Today we’d like to introduce you to Darius Bigby.
Darius, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m from a very small town called Jena, Louisiana, where I lived most of my life upon moving to Dallas about 4 years ago. My hometown has influenced so much who I have grown to become, but also why I do the work I do. Jena is probably a solid 5-6 square miles. Although we lacked many amenities and resources that larger cities had, what took most pride in was a large close-knit community of family, friends, and neighbors that looked out for each other. This is where I learned the value of community care, which has become the model of service for my business- Your Special Helper. I started my career in Jena, LA as a Special Education teacher, where I also served as a coach for youth basketball, baseball, and football on the side. I received a great opportunity to pair my passion for special needs populations and recreation and received a job offer to move to the Dallas area where I served in various program roles within Parks & Recreation.
Dallas is where I cultivated my gift of service to people who are often underserved and forgotten about. I’m referring to the senior without a support system at home, and even the parent and/or caregiver to a child with unique/special needs. I would come home almost every day telling my wife how heavy my heart was on hearing the unmet needs of people in our community- from the seniors who stopped showing up for social activities due to illness and immobility. I knew how hard that loss of community connection would be on this person(s). Even for the kid without a male figure in his life, experiencing some behavioral challenges, as well as seeing the exhaustion from the caregiver simply trying to be and do it all, with no relief in sight.
So, this is the part of the story that I firmly believe was nothing shy of divine intervention. I unexpectedly lost my job and was faced with the question- what do I do now??!! I’ll be honest. I was pretty discouraged. My wife encouraged me to see the benefit of this situation. She reminded me of how challenging my demanding work schedule was and how I wished I had more time to help at home with our two small daughters. She also reminded me of the unmet needs that I talked about each day for seniors, youth, and caregivers; and how I was a solution to this problem. It was at this moment, that we spent time in prayer and got the idea to create the work that we wish existed, and work that could not only serve our family well but the community who needed us the most. And that’s when Your Special Helper was created.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
In full transparency, our biggest challenge right now is having the capacity to serve clients who need us the most, which most often are those on a limited income. I can’t tell you how many people we come in contact with who need our support services, but can’t afford $25 to hire help. We do our best to make our services as feasible as possible. I firmly believe that I was called to serve the underserved, and am working diligently to find avenues to support those who need us most.
This challenge isn’t unique to my experience, this is a national and state challenge for individuals and families everywhere! I read in a recent article that nearly 200,000 disabled Texans are on the waitlist for home and community care services. And many of them have been waiting for nearly a decade! This isn’t ok and it’s not spoken about enough. There are great systemic challenges to this work that we hope to help advocate for collective solutions.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Your Special Helper is a Dallas-based Home & Community Care Service, working to help vulnerable communities to live happier, healthier, and independent lives. Our motto is “at some point in our lives, everyone needs a helping hand.” We’re proud to be just that for people who need us most. We have 3 primary buckets of work- 1) Home Support and Personal Assistance for Seniors & Caregivers of loved ones with special needs- this includes providing a helping hand with everyday tasks that many of us take for granted. Running errands, not just shopping for groceries but organizing them in the home to be easily accessible, and basic chores like changing the bed, putting away dishes, etc. We also provide relief support for caregivers who simply need a break! This could mean sitting and entertaining a family member over food and a good domino game. The second area of our work is Youth/Peer Support. This area serves caregivers of children/young adults who need 1-on-1 companion/peer support to improve social, behavioral, and/or life skills. We incorporate the interests of the individual into this connection time, whether it’s talking over ice cream and playing a game of cards or basketball. Lastly- we help our clients to stay as mentally and physically active as possible by making adaptive recreational activities accessible to them. We partner with local parks and recreation to host activities like Tuesday Trivia or “Seniorcize” light aerobics, and even beginner sports clinics for youth with unique needs. I hope to expand our partnerships for this work for local organizations and agencies as well.
Our work plays a huge part in an individual’s social, emotional, and physical well-being. A helping hand at home and within the community is the primary indicator to prevent a person from being prematurely institutionalized, all because they don’t have the assistance to safely remain living independently in their homes.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Being relatively new to the entrepreneurship journey, I can’t say I’ve experienced a true crisis in our business. But I can say with full confidence that we literally have a social crisis on our hands from the magnitude of underserved community members needing home and community support; the pandemic has exacerbated this issue. We also can’t forget that we’re still in a pandemic and are feeling the effects from it daily. Especially those with vulnerabilities that have yet to be able to adjust to this new normal. We have a lot of work to do.
Pricing:
- Based on need- the range starts at $25
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yourspecialhelper.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourspecialhelper/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChmOZYcHxjCdSujUFkwv9hA/featured
.
