Meet Bobby
Robert Aaron Brinkema was known to everyone as Bobby. After graduating from the Kilmer Center in 2000, he attended Central Fairfax Services (CFS), which later affiliated with ServiceSource in 2010. Bobby enjoyed spending time with his many friends at ServiceSource and participating in music and dance therapy classes that are a key part of the programs offered by ServiceSource. Bobby flourished at CFS and then ServiceSource for more than 20 years, until his death in May of 2021, just one week after his 43rd birthday.
Bobby loved to play with shoes and books, eat, and listen to classical music. He particularly liked sneakers and Dr. Seuss books which he often took with him on the Fastran ride to ServiceSource. He always ate any bread or red foods, like tomatoes and strawberries, before anything else. And he had very strong views about classical music. During the pandemic, when ServiceSource was closed to in-person services due to the COVID virus, Bobby would listen to an entire Opera nearly every day, unless it was too modern, in which case he would just walk out of the room.
Bobby was among the first group of individuals to return to in-person services when ServiceSource determined that it was safe for individuals to return. Bobby very much enjoyed seeing his friends in person before his unexpected death just two weeks after his return to ServiceSource’s newly opened Lorton, VA program. His death was unrelated to the pandemic.
In appreciation for the more than 20 years of enrichment the ServiceSource program provided their son, his parents, John and Leonie Brinkema, have established the Robert “Bobby” Brinkema Support Scholarship as part of ServiceSource’s Community Assistance Endowment, in order to provide similar opportunities for enrichment to current and future participants of ServiceSource’s Long Term Community Integration Services Programs in Northern Virginia.
If you would like to make a contribution to the Robert “Bobby” Brinkema Support Scholarship, visit www.servicesource.org/donate. Please note Brinkema in the memo line or designation comment box.
This scholarship is made possible by the Community Assistance Endowment through the ServiceSource Foundation. To learn more, visit www.servicesource.org/community-assistance-endowment/
