Small Gains Mean New Independence
Small Gains Mean New Independence
“That was really hard to take,” Cranfill says. “Parents who had tried so hard to teach these kids ... it was for nothing. The kids went home, a burden on their families.”
As a result, the woman from Strawn, Texas, (pop. 739) decided her role didn’t end on graduation day. She had seen her father struggle with the results of childhood infantile paralysis and later with a stroke and wanted to help her students face similar struggles.
Hoping to provide work they could take pride in, she began making salsa in her high school classroom in 1996. “We got permission from the school to charge $17 to buy enough supplies for the first batch,’’ Cranfill says.
With old pint jars and a donated salsa recipe, Palo Pinto Challenge—named for the county and the challenge of living and working—was born.
The nonprofit corporation now employs four full-time people with mental and physical handicaps who are learning job and life skills.
“I don’t think God put mentally and physically challenged people here to be a burden,” the former teacher says. “They can function, too.”
Strawn Mayor Paul Stephen says the program means a great deal to the town. “A lot of people watch after these young people as they walk around. … There’s a lot of things they’re capable of doing, if we just let them,” Stephen says.
Stephen has a special relationship with one employee, 19-year-old Francisco “Pancho” Yanez. Yanez, who has a genetic neuromuscular disease doctors haven’t fully identified, has a life expectancy of mid- to late-20s. Two of his older brothers have the same disease. But Yanez has a twinkle in his eye and a smile that lights up the room, especially when he talks about fishing with his best friend, the mayor.
“We caught a lot of fish,’’ Yanez says proudly.
Yanez is losing his ability to walk and the disease now affects his mind. “It won’t be many months until he’s in a wheelchair,’’ Cranfill says. Yanez, his family’s first high school graduate, is still Cranfill’s second-in-command.
Workers receive no pay because they would lose federal health care benefits most must have. “It’s a teaching tool, not a money-making project,” Cranfill says.
Sales to stores and restaurants have grown from the first $200 to $2,000 a month, and operations have moved from the school to a burned-out restaurant refurbished by the Strawn Development Corp. Proceeds pay for making salsa, the rest comes from grants and donations.
The word has spawned both large and small success stories. One former employee now works at a major supermarket and lives in his own home. Another left a nursing home for a group home.
And Jennifer Elmore’s daughter Julia, now 24, found a level of independence no one thought she could reach after meningitis left her handicapped at 6 months old.
“As she made her way slowly through the levels of the special education curriculum, I began to see her horizons become smaller and smaller until there were at last, when I attended her transition meeting, no options open to her but to go home and sit,’’ Elmore says.
Then Julia ended up in Cranfill’s class—and her world expanded.
“Julia’s earliest job was sealing ... picking up jars with her left hand, which had been almost useless to this point, moving the jar in front of her, twisting the lid onto the jar, and moving the jar to the right side of her,’’ Elmore says.
She changed light bulbs, cooked, washed dishes, and went on walks alone.
“These may seem like small accomplishments to others,” Elmore says, “but for Julia they mean a new level of independence.’’
Upload Your Own Stories, Photos and Videos
Related Stories
If you enjoyed reading this story, Small Gains Mean New Independence, then you might enjoy these other stories.Discuss this Article
