The Kindness of Strangers

My Asperger support group has been a wonderful experience for Reese and I. Reese spends time with a tight group of friends while learning invaluable social skills. I too have made many wonderful friends of deeply caring people that I cherish.

For the two years we have been involved, the group has met at the Region Ten Educational Service Center. Each public school district is divided into a regions. Each region is supported by an educational service center which provides teacher and parent training among other invaluable services. The building and facilities are state of the art and beautiful. Due to one dear man, Echidnas has had use of these facilities for free. How amazing is that?

Free sometimes comes with a cost. The cost at Region Ten was limited hours. Our group meets 6:30 – 8:00 pm. We were not welcome on site prior to 6:30 nor were we allowed, even in the parking lot, after 8pm. Echidnas is a support group for autistic kids, keeping severe time restrictions was not easy for the kids nor the parents. We were required to end our meetings AND LEAVE THE GROUNDS at 8pm. Not easy to do, as the kids wanted to unwind with each other after their lesson and the parents wanted to say good-byes after our program. It became obvious that we must search for a new location.

My understanding is the group had a terribly difficult time finding a host. We are a small, non-profit group run by volunteers. Some thought it would be difficult if not impossible to find a new location at a low cost. In addition our members drive from all over the city so we needed to be centrally located area, closing the area of our search.

We immediately found a synagogue who offered their pre-school classrooms to us for a relatively small fee. Fantastic! Our members thought they could do better. So two members kept searching.

Not one, but two churches were identified. One offered three rooms at a nominal cost (half of the synagogue’s rate). The three rooms would meet our immediate needs, but would leave us no room for growth.

The second church’s offering completely floored us. Community Christian Church is a 50 year old congregation, who built a new building directly next door to their old building. The old building is used on Sunday’s only and vacant the remainder of the week.

Community’s building includes a social hall with a raised stage (their old pulpit), a kitchen and classrooms. Tables, chairs and sofa’s are available. Astoundingly, they are welcoming our group into their community. They want no money or anything in return from us. I have met their pastor and board of directors and found them to be kind, caring and friendly individuals.

We introduced our group to Community Christian Church on Wednesday after dinner at Cici’s pizza. Our population of teens and adults immediately felt comfortable and fell in love with our new home. Most notably, two of our more reserved kids immediately went for the “stage” and began performing.

A special Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Christ Community church for being a new member of our Echidnas family.