The church also has a “Buddy Program” that places children with special needs alongside an aide to give them personal care and attention.
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“In general, the church is 30 years behind culture when it comes to special needs. They don’t have the manpower and muscle, even if they’re passionate about it,” Lucas told Christian Post. “What happened at Liquid was, millennials stepped up and said, ’We understand inclusion,’ so most of our buddy volunteers are in their 20s and 30s.”
The mother of Robbie, a young man with special needs who now works at Clean Water Cafe, said of the coffee shop, “For everyone’s value, self-worth, they need to be productive. He needs to be stimulated; he needs to work. And I think that’s true of every other person.”
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“We are very excited about the Clean Water Cafe,” said Robbie’s father. “The special needs community, I think, is going to warm to this idea, and we hope there will be a lot of friends and parents who will come as well, and hopefully get excited about what Liquid is doing and will do in the future.”
