It brought tears to Sheila Monke’s eyes.
A young man had come to a Roots to Wings site where he and other people with disabilities, called farmers, were going to pick aronia berries.
The man, who was nonverbal, had never been out in the countryside. He’d never put on work gloves nor tied a bucket around his waist to hold the berries.
Yet while he stood in front of the bushes, another farmer began to encourage him and showed him how to pick berries.
“A half an hour later, someone who didn’t want to do anything is harvesting berries and laughing out loud and humming,” Monke said.
It would be just one of many success stories for a nonprofit organization that works to provide authentic life experiences for individuals living with a disability.
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Launched in 2015, the nonprofit works with individuals who help plan, plant and harvest produce sold at a farmer’s market.
It has a retail store in Arlington, which sells items from about 40 local consigners and products — ranging from cookie mixes to tortilla chips to crafts — made by individuals that Roots to Wings serves. Individuals help clean the store, stock shelves and run the cash register. Some refurbish donated furniture that is sold.
Now, the nonprofit is expanding its wings by remodeling and leasing a building at 220 N. Third St., in Arlington.
The new location will include a retail store, commercial kitchen and another work space. With a grant from Fremont Area Community Foundation, the nonprofit is transforming a former doctor’s office with plans to be done by spring, said Trisha Kyllo, executive director.
“With the expansion, we’ve also decided to partner with Integrated Life Choices,” Kyllo said. “It will provide more opportunities for our farmers and, hopefully, bring in more farmers.”
The nonprofit is serving six individuals and the store is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Plans are to provide services five days a week.
Sheila Monke and Jamie Smith founded Roots to Wings.
Monke and her husband, Dave, had a son, Jacob, who had special needs. Years ago, they were able to fulfill his wish of attending a postsecondary program for young adults, called Threshold, at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sheila Monke also was a former special education teacher at Arlington Public Schools and Smith serves students with special needs from fifth grade through age 21 at APS.
Roots to Wings began after Smith and Monke learned about The Farmer’s House in Weston, Missouri, launched by moms who wanted a place where their children with disabilities could work with a purpose.
Monke and Smith created a business, called Eagle Co-op at APS, selling cookie mixes in jars made by students from kindergarten to age 21.
They later moved it out of the school to help individuals who, older than 21, were out of the educational system.
Monke said after her former students graduated she saw that — due to the rural location and transportation challenges — they weren’t involved in outside work or activities except what their parents might be able to provide.
The students were losing skills.
Knowing how her son had benefitted from a postsecondary program, Monke wanted to help provide opportunities for other Arlington area students.
“So many of our students with learning disabilities, they just need a little extra support, time and assistance from the universities and post-secondary schools and the sky’s the limit,” she said.
Monke added that when individuals reach age 35 or older it becomes very difficult to teach them new skills. By contrast, students ages 18 to their early 30s can become very good at a skill of their choosing.
In 2015, the women established the nonprofit Roots to Wings, the name of which came from students of Deb Washburn, APS speech language pathologist.
“The roots are the community and the wings are what we give them,” Monke said.
Two years later, Monke and Smith began working with four individuals, called farmers, in the backroom of a store on 315 Eagle St., in Arlington. They made crafts, jar mixes and did woodworking in the winter. Items they made were sold in the store.
The nonprofit expanded its efforts. Three families have donated ground for gardens, not charging for rent or water. Roots to Wings has a 500-foot garden along with its own strawberry patch. It has 1.3 acres of aronia berries outside Arlington.
More endeavors followed.
In 2017, the nonprofit began making pies in the Arlington Community Church kitchen.
“The church ladies taught our farmers how to make pies,” Smith said.
That included peeling, chopping and dicing fruit. Farmers made strawberry-rhubarb and apple pies.
The nonprofit then partnered with the Arlington Senior Center to use its commercial kitchen in 2018.
Farmers would begin making their own seasoned and dessert tortilla chips. Erika Delasancha of the former Erika’s Village Spoon restaurant in Arlington, helped with frying the chips.
Monke said the process involves frying, seasoning and bagging chips, which are put into boxes. After working with Delasancha, the nonprofit worked with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Smith and Monke have appreciated the tremendous community support.
The nonprofit would rent and later purchase a garage across the street from the Eagle Street store. The garage provided more space for donations and for farmers to refinish furniture and make crafts. A couple farmers learned to sew here.
Smith said the nonprofit will keep the garage for dusty work such as woodworking, sanding and painting.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit closed when the schools did in 2020, but were able to have farmers gather, put on masks and work outside in the gardens.
Work groups and volunteers were downsized inside the building and practiced social distancing.
“We all remained healthy,” Monke said.
The store had online virtual sales with pictures of items and curbside pickup for purchases.
Monke and Smith noted the partnerships that have developed between the nonprofit and the Arlington FFA and with Midland University, which has students seeking degrees in special education.
Through the Eagle Athletic Club in Arlington, farmers have learned about fitness, health and making good food choices.
Katie the Comfort Dog has visited the nonprofit as well.
Kyllo became the nonprofit’s executive director in 2020. Monke said the nonprofit hopes to hire a program director soon. Kyllo tells how the nonprofit helps farmers.
“We try to provide an environment for the individuals in our program to teach them work ethic, community integration and independent living skills,” Kyllo said.
She enjoys seeing the interaction among farmers.
“You can tell they’re happy to be here,” Kyllo said. “They have so much fun together.”
Monke believes the new, remodeled location will provide farmers with more opportunities to explore what they want to do.
Looking back, Monke remembers the Roots to Wings farmer who helped his fellow worker learn how to pick aronia berries.
After seeing the two workers, Monke said she hurriedly went to the next row of bushes — not so they wouldn’t see her shed happy tears.
But so she could find another beautiful story.