Next Stop Foundation

Founders Vicki and Stu LaRoche are the proud parents of two special needs children. Those two children, Tyler and Lindsey, are both diagnosed as simply being "Mildly Mentally Retarded". As young children, both Tyler and Lindsey tried to fit in at a variety of places. Whether it was the classroom, Boy Scouts, the local choir, a swim team, the end was always the same—they were left out and awkward from the "normal" kids.

As the years went on, and their condition became more clear, the LaRoche's accepted that Tyler and Lindsey were intellectually disabled, and began to enroll the younger Tyler in different camps and organizations. The older Lindsey began work with job coaches and vocational guidance in an attempt to be a working citizen one day. The results varied. Lindsey became more and more frustrated, as she was aware that her disabilities were limiting her from the life she wanted to live. Tyler, on the other hand, went from awkward to the center of attention. He was a social butterfly at camp, and a gold medal swimmer in the Georgia Special Olympics.

Seeing her son Tyler so happy and accepted in his special needs community, Vicki decided she would help other families with similar situations by starting a Special Needs Ministry at her church called Glowing Lights. Throughout the construction of the ministry, Vicki met a lot of different families and people within the special needs community who believed in what she was doing. The Glowing Nights ministry began, and was highlighted by a once-a-month program known as NIGHTLIGHTS.

NIGHTLIGHTS was designed to be a social event on one Friday night of each month. Over twenty volunteers and special needs citizens showed up the first night, and it was a wonderful night of singing, dancing, laughing, and understanding. One of the volunteers was Lindsey—the special needs daughter—who may have been the best volunteer of the night, helping the more severely handicapped Scotty have the time of his life. After the event, Vicki got to talk to Scotty’s mother, who has been taking care of Scotty for over 40 years now.

"Scotty had such a fun time," Vicki said to Mrs. Hecox. "That’s wonderful. He doesn’t really get the chance to get out and socialize very much. There really isn’t a lot of places like this."

That’s when it became clear and Vicki's fears were confirmed. Soon Tyler would be too old for any schools, and his best case scenario would be a part-time job somewhere. But what about his friends at school? What about all the laughing? Does he have to wait for summer camp and the Special Olympics all year for that?

Because they live within the special needs community, Vicki and Stu realized that thousands of special needs individuals grow up and have no where to go to continue socializing and learning. They began talking to family and friends about this problem and how they would like to be involved in addressing it. Their ideas were encouraged and supported and The Next Stop was born in August, 2006. In September, 2007, the doors opened to the first 10 members, with membership more than doubling the first six months. The Next Stop
is growing and developing and continues to be committed to serving the special needs community.