Photo by Cynthya Porter
Troy Fegre will travel to New Mexico November 7 to accept the national Bill Sackter Award, a prestigious honor given to people with developmental disabilities who are exceptional self-advocates in their communities. |
Troy Fegre has built a niche for himself in the world that most people would envy.
He has a job that he loves, great friends, even his own business on the side that earns him a little extra cash. He is a success, a model even for those who wonder if they can achieve their dreams. But in the world of people with special needs, Fegre is more like a super hero.
Seated at the kitchen table in his group home run by Home and Community Options, Fegre shrugs unassumingly when asked why he thinks he won the national Bill Sackter Award. “All the stuff I’ve done, I’m doing a really awesome job in the community,” he said.
Fegre loves his life, and he’s proud of himself. “Everyone can trust me,” he said. “I take care of myself.”
Working for Chartwells at Winona State University, Fegre takes his job changing milk and soda containers seriously, but there is plenty of time there to enjoy chatter with students and his coworkers. A social guy with a happy face, Fegre said his favorite part of the job is talking to the students he encounters.
They are nice to him, Fegre said, and he feels like he fits in on the campus. “I’ve got the coolest bosses there,” he said. “They just treat me like I’m supposed to be there.”
Fegre also launched his own DJ business on the side several years ago, starting off volunteering to play music for an HCO picnic and ending up doing between 10 and 15 events a year now.
Besides the music he plays, Fegre said people like his personality, and the events he DJs are fun.
Development Director Roger Buege said the staff at Home and Community Options selected Fegre as their nominee for the Minnesota Bill Sackter Award because he represents hard work, self-advocacy and independence for adults living with special needs.
Fegre won the Minnesota award, and learned at an acceptance banquet October 11 that he had won the national competition as well.
It was exciting, Fegre said, and he couldn’t believe all the people around him, including the staff and his family at the event, knew already and had been plotting the announcement behind his back.
A photographer at the event almost blew the surprise when taking Fegre’s picture and offhandedly commenting that he’d be getting to take a much bigger trip than the one to Mankato.
Not shy of a microphone, Fegre accepted the award graciously in Mankato, said Buege, although Fegre said it was a long ride back to Winona when he realized he forgot to mention his girlfriend, Terrianna, who was also at the banquet. “I heard about it all the way home,” he joked.
Fegre will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 7 for a national convention where he will receive the second honor, and he’s excited about the trip.
Being compared to Bill Sackter is cool, Fegre said. Sackter was immortalized in the 1981 movie “Bill,” for being a special needs adult who became a beloved coffee shop manager in Iowa City after being institutionalized for 45 years.
Buege said from the local nomination to the state and national awards, Fegre was a natural choice for the honor. “His work speaks for itself,” said Buege. “His independence, he’s a prominent member of the community, a business owner, and on our board of directors. He is very active, I wish I had his energy. But it’s not just what he does, it’s the pride he takes in his work.”
For Fegre the reason he is being recognized with this award breaks down to something much more simple and indisputedly true. “It means they think that I’m really cool,” he smiled.
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