AURORA —Danny O’Keefe does not need to be told how to dice an onion: He has a standard in his head.
Though O’Keefe, 51, who is on the autism spectrum, doesn’t verbalize those standards, they’re clear in his intense concentration just about every Thursday when he and other clients of Aurora’s Community Living Alternative’s expanded day program have a lunchtime cooking class in their new building at 1770 S. Helena St.
“If you watch him when he’s chopping, he holds the knives and uses them like a chef would, and we don’t know where he learned that,” said Gregg Wilson, the day program director at Community Living Alternatives. “But he’s been with us since the program opened, and practically every day he does something like that … Now with this new space, there’s more opportunity for him to do these things that he enjoys.”
Community Living Alternatives is a nonprofit that provides residential and day program services to adults with developmental or intellectual disabilities. There are 14 registered clients of the day program, and until the end of February, all day programs, including the cooking class, were held at the organization’s administrative offices in a business park near East Evans Avenue and South Sable Boulevard.
“That room was about 13 feet wide by maybe 30 feet and we literally had it split up so that there was a computer lab and then the everything-else room,” said Barbara Kenyon-Mohrlang, executive director of Community Living Alternatives. “Now it’s a little more organized and in a classroom-type setting so the various activities are more organized and defined.”
Now, after two years of fundraising, negotiations and extended renovations, the day program has a 4,700-square-foot former daycare center that was vacant for more than two years. It officially opened Feb. 23.
The building has a full kitchen and dining area for the weekly cooking class, a workout room, a computer lab, a music room, a sensory room with a leather recliner where clients can retreat in silence away from lights and noise, and a large backyard that will be remodeled this summer if everything goes smoothly.
Plans for the backyard include a community vegetable garden and outdoor yoga area. The Community Living Alternatives’ Specialized Services (CLASS) program — its day program — will hold a garage sale fundraiser this weekend to kick off the work on the exterior of the program’s new home.
Wilson predicts that the organization will need to raise about $50,000 to complete all the proposed work inside and outside, and to support the growing program. The biggest cost and need out of that estimate is an accessible van.
“We have that fish-in-a-tank syndrome,” Wilson said. “Once you take us out of the small pond and move us to a bigger space, we get bigger and our needs grow.”
Community Living Alternatives received help from partners like the former Steele Street Bank and Trust — now MidFirst Bank — which donated the money to build the sensory room space.
Likewise, Stacey D’Angelo, director of the Community College of Aurora’s Theater Department is working with Wilson to organize another fundraiser for CLA — a talent show to be held in the college’s theater building in August.
“One of the angles I’m hoping to connect is for students to have the opportunity to work in the community and share their skill set with the Aurora community,” D’Angelo said. “We’re working out the details, but I’m looking to get a group of students to help the participants get ready for their show. It’s a great organization and a great partnership.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or
Fundraising garage sale
When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 15, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 16 at
Where: CLASS building, 1770 S. Helena St., Aurora
