Episode 57: Living and Learning Enrichment Center

Rachelle discusses how Living and Learning Enrichment Center provides resources for adults with special needs through therapeutic, social, work-based, and community engagement opportunities designed to give these adults a richer, more full life.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome to Light Up the D'll focuson what's happening in our community from the
people who make it happen. Here'syour host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen
gret Good morning, and welcome toanother episode of Light Up the D.
I'm really excited about our special guesttoday. It's Rachelle Vartanian. She's the
founder and president of the Living andLearning Enrichment Center. She left a successful

(00:25):
twenty year career as a special educationteacher equipped with two master's degrees, to
advocate for and improve the lives ofpeople with disabilities. Inspired by her own
experiences as a mother of a childon the spectrum, her dedication and leadership
has made Living and Learning one ofMichigan's fastest growing nonprofits serving people with special

(00:46):
needs and their families. For moreinformation, you can look at Living and
Learningcenter dot org. Please join mein welcoming Rochelle Vartanian. Welcome, Rachelle,
Hi, thank you. Let's justtalk a little bit first about what
the Living and Learning and Richmond Centeris. What services do you provide,
Who do you serve? Give ussome background? Sure, so we work

(01:06):
with mostly adults that have special needs. Well when I first started it was
autism, and then it turned intoautism where related challenges, and now we
really work with everyone, but wereally focus on that forgotten population of adults.
When people get done with school,there's very little out there for them.
And I had been a special educationteacher for twenty years and I knew

(01:27):
this. So this is why wespecifically focused on this population of people.
You know, I really appreciate thatbecause I have many friends and acquaintances who
have special needs children, whether it'sautism or other special needs, and as
they go into adulthood, I alwayswonder what is the path for them,
and it's actually very concerning knowing thatthere may not be some help for them

(01:49):
or support for them. It's haunting, you know. So I was a
special teacher twenty years, and thenI know what the future is for these
young people because my students would graduateand their parents would say, they're living
in the basement. It's been yearsnow playing video games and there's nothing for
us to look forward to. It'snot like, oh, in five more
years, we can do this.And then my own son was diagnosed and

(02:10):
I went into a little bit ofa oh my god, this is my
life now and what happens. Andso I went back to school. I
got a second master's in autism,so I could understand everything I could and
advocate for him. And then Ieventually thought I better do something, So
I quit my job, sold myhome and open Living and Learning. And

(02:34):
how long ago did you open it? Twenty fifteen, fifteen years? And
what has been the process throughout thatnine years? Yes, it's it has
been quite a journey. I've learnedso much, you know, especially in
the beginning. I have no businessbackground, right, so it was,
you know, having these classes andsocial skill groups and hangouts for these young

(02:57):
peoples, you know something, sothey weren't so isolated and they had friends,
and that really worked. But thenthere's a whole marketing piece and everything
else I know nothing about, sothat was kind of tricky. But I
just really focused on them and whatthey needed. And so then I started
looking at you know, every parentas a child with a special need thinks

(03:17):
about the same thing. What happenswhen I died, of course, and
I didn't know how I was goingto get there, but I kept thinking,
that's the goal, that's the goal. So now I'm looking at all
of them thinking none of them areworking. So I started running work skill
programs and I couldn't afford to hireanyone, so it was me running them
to different places and doing job skillswith hush. And then we grew and

(03:38):
now we have gosh, we havea program for almost anyone now that's looking
for job skills. Give us someexamples. Sure, So our biggest program
is our vocational program. We haveone hundred and seventy five people in this
program and there's one hundred person waitinglist to get in that program. We
have people coming from eleven different counties. I want to say it was ninety

(04:01):
different cities to these programs because there'snothing out there, so people are coming
from everywhere. But that program whatwe do, it's Monday through Friday,
and these young adults come in andit's one job coach three to four members
depending on their level of ability.And then we've partnered with several over one

(04:23):
hundred different businesses in the community andthey go to these jobs and they learn
skills and the goal for them isthen to get into the next program where
we get them an employment opportunity whereit's paying jobs. And we've placed over
one hundred people in paying jobs.Wow, congratulations, that's enormous. I
have an amazing staff. Yeah.I mean when I say congratulations, I

(04:47):
just think of the spectrum of positivethings that have resulted from that, whether
it's their own self confidence, orthe businesses that are helping who have needs
with these organizations, you know,the volunteers who watch somebody grow in your
program into you know, contributing toan organization. There's just so many factors

(05:09):
that happen from that. I agree. It's not just for that family or
the person with special needs. Imean that in and of itself is huge,
HM, but it's it's affecting everyone. It's affecting the community, the
people that work of that business.Pretty much everyone knows someone that has a
special need. And I was justreading a statistic the other day that said,
in twenty twenty five, one outof every twenty five babies will be

(05:30):
born with autism. So, Imean, this is an epidemic, and
it's it's coming faster and faster.So we're doing really great things, and
we still have a lot more wewant to be doing. We've talked about
how you've grown over the past yearssince you founded the organization and you had
mentioned that there aren't a lot oforganizations like yours out there. It really

(05:54):
surprises me because there's such a need, like what for you do you do
specifically to make your organization stand outfrom other organizations that may be entering this
kind of pathway for people with specialneeds. That's a great question. I've
deliberately created this so it was notclinical. I did not want you to

(06:15):
walk in somewhere. I feel likeyou're in a doctor's office, or you've
got one hour to do this,and you get this test done, and
this program's only for three months.All of our programs are you know,
we have a Friday incident to hangoutand it's every Friday, every Saturday,
and we've had people coming since I'veopened. I never left the programs that
I did see out there. Itwas, oh, there's a week of
this or a month of this,and that's not realistic. So I think

(06:39):
that's one of the things. Theother thing is that I'm living it,
I'm walking it. I mean,I'm creating programs that i'd want for my
own child, and we really individualizeeverything, and I think that's the biggest
thing. Is there something to besaid too for the ongoing to see structure
of that as well for people withspecial needs. Yes, what I'm seeing

(07:00):
is that and this goes back tomy special education days, regression that if
they weren't doing things like you know, now you're going to school always till
you're twelfth grade and State of Michiganallows you to go to your twenty six
depending on your needs, and thennothing, so they start regressing. So,
yeah, it is really important.And you had said non clinical,

(07:23):
So what kinds of therapeutical and socialprograms do you offer members? So we
do have ABA therapy and psychotherapy.We do. We have that, But
even that, it's in a house. It's in this historic house and my
couch for sure I had when Iwas raising my kids are in it,
and it looks just like a house, a beautiful house. I love that,

(07:45):
right, So it doesn't feel likeI'm in a doctor's office, and
that was a big thing with me, and I think that when people walk
in there, especially the members,they feel that and it's comfortable. But
that's that's a program. That's stuffmore clinical. As far as what we're
offering. We have Friday in Centahangouts, we have cooking clubs, we
have lots of a lot of ourpeople have specific interests, so we do

(08:11):
a lot of clubs based on that. Dungeons and Dragons, gamers Club,
Comic con club. I love that. I was just writing them down.
I'm like, Wow, cooking club, Dungeons and Dragons. There's all sorts
of different interests, and you're justtrying to serve the need of the interests
that basically are presented to you.I am because there's a lot of isolation
that goes on, especially the olderthey get people with special needs, especially

(08:33):
people that are on the spectrum.It's huge, and so you know,
creating programs based on their special interests, it brings more people in that have
that same common interest and want tojoin. It's easier to create friendships that
way too. Then help us understandwhy as they get older isolation is an
issue. Yeah, I think becausegenerally not all I mean everyone's different as

(08:56):
a special need, but especially autism, little quirky, little different, and
so sometimes people are you know,shy away from it a little bit,
and that happens a lot. Sothere's a little bit of a stigma there,
for sure. What can we doto overcome that? That's a great
question. You know, put yourselfoff there and talk to everyone and we
are all different, right, andembrace that difference. I love that.

(09:22):
I love that different programs that youhave for them as well, with the
hangouts and ongoing and the structure.I think is just a wonderful thing to
know that they can always count onthat. Why is it important for people
with special needs to have access tothese types of programs and resources? I
mean that seems like a basic question, like, of course they need access,
but what are the deeper reasons thatpeople need resources like this? You

(09:46):
know, we all need a littlebit of support whatever it is. Right,
you're wearing glasses right now, itjust gives you that little I can
read now, right, yep.Someone that maybe has the sensory to sound,
and then we work with them andfigure out you know, if you
just put earbuds in, you canhandle this. It's little tweaks that just
make life a little bit easier foryou to get to that next step.

(10:07):
And you're in an environment that it'ssupportive, that it's okay if you make
a mistake, we're not going tojudge you, We're going to help you.
Yeah. I think that's a reallyinteresting comparison. And if people think
about it like that, that it'sjust servicing a need and it's like glasses
or any other need, hearing aidor any other support system you might have

(10:30):
just to get you to the nextability or widen your ability, then it
kind of makes you look at thatvery differently. That's great your vocational job
skills and employment programs. You know, they've been really successful for your members.
Can you tell us a little bitabout these programs and how they're making
a difference. Right, they're makinga difference because now this person who was

(10:52):
doing nothing sometimes decades, has alife. They go to this job and
they come home, they have dinnerwith their family and they have something to
have a conversation about the dinner table, where before it was I have nothing
to offer because I'm doing nothing.So it's that piece of it, but
it's also for the parents too,and again I'm living this life, you

(11:13):
know. It's that feeling of there'snothing out there, and now my person
has something and they've got not onlyjust the job they're geting to pay check,
but it's meaning to their life,you know, and they're meeting people
and they're not isolated and they're they'redoing things. Explain to us with that,
how how does it affect the families? Yeah, it does. It

(11:35):
affects the families, even the brothersand sisters. You know, it's it's
hard on everyone, it is.But how it affects the brothers and sisters
is you know, if there's nota plan in place, it's usually the
brother or sister that has to nowstep up. So it's that there's a
huge divorce rate when it companies,and I mean it's best general autism is

(11:58):
the high yes, oh wow.Yes. When you think about the responses
from employees who employers who have partnered, you know, there are a couple
of things that I would love foryou to explain to us. One,
can you give us some ideas ofsome of the programs so that we can
see in our heads, like whatkind of things are they doing? And

(12:20):
also the employers who have partnered withLiving and Learning to hire neuro diverse employees,
what has their response been. It'sbeen great, actually, and we
really work hard on finding amazing partners. I'm not just going to give someone
a job in a place where they'renot going to help them or don't want
them there. I don't want mypeople there then, So we really work

(12:43):
hard with educating employers, working withthem if they have questions, you know,
explain to them you might see thisand this is because of this and
giving them the tools they need tomake it successful. Most of the people
that we get jobs for paying jobs, they never leave, you know,
this becomes their identity, their life, everything, and that they make great

(13:03):
employees because of that too. Youknow, they're not late, they don't
miss work, they're not hungover.I mean, these people are this becomes
their life. Wow, that's incredible. Do you have people who employers who
reach out to you to partner withyou or do you have to pursue employers?
How does that work? Yeah?Both, that's a great question.
About a year ago, we hadan organization come on. I'm not gonna

(13:24):
be able to say their name,but they came on and asked us.
They said they we want to workwith you. We've got this situation where
we contract with different social media outletsand we have a and we were looking
for moderators basically, and we thinkthat people on the spectrum would be great
for this. It would be easierfor them compartmentalize things that maybe they're seeing
that would be hard for other peopleto see. Actually, my son who

(13:48):
has autism, we got him ajob there and ended up being phenomenal.
Wow right I love that. Yeah, so all day he was watching TikTok
videos flagging inappropriate videos. Oh mygod, Yeah, it was great.
Wow. Like and that really servesthe community, right, yes, I
mean super important role. Yes,wow, I love that. Are there

(14:09):
other success stories you can share withus? M Yeah. I mean,
and again, it depends on whothe individual is. I mean, every
just like we are all different.I mean, there's gonna be people that
want a more physical job, someonethat wants to be in an office,
someone that wants doesn't want to workfrom home so they're not talking to people.
Everyone's different. Trying to think thelast place that we that hired our

(14:30):
person, one of our people,the country club down the street. What
I apologize this is gonna be meadowBrook. They hired one of our people
and they started as a voke person. So they started their filling in dibbits.
Is that it was called divots divots, Yeah, but they started doing
that and now they're driving on thethe golf card and they're giving people water

(14:50):
and you know. I mean thatthat was beautiful. That's great. They're
at a country club. Yeah,and their role is expanded as they've been
there longer, which is ideal,right, right, I love that.
So you offer a variety of supportservices for members and their families. And
we've talked a little bit about,you know, how this all affects the
family members, which I'm sure isyou know a large impact on them and

(15:15):
frankly their sense of peace with regardto their relative. But can you tell
us a little bit about your supportprograms and how they benefit those who have
a loved one with a disability.Yeah. When I started living learning,
one of the things I really wantedwas a parent support group. When I
would go to the doctors with myson and in the beginning, that's all
you're doing is going to occupational therapyand AVIA services. I mean you were

(15:39):
at the doctors every day. Youwould get so connected to the parents that
were in the waiting room, andso I wanted the same thing. I
wanted a place where you know thatcamaraderie you're talking to people have similar situations
going on. And so what wedid is the first Wednesday of every month,
we have a parent support group andit's free. Anyone can come and

(16:02):
we really try to bring in gustspeakers. So if a parent saying I
really am looking for someone to helpme financially set up funds or set up
an account for their child, theirloved one, and for them to learn
about it what they can and cannotdo, we find someone that will come
out and talk about it, andwe have wine and we have little snacks

(16:22):
and you know, we make itso it's not, you know, a
clinical atmosphere that you're just relaxing havingconversation with someone that's I would think really
helpful because that's kind of where youit's like being on teams versus being in
person. You know, when you'resitting talking with people and just socializing and
it's like all sorts of things comeout that help each other and the brainstorming
and hey, have you ever triedthis? I would think that'd be super

(16:45):
helpful. It is, and that'sprobably one of the best things that we
do that we offer one. It'sfree and it's like I said, that
camaraderie. You know, no oneelse gets it. Your family could be
the most wonderful family in the world, but they're not living it. You
know these people are so that part'swonderful. I love it. And that's
once a month. Well, thefirst Wednesday have every month. First ones

(17:07):
they have every month. Hey,we've talked about a couple of things,
and we probably should make sure ifsomebody's listening they know how to find your
resources, which we've discussed employers whomight want to be a part of the
program. And then obviously the supportservices that you provide for families as well,
in addition to what you provide forthe adult special needs members of your
community. How would they find outmore information on your organization? Again,

(17:30):
Well, we're on social media,but the best way would be to go
to our website, which is Livingand Learning Center dot org. Great Living
and Learning Center dot org. Soone of the notable things you've been doing
is the mod Market. Tell usabout that, right, So we have
a little store it's called mod Market, and I wanted a place where we
have a lot of artists, littlelocal artists and their work. Well,

(17:52):
I'm going to give you a reallygood example. This young man had come
to be this is one of yourspecial needs. Yes, well he came
or Field Trap and I'm not goingto stay his name, just because his
parents don't want me to. Butone day he was showing me pictures on
his phone of art that he did, and I was amazed. I mean,
he is truly an artist, andso I that time said one day

(18:14):
I'm going to help you sell yourart. Well, now we have mid
Market and his art is in there. He's got his own corner and he
gets the same commission as any artistwhose work sells there. So about fifty
percent of the arts made by someonewith a special need and the other fifty
percent local artists. And we Iintentionally did that because that's the real world.
I didn't want to have a storewhere it's just artists I have special

(18:36):
needs. It's everyone. And it'salso a place for skill building. So
a lot of our people that arelooking for a job, you know,
will bring them there and ease theminto it. And we have several people
that have a special need that workthere and get a paycheck. Wow.
I think that's incredible. One thatit's integrated with everybody, you know,
so it's like real life, whichit should be. And then they have

(19:00):
a place to express their creativity,which is amazing, and help them obviously
sell it. If they can too. Could you have any success stories or
interesting stories of things you've seen peoplesell at the mod market? Oh my
goodness, yes, money. Butthis one individual I was talking about earlier,
he's now we got him a jobfor the summer at the zoo.

(19:21):
Oh really, So he's doing chalkdrawing. I think it's like once a
week. I know, it's amazinganimals. He draws animals, Wow,
but phenomenal. So it's it's parlayedinto that. And he's employed at the
zoo doing chalk drying. That's ahuge success. You know, it's so
beautiful and so beautiful is that washingdinner dishes somewhere? I mean, this

(19:44):
is what he loves to do,right, and it makes people happy too.
You go to the zoo, youget a great drawing by a wonderful
artist and he's feeling fulfilled and that'sawesome. Yes, I love that.
And it's the zoo, which isjust cool to go to the zoo this
summer, right and by a chalkdrawing. Yes, please, I love
that. Hey, what's the bestadvice you've received about growing, living and
learning? Like, how does oneget to this point where you are today?

(20:08):
What kinds of advice have you received. What kind of help have you
received. I've received a lot ofadvice, actually, and I've had so
many God moments. I mean,we worked our butt off, no doubt,
but we had so many beautiful peoplestep in and help us. And
one of the things one of thepeople that really helped me is name was

(20:30):
Mike Muscone's passed away since since,but one time he said to me,
I was having a hard time lettingsomeone go, and he said, you
know, sometimes people are put inour life for a short period of time
to get us to that next point. And it's so true, you know.
And when you look at it thatway, and it's not so you
know, because people will say,oh, it's business, it is business,

(20:52):
but it's really personal to right.Yeah. So, but when you
look at it that way, it'strue. And every time I'm able to
let myself look at that, it'salways happened where someone else steps in now
and they've taken us to the nextlevel. How do people get involved if
they want to help? So onour website Living Learningcenter dot org there is
a site that says volunteers and that'show you would do it. But you

(21:15):
know, I tell everyone if youever you know, have whether it's a
question about autism or special needs,are you're looking for a resource or you've
an idea. You know, weare getting a lot of people now that
I have an idea to help people, just reach out to me personally at
Living and Learning Center. I wouldI'll talk to anyone, I'll meet with
anyone. I'll give you a tour, and the best thing I can do

(21:37):
is just share with you what Idid. It might not work for you,
but this is what I did,and maybe some of my story will
resonate somewhere and I'll help you alongthe way. How many volunteers do you
have right now? Hundreds? Hundreds? Ye are most of the people who
volunteer people who have special needs children. I have a lot of them,
But no, I wouldn't say so. They just have an affinity for helping

(21:59):
people. It sounds like, yeah. And where we're located now, we're
on this beautiful estate in downtown Northville. Well, it's literally on the corner
of Northville Novae. And if anyone'slistening remembers Don Massey Caatellacty, yes,
it was his residence. Well,okay, so this is it's like Camelot.
It's twelve acres, it's got sixbuildings on the property. Wants a

(22:22):
mansion. We have alpacas and chickensand bunnies and it's incredible. So we
leave our gates open and we wantpeople to come in. We have a
pup putt course. Just come inand enjoy yourself. It's such a beautiful
place that we have to share it. Wow, And then that makes it
inclusive too. But I'm saying thatbecause that's how we've gotten a lot of
volunteers too. So here you're doingsomething nice for someone and it comes back

(22:47):
that's great, and it's on abeautiful property. It sounds like as well,
how did you end up having yourlocation there? Oh my goodness,
it was god. I mean Iwas driving by. Someone made a joke
and said, you guys should buythe Don Mascy residents, and I was
even going to paycheck, so Ilaughed and said, yeah, wouldn't that
be great? But about a monthlater, I was driving by the property

(23:07):
and I just had this thought.I thought, I'm going to call the
reiltor and just see if I canwalk that property. And so I did,
and as I was walking the property, I just had this feeling of
we're supposed to be here and acrossthe street our apartments, and I could
kind of just visualize the whole thing. One day, we're going to help
people live in those apartments. Allof our programs will be here. Northville

(23:30):
is a very safe area walking iseveryone's walking down there. There's a downtown.
And so now we have four peopleliving those apartments. Wow, wow,
I know, And honestly, that'swhat happened. I mean, everyone
laughed. And it took us twoyears to get it, and it was
a long shot, but I didwhat I'm doing right the second. I

(23:52):
just kept telling my story and tellingpeople we're going to do this. Someone
write about me and said I wantto help you. Mike must go and
he got it. Yeah, andhe helped us walk the path. Oh
my gosh. How do most peoplefind out about living and learning in Richmond
Center. I guess it word ofmouth because everybody it's such a tight community
of people who definitely, as youwere saying, like you're in a a

(24:14):
waiting room and you get to knoweach other, Like is it just that
kind of community? Or I wouldsay so. And plus I was a
teacher, so I was in thebeginning, all over telling people I'm doing
this, I'm doing this. Youneed to tell your people about this.
Right any doctor's office I went to, I was bringing them flyers and so
I think a lot of that,and teachers are always looking and so we're
doctors resources for families because there's nothingout there. Is there really nothing out

(24:38):
there, very very little. Gosh, it breaks my heart, I know,
it really does. Like it's anrate for an adult with autism,
it's eighty five percent. Yeah,we cannot have that. I agree.
I agree, And we're working hardto change that statistic. That's great.
It's such a meaningful endeavor, youknow, meaningful population we have to support
we do. What are what aresome of the challenges that are causing you

(25:03):
know, those rates, or whatare the challenges you're facing to continuing growing.
I would say the the rate piecethat you just talked about, the
stereotypes, you know, and Imean, I'm guilty of it. I
know that when I was younger,people that had a special need were in
a different building. And I alwayssay that to people too, that you
know, it's just what you're notused to. If you're not used to

(25:25):
being around you know, a certainethnicity or you know, I mean a
lot of people are around people withspecial needs, but the more you are,
it's nothing. This is, youknow, like talking to anyone else,
and you in your lifetime will knowsomeone with a special need. And
every time I give a presentation,someone will say I think my neighbor might

(25:47):
have special needs or I think myniece's son, and they probably do,
and they just present well mm hmm, yeah, it's you know, I'd
like to think that we're getting betterat that. My my kids are in
a deaf and heart pairing school,so they have exposure to kids with you
know, disabilities and deaf and hardhard of hearing, and they have kids

(26:07):
in the spectrum and special needs kidsin their classrooms. And I'm like,
well, yeah, we show right, that's the real world. And we
all got to get along. Weall got to figure out how to help
each other. And so I hopeit's like that everyone. I think it's
getting better. Okay, I do. I think it's getting better. I
hope so. Because we're all init together well and just doing things like
this, it starts a conversation,right, and sometimes people are uncomfortable with

(26:30):
that conversation. But you need tohave these conversations to grow. Yeah,
so you've been doing this for nineyears. So impressive. It really isn't
thank you for filling a void that'sabsolutely necessary and needed. So thank you
for that, first of all.And what's coming up? Like what do
you want to see you have happened? Somebody's listening and they're like, gosh,
I would love to help, andthey can. Let's say they can,

(26:52):
like really can, Like what wouldyou want to see have happened?
Like give me your big dreams.I want to buy the apartments across the
sto Oh did you hear that outthere? She wants to buy those apartments
and have people have a place tolive and then they can just walk across
the street and they can like getthe resources they need. I just I've
seen firsthand how successful it's been forthe four people that live there. It's
been amazing, life changing. Thelast person that moved in her family was

(27:17):
from India. They heard about us. I did a skype meeting with them,
which was so surreal. I'm talkingto someone from India and then I
said, you know what, Ican get her job and so they brought
her out. My team did afabulous job, getting her a full time
job, and she comes now toour hangouts, our art clubs. We

(27:37):
have something called Girl Talks. Shecomes to that every Tuesday and she lives
across room. There's apartments in herfamily moved back to India. Wow.
So that's what needs to happen andwhat my dream is that anyone can live
in those apartments. I wanted inclusive, but we really are there to help
people have a special need or asenior citizen. So I kind of vision
at like Fox Run or something wherethere's tons to do and everyone's friendly and

(28:00):
we've got all these resources. Youdon't have to do any of it,
but it's there. But you justhad senior citizens too, so you see
a whole a larger spectrum I do. And the other thing is our people
will one day be senior citizens,right, so it's an easy transition.
Right. Oh wow, So ifanyone's listening to meet with me, I
will make this happen. You neverknow exactly, You never know. Somebody's
grocery shopping really early this morning andthey're listening. They're like, Hey,

(28:23):
that sounds like a great thing.I'd love to help. I have a
lot of money, and I don'tknow what to do. Yeah, I
want to be that person. Helpyou. I love it. I love
it, Oh my gosh. Andso that's why I must tell you again.
This is Rochelle Vartanian and she isthe president and founder of Living and
Learning and Richmond Center. And youcan find more information at Living and Learning

(28:44):
Center dot org. Rachelle. Beforewe wrap it up today, why don't
you tell us what is your favoritething about what you do? Oh my
gosh, the families. The bestthing in the world is being there at
nine a m. And watching allof them. There's a line out of
our door all the way down thestreet to get in, and these families
are dropping their people off, andmy people are at the door, Hi

(29:06):
Barb, Hi Mark, Oh mygosh, how was your weekend? And
hugging each other. And I havea child with special needs, so I
remember many times dropping my son offhim walking to that door. I could
cry thinking about this and everyone ignoringthem. That's not what I want.
But that's never happening again at myplace. No, And that's these parents
say that all time is the bestfeeling dropping my person off, So that

(29:27):
is the best part. Wow,that's so powerful. You can just see
it, the love coming at thechild. I love it, well,
the adult child, but somebody's childchild, Yeah, I love it.
Our guest today has been Rochelle Vartanian. She is the president and founder of
Living and Learning of Richmond Center.Thank you for joining us today, Rachelle,
Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for everything you're doing.

(29:49):
This has been light up the da community a fairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit.
If your organization would like to geton the program, email Colleen Graham
at iHeartMedia dot com. Here areall episodes on this station's podcast page.