Cultivating Hope Together

in partnership with Cultivating Hope Farms
Project location: Ames, IA United States

The mission of Cultivating Hope Farms is to grow and support the health of persons with autism and other disabilities by teaching life and job skills in an inclusive farm-care environment.

I saw the vision they have to educate children with autism and other special needs. They are so passionate that Brad & Gina Perkins along with their 3 sons did all the preliminary work with their own hands. They have a huge barn that has one side set aside for classrooms. They have a horse-riding arena equipped specifically for special needs children. Animals are everywhere. They use the animals to teach the children basic tools. Every week the farm hosts a "family night" with food and karaoke. I attended one of these gatherings and saw the joy on all the faces.

Their aim is to begin the teaching of life and job skills as early as possible thereby helping to increase the individual’s quality of life and decrease society’s financial burden of poverty associated with those diagnosed with autism and developmental disabilities. They seek to provide an environment where skills learned in therapy can be applied and practiced. The goal being for an individual to have truly mastered a skill that can be generalized to real-world settings.

This funding will be used to build classrooms and restrooms in the barn area that is set aside for this project.