For Downsize Farm, a Champaign County service provider, the word 'business' is synonymous with 'family'. Founders Bob and Midge Custer created a business where everyone feels included. Their daughter, Bobbi McKee is now the CEO. Their nephew and in-laws work in day to day operations. They even employ staff who are related to each other or related to program participants. And if you are not a relative, they will surely make you feel like one.

Bobbi says, "Since the business was founded on the idea of caring for our family members, we give all clients and staff the same dignity and respect as if they are our true family."

Downsize Farm started and continues to operate a Day Program where people with developmental disabilities spend their time learning everyday jobs to keep a farm running. They cook with food grown in their own garden, feed and care for animals, craft items to sell (https://downsize-farm.square.site), and maintain the buildings and vehicles.

With Bobbi as CEO, Downsize Farm expanded its operations with more programs: a vocational program, an employment team, and a residential program. Not only can clients practice everyday living skills at the farm, but they also receive training for competitive employment, become actively employed, try their hand at living independently, and give back to the community with service projects.

Vocational Program:
This program is a collaboration with The Spotted Cow Coffeehouse and The Spotted Owl Coffee Bar in Urbana, OH. Clients can join an educational program to train for jobs in food service, manufacturing, janitorial, and other work. From there, clients can progress to the Employment Team, if they choose.

Employment Team:
Downsize Farm partners with area businesses to place clients in competitive employment positions which best suit everyone's needs and interests. The staff at Downsize provide job coaching and work closely with both clients and businesses to assure a proper placement.

​Residential Program:
Some clients set goals to live independently. The residential program can provide Homemaker/Personal Care (HPC) assistance to those living independently. It can also coordinate Ohio Shared Living (OSL) placements, which places someone with a developmental disability in the home of a person or family willing to be a paid caregiver.

The pandemic changed a lot of routines and habits for everyone. Some of these changes were incredibly difficult for individuals with disabilities. Due to caring for people with high needs and some individuals having increased risk of illness, Person Centered Services (PCS) in Urbana needed to make some tough decisions.

How can they make the health and wellness of their day service participants a priority while still maintaining a connection to the community and providing quality activities?

Many precautions are in place. There are less group outings. Visitors should call ahead, will be screened for illnesses and asked to wear a mask before entering. Staff amped up the cleaning, wear masks and try to keep day service participants in smaller groups. They also eat lunch and snacks in shifts. All of these changes were important to ensure the health of all their people.

What hasn't changed is the genuine care that the PCS staff has for people with disabilities. They still keep everyone mentally active with puzzles, crafts, games, books, music, and regional self-advocacy meetings.
They still engage everyone in physical active by having exercise time in the large dining area. They also walk the circular driveway outside their building when the weather is nice and up and down the long hallway when it is not nice.

The PCS staff encourages nutritional health by organizing a cooking club. They help the group pick out a nutritional recipe, take them to the grocery store to get the ingredients, and help them put the recipe together to share with everyone else at lunch time.

Then there is emotional health. This is encouraged through holiday celebrations and making friendships with each other. Staff members put a lot of love and time into creating the Thanksgiving feast pictured here., and they ensured that day service participants were invested in the process as well.