Changemaker of the Month: Tim Mclaurin
Tim joined the greenhouse crew the day we opened our doors in 2016. He’s played an integral part in building our culture and sharing Vertical Harvest pride with the world. He is an advocate for people with disabilities and very open about his story and how he finds his center through music, friends, family and dancing. Tim will pop up where least expected, getting involved in every project and program he can. He even appeared in a promotional video for the National Downs Syndrome Society. The ad, showing an all Downs Syndrome restaurant crew serving a gourmet meal to lawmakers, urges changes to the law that limits work hours for employees with this disability. View the ad here.
During the pandemic, Tim turned a negative into a positive. Over the past seven months he’s spent several hours a week dancing in public (safe and masked up) to bring joy to the community. You can still find him boogying down all over town on mild winter days.
“Tim loves connecting with people and is one of the most friendly and personable people I have ever met,” says job support coworker Peter Estay. “Each day with Tim is a guaranteed adventure!” As facility and delivery associates Tim and Peter deliver fresh produce to local restaurants and grocery stores every Tuesday. “All of our customers simply love Tim and his enthusiasm.” For his part, Tim loves his job, the people in his community, and and his Vertical Harvest family.
![We sat down to talk with disability advocate, civil rights lawyer and entrepreneur, Gina Kline. Here is what we learned!
🔍What is Social Security Income?
"The Social security system was conceived during a time with great economic inequality in this country. It is part of the very important fabric of the Public Safety Net in the United States and many of the folks that are qualified for Social Security are among the most economically vulnerable Americans and have the most sort of obvious or material unmet needs in terms of healthcare as well."
🗝What are the eligibility requirements of benefits?
"The Social Security eligibility is really a means tested program. Which means that folks that folks are eligible or below a certain income threshold and also have medical needs. There's a medical documentation part of it and a income documentation part of but on balance what it means is that you have not access to a certain level of income and you have disability needs."
💡What are the current issues that individuals face when receiving SSI benefits?
"For a while there is a low current threshold on the amount of savings that people Americans with Disabilities can have at any given time. I believe it hasn't been updated since the 19 early 1980s so that's how it's not it's not chained to the current cost of living with a disability. So, what we have is a community that is searching for viable upward mobility, meaningful work in a world in which so often people are given a Hobson's choice between being able to save and save for a rainy day and being able to access health care and needed benefits and support from these programs."
Watch the full video on youtube linked in our bio!
[Video Description: Female with hair to the side talking to the camera with caption in the forefront that reads "What is Social Security Income?" "Read the caption!"]
#DisabilityAdvocacy #Disability #DisabilityMatters #HumanRights #CivilRights #Leaders #Farming #VerticalFarming](https://verticalharvestfarms.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
