Thank You Zeisloft Family Trust!
Through two funding cycles, the Zeisloft Family Trust has awarded Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy (NHA) close to $300,000 towards an exciting upcoming project at our Special Grounds vocational training center with the balance of funding going towards NHA’s inclusive indoor play area. Both projects will memorialize the Zeisloft Family, with its strong and lasting ties to the communities we serve in Northwest Ohio.
“Thank you and the Zeisloft Family Trusts for the very generous grants to support these projects at Special Grounds and New Horizons Academy! Your generosity and caring are amazing, and we are beyond humbled and grateful for the trustees generosity and faith in our mission!” shared Sara’s Garden CEO, Matthew Rychener.
The ultimate mission of Sara’s Garden and its regional special education program, New Horizons Academy, is to help its special needs students and young adults become as self-sufficient and independent as they can possibly be. The upcoming Special Grounds vocational center project will expand our current capability out into Northwest Ohio to reach additional special needs students, educate the community about the vocational needs of young adults with disabilities, promote the awareness that every community can and should support all of its students and community members, and would be named for and dedicated to the Zeisloft Family for its commitment to serving individuals and families with disabilities. This project will offer our students and other Northwest Ohio students vocational skills, job placement, financial success, career development, a sense of accomplishment, and hope for the future! Thank you to the Zeisloft Family Trust for partnering with us in making the future brighter for young adults with disabilities!
Educators know that play helps children, of all ability levels, increase their physical fitness, reduce obesity, gain emotional and mental mastery, lay the groundwork for creative thinking, promote cognitive development, reasoning, and the development of fine and gross motor skills, improve problem solving, and offer opportunities to try out new habits and behaviors.
With Northwest Ohio’s long, cold winters and torrential spring rains, our students have limited access to NHA’s outdoor playground, due to severe inclement weather. This greatly reduces their opportunities to be physically active in the colder months, because it is just too difficult for them to navigate the snowy and icy surfaces. With space now opening up through a building expansion, the Zeisloft Family Trust is helping to create an inclusive indoor play area at NHA. It will address the needs of typically developing children, as well as, children with neurological, intellectual, and physical disabilities, with areas and activities rich in sensory experiences, social interactions, and physical challenges. The play area would naturally expand and enhance both the recreational and therapeutic treatment for NHA’s special needs students.
We are so thankful and grateful to the Zeisloft Family Trust for establishing a lasting legacy of vocational, recreational, and therapeutic skill development for special needs children and youth through Sara’s Garden, New Horizons Academy and Special Grounds Coffee Co.! Thank you, Zeisloft Family Trust, for making the future brighter for children and young adults with disabilities!
