Even after working a seven-hour shift, and exchanging good-bye waves with

co-workers, Toynnia Dye’s job isn’t over yet. She drives away from LifeSkills with 38-year-old John Fleenor of Bowling Green. Dye oversees the work of mentally disabled adults, like Fleenor, supervising their job performance. “I’m there for the individuals and I go far and beyond for some reason, because I understand they can’t help themselves,” Dye said.

Dye met Fleenor when she started working at LifeSkills in 1993, and got to know him and his mother. When Fleenor’s mother started getting sick she would ask Dye to take care of her son. “The next thing you know, it got to the point where I kept him all the time.” In 2005, when Fleenor lost his mother, Dye moved in to care for him and became a Family Home Provider.

“At first it was kinda hectic, but now it’s been almost four years and it’s pretty much laid back. We have a routine life.”

Fleenor has become more independent since living with Dye, and has begun learning to read and write.

“He is a big help, and he has a big heart and he wants to be friends with everybody and sometimes he too friendly,” Dye said. “He’s part of the family now.”