50 Years, 50 Stories - Ashley Himber

The stories keep coming, so we’ll keep publishing them! This bonus edition of “50 Years, 50 Stories” comes from Ashley Himber, who shares her experiences from the early days of Imagine!’s Out & About department.

Thanks for sharing, Ashley!

When The South Meets West 

By Ashley Himber 

Ashley Himber (center) with Lisa Fiero (left) and Colette Marie.

I, Ashley Himber, am the true Southern Belle. I love my football, mud, and hunting. My personality is that of charm with just a tad bit of sassiness. Well, that was the case until May of 1999, when I joined an organization called Out & About, a division of the Developmental Disabilities Center of Boulder County. Yes, it was still the DDC when I started there! I was Out & About's first Therapeutic Recreation intern, and my supervisor was Ansley Dickens, another southerner from Georgia. I thought, “what's up with this place attracting us southerners to the mountains?” And then I walked into the doors and I knew . . . . a place as open minded and wide as the back ground scenery of the Rocky Mountains. 

I then met Colette Marie, the Director of Out & About, and her fast talking gypsy soul changed my view and outlook on life forever. Colette envisioned Out & About to be so much more than just a babysitting service for people with disabilities, and she looked to Ansley and me to bring in that therapeutic aspect to our community based recreation activities. If I could only count how many hours Colette spent writing, revamping, rewriting, rewording, and rereading Out & About's mission and vision statement to fit the direction of the program's path. 

I will never forget the many experiences and learning’s that I took away while working at Imagine!:

1. The first being Mark Emery explaining to me why one should always answer “Perfect!” when one is asked how they are. 
2. The second being . . . NetSuite! Enough said on my part! 
3. The third being a company purchasing gym passes for their employees. This would never happen in the South. 
4. The night of the mil levy vote . . . waiting anxiously in the O'Shea room to let out screams as it was passed and the DDC then became known as Imagine!. 
5. Playing on DDC's softball team in the snow during the springtime. This, again, would never happen in the South. 
6. AND my last and very least favorite . . . balancing the budget!!! Making non-billable hours justify the importance of Therapeutic Recreation in the Out & About program. 

It has been said that the South is roughly ten years behind as compared to the West when referring to the delivery of services to people with disabilities. And if this is to be true, then I am proud that I was a full century ahead of time, and my experiences with Imagine! converted this Southerner to a WILD Westerner.