has developed several close relationships with his “regular” customers and also his co-workers. The management at Fill-Er-Up is very pleased with AJ’s work performance.
Since AJ’s start with Penn-Mar in 2010, he has received the support of a 1:1 job coach. Within a few months of starting his position at Fill-Er-Up, AJ no longer required that additional support. Job coaching was able to be successfully faded and AJ is now supported by his co-workers and through drop in visits by Penn-Mar staff. Fill-Er-Up is a very busy place and AJ is very focused on keeping his customers happy by making sure their favorite product is always available for them!