Royer-Greaves School For Blind & Services

With Your Gift We’ll Grow to Meet Their Needs

Toby, 25, (left) lives with his Lifesharing host Nora (right) and her son, Ryan (center). They consider each other family.Royer-Greaves School for Blind & Services provides children and adults who have visual impairment along with a complex mix of intellectual and physical disabilities or autism with the education, support, therapeutic and residential services they need to live their most meaningful and independent lives.

Your generous donation will allow us to serve more Delaware County residents - people like Toby, 25, who with the support of our Lifesharing program has gained confidence, his first job, and a home within a caring family.

Lifesharing matches adults who have special needs with local people who receive specialized training, ongoing support, and a stipend. Hosts and their families share their homes and lives with Lifesharing adults. Toby lives with Nora Solo and her son, Ryan, 18.

“If it wasn’t for Nora, I don’t know where I would be,” said Toby, who chose Lifesharing after his mother and grandmother died. “She took me into her home and made me feel welcome. I feel safe here,” he said. “I have my own living space – my own bathroom and shower where I get ready for work.”

Toby works at Wawa. “I work in the cold box. I stock the drinks,” he said. “I’m good at it.”

Nora is proud of Toby and the confidence he now has. “He has come a very long way,” she said. When he moved in about four years ago, he was resistant to anything new. “He would only eat cereal, Nora remembers. “He did not want to work. He struggled to clean his room.”

Those days are behind Toby. “Now he tries everything,” Nora said. “He is working. He cleans his bathroom. He eats new things. And he wants to help you with everything you are doing."

It was all a matter of convincing Toby how capable he is, Nora said. Toby, Nora, and Ryan consider each other family. “We fell in love with him, and he fell in love with us,” she said.

“I have a really good home here, and I really like it,” said Toby.Ryan, Nora and Toby seated on the Royer-Greaves stage.

Other Delaware County adults live in a Lifesharing household or one of three Royer-Greaves’ Community Residences, where small groups of adults share a home and participate in activities together with 24-hour staff support.

Some adults participate in our Adult Day Program, which provides enrichment, recreational, and, when appropriate, vocational opportunities, often in the community. And some children from Delaware County attend Royer-Greaves Education Program, where they receive individualized education and targeted therapies.

Many more Delaware County adults and children would benefit from the programs and services Royer-Greaves provides, if only there were room for them. Your donation will help us grow to meet their needs. As a community neighbor, Royer-Greaves currently expends approximately $2.5 million annually to provide care, goods, services and activities for our Delaware County group home residents. Across all programs, we employ 31 staff members who live in Delaware County and support the local economy.

Royer-Greaves School for Blind & Services serves some of your most vulnerable neighbors, but there is so much more that we can do together. Please donate today.