HOWDY, PARTNER
Recipe for Success
Photo by Susan J. Harlow
AUNE’s cafe serves up opportunities for developmentally
disabled adults, thanks to a local nonprofit.
Donna Locher (right) with cafe employees Sarah Huston and Ethan Kennedy, hired through MDS.
For the Antioch University New England community,
Donna’s Cafe is a respite from classes – a place to grab a
quick cup of coffee or one of chief cook Donna Locher’s
famous bowls of spicy beans and kale. What some
customers may not realize is that by supporting
the cafe, they are helping their neighbors
with developmental disabilities learn skills
and lead more fulfilling lives.
AUNE formed a partnership with
Monadnock Developmental Services
(MDS) 18 years ago, when the
school was looking to start a cafe
that fulfilled its mission of giving
back to the community. MDS was a
perfect fit: the nonprofit organization
has been providing training and jobs to
developmentally disabled adults in New
Hampshire for over 30 years. MDS was founded
on the idea that all people, regardless of their abilities
or disabilities, have the right to lead productive and
meaningful lives. “Our clients have intellectual disabilities,
autism, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy. Historically, they would
have gone to an institution for the disabled,” explains Alan
Greene, executive director of MDS.
“The partnership with AUNE creates an opportunity for
people without disabilities to come into contact and interact
with people with disabilities,” Greene adds. “It also gives our
clients experiences and opportunities to form relationships
and friendships with community members.”
Some MDS clients go through remarkable
transformations. Reports Locher, “We have
one woman who didn’t talk when she first
came to work at the cafe; now she can talk.
Part of it is that the Antioch people are so
gregarious and accepting of our staff.”
Donna’s Cafe is unique in other ways,
as well. “I can cook whatever I want.
I’m more like a radical lunch lady,” states
Locher. “I don’t just slap on mashed
potatoes. It’s all made fresh, and it’s a
small menu – six or seven items a day.”
Locher is an outgoing woman who is a
fixture in the AUNE community. She’s had
students as roommates, let faculty stay with her
when they were stranded in a blizzard, and is even a
godmother to one of her adult staff members. Since she’s a
second mom to so many at AUNE, running the cafe is the
perfect job for her. “I like to feed people and nurture, and I
like to cook,” she explains. “I’ve made so many friends
here. I do love the whole Antioch experience.” -DS
Learn more about Monadnock
Developmental Services at mds-nh.org
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