Darla Olson, Direct Support Professional, January 2020

Mar 21, 2020

DarlaOlson

Darla Olson was recognized by her co-workers for being flexible and willing to go beyond her job responsibilities to ensure people are served well.

“With Darla’s great mindset, she is clever with coming up with ideas on how to build production fixtures so that people can do a job in an alternative way,” said. Bryce.

“For instance, she came up with a fixture so that people who only have use of one hand are still able to do a job that would typically require the use of two hands.”

“When Darla was asked if she would help out in the Mounds View Adult Day Program due to a staffing need, she was so willing to just hop right in and be a TEAM player,” said

ADP Program Director Judy Andersen. “It didn’t matter that Darla had not worked in Adult Day before — she was just willing to lend a hand and share her talents with those we serve in the program. She stretched herself to new challenges and had a lot of fun while doing it.”

People on the workfloor gave her a resounding round of applause and cheers when Connection’s Program Supervisor Bryce Lewis made the
announcement.

Darla says, “Rise is a great place to work for it gives people a place to learn new skills and helps build their self-esteem and confidence, and find employment in the community. It makes me feel good about myself that I can part of making a difference in someone’s life. I love working with the people we serve and working with a great team of people.”

Darla has been working the production field since 1989. In her freetime, she likes to sew and do crafts.