FEBRUARY 6 • 2020 | 11
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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
Get involved, go to friendshipcircle.org/foreverfriendship
I
magine a place where children
of all abilities and backgrounds
could learn essential life skills in
a safe and accepting environment.
Imagine if that place was developed
with experts to help children with
special needs feel safe venturing into
new experiences. Now imagine all
these experiences and life lessons
were happening in a state-of-the-art
facility designed as a “mini-town” to
mirror the real world.
In 2005, Friendship Circle opened
the doors to Weinberg Village in the
Ferber Kaufman Lifetown Facility on
the Meer Family Friendship Center.
Weinberg Village brought to life
the vision of Bassie and Rabbi Levi
Shemtov: to see children with special
needs safely navigating the skills
essential to succeed in life. Research
continues to prove that students
have a higher rate of success in com-
prehension skills when taught in a
true-to-life setting. Weinberg Village
is that setting.
Weinberg Village is now home
to Lessons for Life, Pathways and
Lessons for Life 2.0, ground-breaking
life skills programs that simulate a
day in the “real world”’
for children
ages pre-K through high school.
“When we developed Lessons for
Life and Weinberg Village, we gath-
ered a professional committee of
therapists, social workers and educa-
tors who worked together weekly on
planning the center,” Bassie says.
The Lessons for Life curriculum
was developed in partnership with
Nancy Sinelli and Lori Blumenstein
of the human services agency MORC,
and is now overseen by Director
Shelby Lonnerstater, LLMSW.
“Each aspect of the building is
designed around the requests of
the hundreds of families Friendship
Circle was serving,” Levi continues.
“We knew we needed to serve the
children we had met and the thou-
sands who needed these skills in
a tangible and safe way. Offering a
program that could work with the
schools was the only way to reach all
students.”
Now in its 15th school year,
Lessons for Life bridges the gap
between the skills students with spe-
cial needs are learning in the class-
room and a real-world setting. Every
day, Weinberg Village becomes a fully
functioning town run by Friendship
Circle volunteers for hundreds of
students.
Each year, Lessons for Life
serves more than 2,500 students from
across Michigan and the region.
And, Lessons for Life isn’
t just for
students with special needs. The pro-
gram is for everyone.
“While all of our other programs
are open to and enjoyed by people of
all faiths, Lessons for Life, because of
the geographic area that the students
come from, helps us bring our friend-
ship to thousands of students, which
represents the full diversity of south-
east Michigan.”
Through Pathways, Friendship
Circle is now working with more
than 100
schools to bring students
with and without special needs to
Weinberg Village for field trips and
other learning experience visits.
Learning alongside each other, stu-
dents can see what life may be like
for those with different abilities.
“Lessons for Life began to help
teach students with special needs
about the real world,” Lonnerstater
says. “Pathways allows schools to
bring students of all abilities to
Weinberg Village together, so they
have the chance to work together,
live together and do life together.”
Working in collaboration with
Lessons for Life and Pathways,
Lessons for Life 2.0 offers individual-
ized plans for students with special
needs. Educators work directly with
Friendship Circle professionals to
identify specific goals for a student
and help to guide that student during
a visit to Weinberg Village.
“We are able to see the success stu-
dents have when they come through
Lessons for Life a few times and are
truly learning how to navigate town,”
Lonnerstater says. “Our volunteers
get to know them. They learn and
try new things each time they come.
Most importantly, they are feeling
confident and more ready to try
these things in the real world.”
Lessons for Life has become a
critical extension of the work done at
Friendship Circle. Offering a space for
schools to give real-world experience
to students, a curriculum designed to
expand students’
abilities and caring
individuals dedicated to volunteering
their time to help these students suc-
ceed in safe and fulfilling ways.
A Safe Place
to Learn
Friendship Circle
Lessons for Life offers
real-world experience in
state-of-the-art village.
Each year, Lessons for Life
serves more than 2,500
students from across
Michigan and the region.