Today’s meeting for the Rotary Club of Knoxville was led by the New Member Committee, with Co-Chairs Sharon Hudson and Erin Ortiz. This was a unique opportunity to allow our new members to run our weekly meeting from start to finish. The committee had 17 members show up at last week’s planning meeting to prepare for today’s meeting. Lots of time and hard work went into it and you could tell! We even enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to members with April Birthdays led by our own, Jason Hardy as we ended the program.
Our speaker for the day was Angela Lee, Founder/Owner of ABA Next Steps – Riverside Coffee Shop just inside Loudon County at Dixie Lee Junction @ Hwy 11/70. Angela has a master’s degree in special education with an emphasis in Autism. The idea for Riverside Coffee was born in 2020/21 when most everyone except for essential workers had to stay home from their jobs. Angela’s son Tristan is her 23-year-old who has Down’s Syndrome, and he wanted to go to work during the pandemic time frame. Unable to find a place of employment, she decided to open Riverside Coffee as a place to train intellectually disabled adults like Tristan. They had their first class in March 2022 and as Angela says, Riverside helps build bridges between potential and possibility with their ABA program methodology. ABA, Applied Behavior Analysis, is a research based, scientific approach to understanding behavior. ABA applies evidence-based interventions which are data driven to shape behavior and improve quality of life for individuals with an ASD or other developmental delays. Prior to 1999, intellectually challenged adults mostly worked in sheltered workshops and even today over 80% are without meaningful employment. At Riverside, Angela and her team provide behavioral skills training where students learn in the classroom but also in the coffee shop practicing life skills and people skills on the job. Riverside tries to help dismantle stereotypes and create ability, not disability. They have two types of training programs for students. ABA/Riverside has a two-year model with a two-day and a three-day class option with a teacher to student ratio of 1:10. Each learner has an individual program designed to meet specific goals identified through an assessment process. The two-day class is $7,500/student per year and the three-day class is $9,000/student per year. So far, they have had one student placed in a job as a tour guide at Pellissippi State and hope to have more in the pipeline. Angela shared the sad news with us that the State of TN notified them in early 2025 that their funding would end at the end of May 2025. This has spurred on a new surge of fundraising activities to help raise funds to offset the fees for students and their families. We can all help by making a trip to Riverside Coffee and enjoy some of their delicious drinks, baked goods, and sandwiches as they are open 7 days a week. They also have items made by the students that can serve as great gifts. Riverside is definitely, “Coffee with a Cause.”
To learn more about Riverside Coffee and their mission, click here: www.abanextsteps.com
Hours: Mon-Sat: 7am-6pm & Sunday 8:30am-2pm
Address: 6239 Hwy 70 E, Lenoir City, TN 37772