Brotherly Love: Helping the Community Despite Disability
AUDUBON, NJ (CBS) -- Some South Jersey young people with serious disabilities help the community their way.
Donte Jones and Sara Goldberg are autistic and don't always speak. That doesn't stop them from being able to help Meals on Wheels in Audubon, Camden County.
Fran Warner, volunteer coordinator for Meals on Wheels, said, "Everybody's working together and working happy. It's just a friendship."
With guidance, Sara and Donte load pre-packaged meals for delivery. It's part of a day program by Durand, which trains people with autism and other disabilities. Tim Long, a behaviorist with Durand, said the project "gives them some onsite training as come to an actual work site."
Both have to make sure the food is right and safely packed. Then Crystal Sanders, an assistant supervisor with Durand, drives and walks them to the doors of senior citizens who need meals.
"We come out. It gets them out, helping other people as we help them," Sanders said.
Sara and Donte stopped to drop off a meal for Patricia Cross in Pennsauken. "Oh, it means a lot, hon, it means a lot," Cross said.
Every week, about a dozen other Durand volunteers make the same kind of deliveries.
"I think they more chances they have to be part of a community, it actually helps them feel they are a part of that community," Long said.