![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/bird-houses-copy-copy-1100x840.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Photo by Samantha Davis
\nAaron Valdez (right) watches Jon Maeyaert (left) and Spencer Kor (center) from the Lyon County Environmental Department install birdhouses he built with Marshall Advance at Garvin Park Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
MARSHALL \u2014 Aaron Valdez, a longtime client of Marshall Advance, spent the past few months building birdhouses. Valdez, a disabled adult, watched as the birdhouses were installed at Garvin Park Tuesday morning with the help of the Lyon County Environmental Department. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of the most beautiful stories ever because it is the culmination of everything we\u2019ve been trying to do over the past, at least, 10 years,\u201d Advance Chief Operating Officer Elizabeth Schear said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a continuous evolution.\u201d <\/p>\n
Advance works directly with individuals that have intellectual, developmental or physical disabilities seeking employment and day support services through a collaboration of community connections. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not a residential facility, we are a day program. We provide the connection for people with disabilities in and among the community,\u201d Schear said. \u201cWe focus on employment, and that\u2019s where this (project) with the bird houses comes in.\u201d <\/p>\n
Valdez, alongside Advance employees Kylie Peterson and Ashton Stahl, first came up with the idea to build birdhouses because of Valdez\u2019s deep love for birds. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a bird feeder and bird bath, and I take care of my birds,\u201d said Valdez, who has four pet birds. <\/p>\n
Valdez, Peterson and Stahl started by painting birdhouses at Advance, before meeting with the Lyon County Environmental Department to set up an employment opportunity to build some of his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot of problem solving, and a lot of trying to figure out what worked best,\u201d Stahl said. \u201cOnce he (Valdez) got the hang of them \u2026 He got 10 of them done in a week.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHis (Valdez\u2019s) right hand has a hard time using (tools) and maneuvering, so using a hammer was kind of hard for him \u2026 We actually ended up buying a brad nailer, and that\u2019s how these ones all got put together,\u201d Stahl added about the building process. \u201cWe probably did six or seven practice ones before we started building them \u2026 We worked out all the kinks that we were having.\u201d <\/p>\n
The county bought all 20 birdhouses Valdez made to be set up around Lyon County Parks, the first two of which went to Garvin Park that he got to watch be put up in person with the help of Spencer Kor and Jon Maeyaert from the Lyon County Environmental Department. <\/p>\n
Valdez spent the past few months working on the houses, starting around December. They also found locally-resourced wood for the project. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt started with Aaron, because Aaron\u2019s got an infatuation with birds. Originally when this started, we were going to build a birdhouse to go outside of Advance \u2026 He started by painting the ones that we ordered, then it built off of that,\u201d Stahl said. \u201cI kind of talked about, \u2018Well, is there a need for that community?\u2019 And then we reached out to (Lyon County Environmental Department) \u2026 (They) gave us some different plans for bluebird houses that we could build.\u201d <\/p>\n
Although the birdhouses are built and being installed with the hope to revitalize the bluebird population in Lyon County, Maeyaert mentioned the houses could also welcome other bird species around the area. <\/p>\n
Another highlight of the morning for Valdez was using an Action Trackchair for the first time, courtesy of Garvin Park, which allowed him to travel through grass and gravel around the park. <\/p>\n
Action Trackchairs are motorized wheelchairs that are suitable for outdoor and recreational activities. <\/p>\n
Advance, which has a site in Marshall, serves people from a variety of surrounding counties. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe make connections wherever we can for just normal community, day-to-day activities. Then, people make connections, and find similarities in their likes, interests and skills, and they start developing those relationships,\u201d Schear said. \u201cWe\u2019re just at another one of those pivotal moments where the opportunity is right \u2026 Look at this (Valdez\u2019s birdhouse project). We\u2019ve had great community involvement, and huge support.\u201d <\/p>\n
Valdez also talked with Maeyaert and Kor about future project possibilities, brainstorming other types of birdhouses the county may be interested in. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis evolves into more, because you might like wrestling, or horses or who knows, and then we find somebody (to partner with),\u201d Schear said of Advance. \u201cIsn\u2019t that how life works for everybody? It\u2019s just who you know, find something in common, and off you go.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n MARSHALL \u2014\u00a0The city of Marshall\u2019s general fund spending was under budget in 2024, according to an audit …<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A celebration and an event to honor military veterans will be held this weekend.<\/p>\n In Dawson, the annual Riverfest …<\/p>\n