Matt, A Bright Future
“If there’s one thing I would tell other parents, it’s that you find the people who will touch your children’s lives in the most unexpected places,” says Deb, Matt’s mom. That’s one reason community living is so important to someone like Matt, who has Down syndrome. “Our goal is for Matthew to live as independent a life as possible,” she says. “So it’s to his advantage to interact with the people in his community on a daily basis.”
Through the St. Louis Arc’s summer youth programs, Matt and a young mentor found volunteer jobs in Matt’s own neighborhood. They cared for animals at a vet clinic and an animal shelter, placed security items on books in a bookstore, cleared trails at a park, and transported residents at a nursing home. Now a high school senior, Matt and his parents are looking at job opportunities for him-and at a bright future. “The St. Louis Arc exposed him to so many different people and gave him skills and flexibility,” said Deb. “It showed us how well he could do, how successful he could be.”