Mora consumers and staff decided on a daytime pajama party and had a really GOOD time. (Nice threads, guys!)

Sarah Nelson, Cambridge Program
Coordinator and her son, Scott

by Lynn-Marie Stroman

Singular – distinguished by superiority – is a quality the parents of a special needs child must develop if they are to raise that child to his or her full potential. The first superior thought they must have and thing they must do is realize they cannot do it alone.

Sarah Larson and her husband Phil are singular parents. Their 23-year-old son Scott has Angelman’s Syndrome. It is characterized by developmental delay, seizures, and physical limitations.

The Larsons didn’t know immediately after his birth that Scott wasn’t a typical child. When he was six months old, his pediatrician told Sarah that his delay in reaching some milestones, like sitting up, were within normal range, and that he would catch up. The Larsons moved, and when Scott was seen by a new doctor, he spotted the symptoms of delay very quickly. He was seven when he was diagnosed with Angelman’s Syndrome. Scott was referred to physical therapy by the time he was a year old. Sarah’s awakening came at a Christmas party for the children in the program. She looked around at the children who needed the same type of help Scott did and thought “we don’t fit.” Then she realized that “we do fit.” Scott wouldn’t be “catching up”; he would need special support all of his life.

The approach Sarah and Phil took was to consider anyone who helped Scott, his doctor, his PCA, whoever, was a part of the team that was working to give Scott the best life he could have. You don’t demand things of team members, you discuss things with team members. If information is lacking, you research it. The other decision they made was that they were going to live with and/or above the circumstances they found themselves in, instead of living “under” the circumstances.

Sarah found that information was lacking for many parents, information about what medical assistance programs would pay for, where to get information about in-home help, and a host of other facts that were necessary for other parents to make the best choices for their child. She asked that parents get together so the information could be shared efficiently. She thought they would all just meet in her house – they ended up meeting in a local church because word got out and everybody in the area had questions.

Sarah enjoyed being at the hub of this support group – very often she was the one who helped other parents research the answers. Information about support of special needs children does not reside in one place so pulling all the bits and pieces together takes patience and perseverance. Her initial idea of a parents’ support group turned into “Parents Connection” which went on to hire speakers, stage picnics and sponsor retreats.

How has Sarah’s life changed because she had a special needs child? She found her voice. She became a team player. She became a scheduler and an organizer. She learned to prioritize so that her husband and her other children got the attention they needed. She learned a lot about state and county support for special needs children and adults. She works as a Program Manager for Industries, Inc. She may have found a different route to some of these things if Scott had been a “typical” kid, but maybe not.

It’s hard for her to describe how her life has changed because this is her life as she knows it. Scott is a program participant in Mora. She works with Scott’s support team. She and Phil don’t pick up and leave on a vacation, there needs to be some prior planning. Some day, Scott will live in a group home and she will have to find the right one for him. Sarah doesn’t know what her life would be like if Scott weren’t Scott, because he is Scott.

There are a lot of clichés about life handing you lemons and making lemonade, or blooming where you’re planted. In the instance of a special needs child, you have to make lemonade for someone else. You have to help that child to bloom because he or she certainly didn’t choose where they were planted. It takes singular people to help their children achieve satisfaction and happiness.

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability — to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this . . .

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting! After months of eager anticipation the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says. “Welcome to Holland”.

“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy” But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while, and you catch your breath, you look around . . . and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills . . . and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy . . . and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away . . . because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But . . . if you spend you life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things . . . about Holland.

© 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved.

Julie Hawkins speaking
with Diana Wilson, KBEK

To learn more about Industries, Inc. listen to KBEK Radio every Thursday at 1:15 pm. Industries Insights is sponsored by Jim Oxberry and Melissa Weinreich of Thrivent Financial Associates of Mora, MN.

Below is a Letter to the Editor from The Thursday, October 11, 2007 issue of the:

Kanabec County Times

To the editor:

Having sold my house, I was in need of help to move. We had heard about Industries, Incorporated. Not knowing much about their service, we called the Mora Office.

They referred us to the Cambridge office, where we received welcome news.

Yes, they do help with moving people and would come to check out the job I wanted done. I have some very heavy sewing machines. I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to lift the machines and carry them down three flights of stairs, but I was assured they could do the job, and do the job they did. They set a fair price on the low side. The date was set and it was a go.

At the appointed time their van arrived at my house and four big healthy men, with their supervisor entered my home.

We explained to them that we would be delivering to two different locations. What we thought would take two days didn’t even take a full day. Their work was professional and they were polite and careful with my things. They also will help with small jobs, lawn work and with most anything one would need help with.

I would recommend them 100 percent. If you are in need of help, give them a chance. Like most people, we didn’t really know just what they could do.

Thank You Industries, Incorporated.

Marlie Henshel
Ogilvie

Peter Brown

Pete Brown is our new Transportation and Safety Director. He comes to us from Grainger, Inc. Pete is a Coast Guard vet, where he got some of his background for the job. He and his significant other Heidi and her 19-year-old son Tony live in Cambridge, where Pete has a lot of irons in the fire.

He owns a cab company with three cabs and has helped reduce the drunk driving rate in Chisago and Isanti counties by being available for rides home. He’s a Trustee for the Cambridge Legion and he’s also involved in “Towards Zero Deaths”, an initiative to curb drunk driving.

I asked Pete what he does in his spare time – his cab company and community involvement pretty much take care of it for him. Make him feel welcome here at Industries, Inc.

John Cooper and Joan Sprinkle

Fourteen teams took part in the golf tournament at the Springbrook Golf Course of Mora on Saturday, July 14th. The day included golfing, dinner, a silent auction and numerous drawings for prizes which were donated by local businesses and individuals. The net income for the event was $3,120.95. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this event such a success. A great time was had by all!

Dennis         Kirt
Warriner     Douglas
Dennis Warriner and Kirt Douglas are a couple of cowboys in the best sense of the word. They ride out at Mission Creek Stables in Beroun one night a week. The staff at Mission Creek works with some of our participants to give them this experience and the participants make the most of it.

Hats off to everyone who participated. Dennis and Kirt, the staff at Mission Creek and, most especially, the the horses who understand they have very special riders aboard.

It gives me great pleasure to share my involvement with Industries. My parents are Tom and Margaret Lindquist — two of the founders. I remember coming home from school more than 40 years ago to a house full of wonderful things that had been made by individuals with challenges. Little did I know years later I would be the chair of the Board of Directors for this wonderful organization.

This organization was started out of love for individuals with challenges. The founders decided it was important to start an organization for individuals with challenges when they were no longer part of the school system. We have grown to be able to have individuals working outside on enclaves around the community, as well as in our warehouse locations in Cambridge and Mora.

We are celebrating our 40th anniversary this year as many of you know. There have been challenges to overcome over the years, but our organization has been built on love for our consumers; our community has been able to meet them and learn.

We have a wonderfully iinvolved board that I am very proud to be part of. I can tell by listening to them that they are in one accord with our vision. “Cost Effective Production and Maintenance Services, Employment and Training for People with Disabilities. An Equal Opportunity Employer”.

On Friday, July 13th seven United Way Volunteers came to Cambridge to work side by side with the participants on a special project. They all pitched in and detailed our vans, weeded our flowers and followed up with lunch and a tour of the facility. The participants had a great time and are hoping they will come back again!

Thank you to the following United Way Volunteers: Lauren Segel (United Way President), Biz O’Mara, Rich Grigos, Julie Dyste, Marlyn Robbins, Gerry Robbins and Rebecca Justin.