By June Mathews
TRUSSVILLE — For young people with special needs in Trussville and surrounding areas, the end of high school used to mean the end of regular interaction with friends and the community.
But thanks to Independence Place, that doesn’t have to be the case anymore.
A nonprofit organization created to meet the social and recreation of special needs adults, Independence Place was patterned after a similar program in another part of the Birmingham metro area.
“Some of our Trussville residents were going all the way to Homewood to participate in the Exceptional Foundation, but (the distance) can be a hardship for parents in this area who work,” said Independence Place Executive Director Carrie Jones. “The Exceptional Foundation has an awesome program, but we needed something like it in our area, and we wanted a faith-based program.”
Independence Place is a dream come true for Jones, a special education teacher at Hewitt-Trussville High School. She had long been bothered by the idea that special needs students exiting the school program at age 21 were leaving behind social, recreational and leisure activities planned with their needs and abilities in mind. Her desire to help became a reality when Independence Place opened in August 2012.
Debbie Little serves as program director for Independence Place and shares Jones’ vision for what the program can be. Little had previously worked with one of the participants and remembered feeling sad for him.
“He wanted so badly for somebody to just call him or go to the movies with him, and I know Carrie saw that on a large scale all the time with her students,” she said. “Independence Place does that for them.”
Little recalled a recent bowling outing after which the group dropped by a local fast food place.
“We just sat around the table and had slushies,” she said. “That’s what teenagers or college students would normally be doing, and that’s what our participants want to do, too. Their favorite thing of all the things we do is spending time with friends. I don’t think there’s a thing they don’t enjoy doing, as long as they’re doing it together.”
Jones said the participants spend so much time together that they form family-like friendships.
“They have an honest peer group,” she said.
Not only do the participants and their parents benefit from the program, volunteers and the community at large benefit, too.
Case in point: Staff member Rick Wheeler thought he was coming for a one-time volunteer commitment with his wife. But after only one visit, he fell in love the program and its participants, and never left.
“Most people come in with a total misconception of what special needs people are like,” said Wheeler, “and a lot of people don’t understand how pure their hearts are. They don’t have the same thoughts about getting an advantage that we do, and the purity that comes from them sometimes is amazing.”
Jones noted how the program serves as an educational tool for the community.
“People come in with a certain set of expectations, and they leave with a very different impression of these individuals, what they can do and their heart and their personalities,” she said. “Sometimes people think that people with disabilities are all alike. Then they come in and find out our participants all have personalities of their own, very unique and very personable. Although community education wasn’t the intention of the program, it’s been a very big bonus.”
Support needed
Support comes in many forms to Independence Place, from churches, businesses, committees and individuals.
Jones said future plans call for growing the Independence Place chili cook-off, start a capital funds campaign and obtain the organization’s own transportation. But to attain those goals, corporate sponsorships and other sizable funding sources are being sought. Financial assistance with smaller projects is also needed, whether sponsoring periodic trips to the movies or paying for meals out or donating supplies for the center.
“The thing is, these young adults never become financially independent like others would,” Little said. “So if there are people out there who could provide even one outing or an outing per month then we wouldn’t have to constantly seek out the money to provide these things, and the parents appreciate it, too.
“And volunteers make a big difference. They not only provide help to the staff, but they become new friends for the participants. It’s been interesting to see how often people who think they’re just coming in once want to come back. This is a happy place.”
The program, temporarily housed on the campus of First Baptist Church Trussville, is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, email Jones at carriejones@independenceplaceofalabama.org or Little at debbielittle@independenceplaceofalabama.org.