Meet Jessica
MEET JESSICA 
Jessica Ann Roland has been attending Bell’s social recreation day program every Monday through Friday since 1991. She is 49 years old, lives with her sister in Dover, and arrives at Bell early every morning courtesy of Jim the bus driver.
Jessica pleasantly welcomes questions about her time at Bell and readily shares thoughts about her friends, her favorite movies and TV shows, and can list a host of country western singers (old and new) of which she is a big fan.
At Bell, Jessica has learned basic living skills that enable her to help out a lot at home. She likes to make grilled cheese sandwiches on the weekends, makes her bed and keeps her room tidy, folds and put away laundry, and sometimes makes coffee for her sister. Since their mother died when Jessica was just 15 years old (and their father a few years later), the two are glad for their time together.
In addition to being a big help cleaning the Day Program room, Jessica enjoys outings with her peers — shopping, attending the York Fair, taking tours, yard saleing, and especially bowling. She started at Colony Park Lanes with Special Olympics years ago and now owns her own ball and shoes.
Jessica misses her close friend, James, who passed away last year (her first boyfriend, she admits) but says it’s nice to welcome new friends into the program.
| written March 2010