Area people living with disabilities call COF their home

With a landmark anniversary and hundreds of workers, COF Training Services, 1516 Davis Road, is proving it’s here to stay.

Providing individuals with developmental disabilities, known as consumers, a variety of job opportunities, the company is celebrating its 40th anniversary in Ottawa this month.

Taking time to reflect on the past and looking toward the future, many consumers call COF home.  

Coming home

“I did not know what I was getting myself into,” she said, laughing. “I didn’t even know it existed.”

With time, Gifford adjusted to life as a consumer at COF and settled into her job of coiling the air masks that are used on airlines.

With so much work and mingling to do, she said she doesn’t miss her former home in Osage City.

“I don’t miss it as much as I used to,” she said. “My family knows that this is my home.”

On the assembly line, Gifford takes pride in coiling the air masks, learning when a mask needs to be coiled clockwise and when it needs to be coiled counter clockwise.

“It’s one of the bigger jobs,” she said. “If you don’t get it coiled right, it’ll get sent back to you.”

Gifford works a shorter shift than most consumers — 8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Knowing that the masks have to be completed and shipped out at the end of the day, she leaves early to avoid the pressure of working down to the deadline — 3:30 p.m.

“I don’t deal with stress very well,” she said.

The anniversary of the company has drawn many community members to COF, giving them the opportunity to see what consumers do first-hand.

For Gifford, the increase in traffic through COF is hope that people will have a greater understanding of those with disabilities.

“If they get to know us, they’ll know that we’re just like all other people — we just might have disabilities,” she said.

Looking ahead, Gifford can’t picture herself anywhere else.

“I’ll probably be here the rest of my life,” she said.

Finding love  

“We met on the very first day,” she of her fiance she met when she started work. “He walked me home and we became good friends. After awhile, we got engaged.”

Although she’s happy with her job and relationships at COF now, starting work as a consumer was a scary situation for Chandler.

“I was scared because I didn’t know anybody,” she said of her first day. “After the first day, I liked it here and I started to fit in.”

Chandler is in charge of putting microdust on the air masks on the assembly line. She said she enjoys the people who work around her, describing them as hard workers and sweethearts.

“I like working hard and being with my friends,” she said.

Some days aren’t so good, though.

“Days are just long sometimes,” she said. “I’m not sick of it or anything, but some days the time goes faster than others.”

Despite what can seem like long days, Chandler remembers why she’s at COF and what she enjoys about the job.

“Some days I come in tired and I don’t want to work,” she said. “Eventually I’ll change my mind, though. I got to make a life and make a living.”

Herald staff writer Jenalea Myers can be e-mailed at jmyers@ottawaherald.com.