Since 1996, parents of children with special needs have been breathing sighs of relief, as Center forges ahead on a special mission to enrich the lives of children with special needs and provide essential respite to their families. For the children, The Special Children’s Center, or Center as it’s affectionately called, is more than just a place for the children to be. The myriad of programs offered provide well-structured and dynamic days. At it’s inception almost 25 years ago, no one, not even it’s founders Chaya Bender and Jenine Shwekey, could have envisioned the haven of fun and learning that Center provides for over 700 special needs children and their families.
Each day, girls and boys at Center experience a full time care complete with a Jewish learning curriculum, and many programs; drama, literacy, sensory, educational programs, and more.
More being the operative word here. It’s about giving the children more and helping them be more.
The sun rises and sets, and children quickly grow up. It became clear that more opportunities were needed for special needs children. They needed a program that offered true meaning and real skills training. So, a dream was born.
Center dreamed of a place where the children can give in meaningful ways, where they would someday find productive long-term employment, a place which would be safe and welcoming. They envisioned a farm with horses, and chickens, and others animals that the boys can care for, and a beautiful garden they can tend to. Days filled with activities to help them learn and thrive, rather than mere busy work. Mrs. Bender says, “What’s the definition of a real job? A job you need a substitute for when you can’t come.”
This past spring, the dream became a reality with the opening of the Special Children’s Center Farm in Howell. The thirty-acre farm boasts lush fields and inviting landscaping. A bountiful garden by Exclusive Gardens is turning a great crop of plants and vegetables.
A walk along the path, gravel crunching under your feet, you can see the stately barn in the distance. Inside is home to horses, goats, sheep, and calves. The chickens cheerfully peck and thrive, laying plenty of eggs. Bunnies hop around in their house, cozy and warm. And while some may not call reptiles cuddly, the kids love handling and caring for the reptile house’s bearded dragon, chameleons, snakes, and geckos. Birds and fish have a home in a nearby building. Supervising it all is the friendly livestock guardian dog. The dog is assisted by a few people, too.
Mr. Yossi Lowenstein has been bringing the farm experience to neurotypical and neurodiverse children since 2018. He helps the children engage with the animals, each according to their abilities. He skillfully trains staff in how to bring the most value to the clients in each of their interactions on the farm. Mr. Lowenstein fully shares the Center’s vision. “Our approach is a bigger picture. It’s more than equine therapy, more than providing a specific service. It’s creating an entire environment — and real jobs — for this population.”
He oversees all activities involved in caring for the farm animals. The children bottle-feed the calves. They brush and wash the horses and carefully pick stones out of their hooves. They bring the horses water. They clean the stalls and put fresh shavings down, and blow out the barn. They fill the stalls with hay that they load and wheel to the barn. They scrub buckets, refill them, and hang them up. They lead goats to their pen.
Tasks need to be broken down for each individual’s specific capabilities. Mr. Lowenstein’s excitement over the possibilities is contagious. “We’re always looking through the lens of how we can make the tasks even more adaptive and break them down to allow everyone to contribute. It’s a shame that so often people don’t even realize how much our children can accomplish this way.”
He’s watched amazing transformations, like a child who can’t walk learning to control their horse and feel the freedom of motion, given the proper support and training.
Interacting with animals provides a special kind of happiness and therapy. The big and loud world can be very overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. But the animals are safe, they don’t judge, and make a person feel loved.
As Mrs. Naomi Beren says, her son Yosef enjoys giving and being needed and especially relishes this opportunity to give without having to deal with social situations. Early in Yosef’s life, Mrs. Beren was told, “If he feels successful and confident and surrounded by people who love him, he will grow and succeed.” Yosef has never before experienced the kind of successes he has experienced at the farm.
Initially, When Yosef started working on the farm, his mother was concerned. Yosef doesn’t like to get dirty. She wasn’t sure how things would work out. But she says, “He engages, and is happy and proud to be part of the farm and was able to show us around.”
“Usually the goal is to main-stream children into the system,” says farm supervisor, Hindy Farkas. Here however, the children have ownership and pride in the farm, and they get a chance to welcome others into their world. Every child is an cherished and valued participant, and they know that they help the farm function well. The staff works with each child’s specific strengths, passions, and capabilities.
Jenine Shwekey walks across the farm and sees it happening in real time. “Seeing Eldar working on blowing the barn clean, seeing him so engaged and motivated and intent on his task made the vision come real in front of me.”
“And then when I asked him questions about what was doing, he answered me. I don’t remember ever seeing him so focused and proud,” remarks Jenine.
Also on the farm, Rabbi Moshe Sherman offers daily activities that cultivate social skills and academics of the kids in a hands-on way.
“So often [social skills and academics] gets lost in the translation.” But in the farm woodworking shop, the kids learn inches and feet hands-on by adding and subtracting. They carefully collect eggs. Thanks to the eggs— “They’re all budding mathematicians!” Mrs. Bender marvels. “Because it’s making sense in a visual, meaningful way.”
They also learn how to greet visitors and others working on-site. At the presentations, the Center children are contributors, not spectators. They have a lot to share. They bring their world to others through school and camp presentations. “Schools love it! My kids have so much experience with the farm.”
One of the presentations is the Chick Hatching Experience, including an incubator setup with live presentation and instruction. From 50 incubated eggs, you can watch at least 25 chicks hatch. Schools can choose to keep the chickens and watch them grow!
The Traveling Farm Experience brings animals to schools and camps. The Experience is interactive and provides a Torah-focused and/or scientific experience for the children with sheep, dwarf goats, rabbits, chickens, doves, snakes and other reptiles, and a livestock guardian dog. In addition to caring for animals, The Center children learn and can present to the audience important halachos. They can explain simanei kashrus, or how to shecht a dove, and halachos such as not eating before the animals are fed.
Back on the farm, the students cultivate a garden. They plant flowers and weed the beds, and the flowers are blooming. Tomatoes, eggplants, squash, cucumbers, and herbs are thriving.
When the work is done, it’s time to chill. One popular spot with the boys is the fire pits built themselves . There’s nothing like making a bonfire and unwinding with a kumzits.
“This is a classroom without borders. It’s a place to practice what we learn. There’s also a therapeutic element. If a child is having a hard day, he can sit in a beautiful natural environment, with the farm’s dog cuddled on his lap to calm down. There’s something for everybody here,” says Rabbi Rosenblum, director of the After-school Program. The Center Farm impacts the entire spectrum of clients, regardless of cognitive or physical ability.
The newest members of the farm team are The Center Group Home residents. Center’s residential services, comprised of five group homes for young adults, are a lifeline for parents who have exhausted all available resources, or who are unable to care for their children at home.
Prior to the farm’s opening, some individuals who didn’t fit into available adult day programming attended individualized programming created by the Center. Beginning September, they are on the farm full time for their tailored day program.
Here, they’ll be riding horses. They’ll be given jobs, each on his level, such as brushing the horses, cleaning the stables, and providing water and feed for the animals and they will enjoy essential physical activity with a personal trainer on our professional gym equipment.
Paradigms are shifting when it comes to the Center community. Mrs. Rivky Gewirtzman, a Center parent, remarks happily that when family members see what her son Yehoshua is capable of, their entire perspective of what Center is, changes. They feel fortunate and privileged to be part of the Center family. If you ask Yehoshua what his favorite part of Center Farm is, you’re likely to get a list. He can even tell you about the life cycle of a chicken. He’s especially likes working with the reptiles. He loves bunnies — all animals, actually — and his family even took one home for a short time. The Farm is a calming oasis, a place where he can be himself and that gives him purpose. It’s even there that wants his bar mitzvah to be.
What’s next for the farm? A fall farmer’s market with produce from the garden and fresh eggs for starters. And a real dairy department. Plans for the sheep’s’ wool. And of course, more horses. There’s plenty of room to expand.
The long-term vision is to establish a full pre-vocational and vocational training program for children with special needs ages 12–21. The team will determine their strengths and abilities through aptitude testing and assessments and will work to meet those goals in a clear and meaningful way. If the kids learn vocational and agricultural skills when they are young, and hone them under professional direction, they will grow to be functioning, contributing adults after graduation.
Sure as the sun sets over the grassy meadows, we know the benefits of the Center Farm will plant seeds of incredible growth for our Center Family.