LYNNWOOD — The candy aisle at the Walgreens near Meadowdale High School is Sarah Anne Haroldson’s territory.
It’s her favorite aisle in the store, so she was put in charge of restocking it each week. Over the last year and half, she’s been picking up more responsibilities at her 12-hour-a-week job. She’s greeted people, stocked shelves, removed outdated items and marked goods for sale that are close to being outdated. Next month, she may start taking passport photos.
Haroldson is living with a developmental disability, along with an estimated 11,784 other people in Snohomish County. She didn’t speak until she was four years old and took her first steps when she was five.
Now she has a job she excels at and enjoys. The company appreciates her and has offered her more hours, mom Denise Haroldson said.
“Every day is a smile for her,” she said. “She talks about her job and smiles. I pick her up and it’s, ‘Oh, I did this and I did that.’ It’s all smiles.”
The Haroldsons were connected to the job by Provail, an organization they first talked with during the annual Snohomish County Transition Resource Fair two years ago.
This year’s resource fair is scheduled for Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Everett’s Cascade High School, 801 E. Casino Road. The event is free.
The fair is meant to help people living with disabilities learn about landing a job, finding their own home, paying the bills and getting out in their communities as neighbors, workers and friends.
“We’re connecting individuals with disabilities to their communities and to community resources so they can have a bigger, fuller life,” said Melinda Bocci, event organizer and benefits planner with Snohomish County transition services. “We really do focus on the big things, like jobs.”
Eight workshops are scheduled and 75 organizations are planning to have people there to talk about resources such as housing, transportation, legal advice and technology. It’s expected to be the biggest transition fair yet, Bocci said. Last year’s turnout of 350 was a record and there are more organizations signed up this year.
Bocci recommends that people bring a friend because the workshops overlap and one person would have to pick and choose. Topics include: employment support, housing, transportation, social security benefits and legal decisions at age 18.
The legal decisions talk is a hot topic, Bocci said.
“At age 18, everybody becomes their own guardian no matter what, so in families with someone with a disability, they need to decide what that looks like,” she said. “Can they make legal decisions, can they make financial decisions? Do they need partial guardianship? Families need to see all of the options before they make a decision.”
Outside of the workshops, representatives from different organizations can talk one-on-one with families. Arc of Snohomish County, Community Transit, Sherwood Career Connection, Canine Companions for Independence and Everett and Edmonds community colleges are among the agencies planning to attend.
The fair is for anyone who has a developmental disability or is caring for a loved one with a disability. A key age group is 18 to 21 years old, when students are aging out of school.
“A lot of families get concerned and have question about any kind of longterm support once a student is done with school,” Bocci said. “What’s it going to look like for a student to have a life in the community and be included and be out there, just like everybody else?”
Denise Haroldson learned a lot of things she suspects she never would have known if she hadn’t gone to the fair, she said. She talked with experts about Social Security benefits to supplement her daughter’s income. She also realized that there’s no requirement to stay with one organization or helper. The resource fair lets people meet multiple groups that offer services so they can find the right fit.
“You really get a lot out of it if you go in open-minded and you’re willing to listen to what people have to say,” Donaldson said. “You’ll get a lot out of it. I know for sure that we did.”
For more information about the transition resource fair, including a full list of workshops and agencies at the event, go to snohomishcountywa.gov/dd.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com
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