Donation supports farm staffed by developmentally disabled adults

AMHERST TWP. — On Middle Ridge Road, just off of state Route 2, lies a pair of houses with a series of mismatched sheds, workshops, barns and trailers behind them. It looks to be a simple farm, and it is. But the property also plays host to The Learning Farm, a nonprofit which employs developmentally disabled adults to run the farm while learning life skills and honing their interpersonal interactions. On Wednesday, the charity 100 Women Who Care About Lorain County donated $7,639 to The Learning Farm to support its mission to serve Lorain County residents – and a few from neighboring communities – with varying forms of developmental disabilities. Barb Taylor, who founded the farm a decade ago with the help of her family, said that the money will be used to build a gazebo in which the members of the program can gather. She said that currently the benches outside of the organization's main trailer are the favorite meeting place for the program's 52 regular members, but the gazebo would allow a covered and designated space for that community building. "They want to be together," Taylor said. "This is a safe place, a place to be with your friends and to learn important life skills but also to practice their interpersonal skills." Taylor said that nonprofit's policy has always been not to use large donations to pay bills or fund the farm, but to buy or build something new for the program members to enjoy. "We always use it to get something that we would not have had otherwise," she said. "Whenever we receive a blessing, we want to make sure it goes to serve them." 100 Women is a charity which donates to one Lorain County organization each quarter chosen by its members for serving the people of the county. Each quarter, every member nominates an organization they feel represents the charity's goals of community service. Three nominees are pulled from a hat and are invited to give presentations arguing for the efficacy and importance of their work. The Learning Farm often flies under the radar in Lorain County – Taylor said she likes to keep the organization 'lowkey' and there is already a waitlist to join – but it came to the attention of the charity because Cathy Kingsley is both a member of 100 Women and the mother of one of the program members, Adam. "The beauty of this organization is the support that they are able to give their clients," Kingsley said. "Without it, these kids would mostly be stuck at home with their technology, maybe working a part-time job here or there, often unsuccessfully. This has them in a place where they can be productive. They work with the animals, they learn how to work as a team and they have a community that supports them." Sue Bowers, a founding member of 100 Women Who Care About Lorain County, said that she and many other members were moved by Kingsley's personal account of how The Learning Farm had helped her son, and it made the farm an obvious recipient. "It was just from the heart," Bowers said. "It was not pre-written. It was about an individual experience and the benefit one family had, and it showed what they do here for all of the people that they serve." Kingsley said that the members of the organization also go on excursions to farmers markets and other places to sell the fruits of their labor, forcing them to learn how to interact with people outside their community. "I don't have a magic pill to cure autism or intellectual disabilities," Taylor said. "What we have is the compassion, the empathy, the teaching skills and the desire to teach them how to interact. Society needs to know about them and be more aware of them, but they also need to learn about society. To fit in is acceptance, don't we all need to fit in? … We all have something going on, we are all learning how to be in society. That is what we want to do here." That philosophy has been successful, Taylor said, as since the program has started, six members have gone from not having the skills to be employed at all in the community to leaving the program and having full time jobs. "They have gained full time employment in the community, and we have another handful who have part-time employment, which is huge in this field," she said. Two success stories for the program are Mike Yanda, who has been with the program for eight years, and Jake Danchuk, who has been a member for more than five. Danchuk, standing in a pen watching over two pigs at feeding time, said he first came to the Learning Farm after being forced to leave several jobs because he suffered debilitating migraines and could not focus. "I have two jobs now, actually," he said, correcting Taylor as she recounted his story. "I had migraines from stress, which I don't have anymore, and I would always get distracted. I don't get distracted anymore because I'm so busy here." Danchuk and Yanda said that the work is hard, but they love it. The pair now serve as mentors for newer members of the program, showing them the ropes of how to care for the animals and do chores around the farm. With the success of both the program and the farm itself, it is hard to believe that Taylor and her family had no experience with farming before she founded The Learning Farm. "We Googled everything," Taylor said with a laugh. "You should have seen me on my phone Googling 'How to fix a goat breech birth.' It has been an interesting journey." While she had no experience with farming, Taylor had extensive experience working with adults with developmental disabilities, as she went to school to be a teacher but eventually found herself working as a nurse in group homes. The farm aspect was initially just viewed as a draw, being with animals would be interesting to members of the program, but Taylor said caring for them has led to so much progress for the clients. "Interacting with animals is so important," she said. "Especially with our non-verbal members, nurturing an animal is so huge, it lets them connect with something where it might be hard for them to initially connect with other people." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.