LifeROOTS celebrates expansion
Rio Rancho nonprofit provides programs, jobs for people with disabilities
A local nonprofit that’s been helping community members who have children and adult children with disabilities for almost 60 years is celebrating an expansion at its Rio Rancho location.
LifeROOTS held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Thursday to mark its new state-of-the-art expansion.
LifeROOTS has three main divisions: children’s therapy, an adult services program, and business contact services set up to help individuals with disabilities find work.
Kathleen Cates, president and CEO of LifeROOTS, said this longstanding organization is still a wellkept secret in the community.
“We don’t send out for charitable contributions every month … you don’t see a mailer or things like that,” Cates said. “For that reason, we aren’t as well known unless you are receiving services from us.”
The actual roots of this organization can be traced back to 1958 when a group of parents with children that suffered from polio and cerebral palsy created the organization to help others and find resources for their kids, she said.
According to Cates, these parents worked together on early intervention programs that involved thera-
py, which is the basis for LifeROOTS today.
“As their children aged in the ’60s, they didn’t want to institutionalize them, so they came up with day programs, which included academics and community outings” Cates said.
Because of the changing times, people with disabilities were eventually given jobs and were a part of major contractual employment, she said.
“In Rio Rancho we have about 40-plus, and we are getting new ones every day, individuals that come to the program on a daily basis,” Cates said. “We also employ about 60 to 65 people in four counties.”
Bringing it back from closing
Cates said she came into LifeROOTS when the economy was crashing and nonprofits were closing their doors everywhere. It’s been in Rio Rancho for about 40 years.
“This company was right on the verge of closing when I came in, in 2011,” Cates said. “In 2012, the board voted to close LifeROOTS down, and we even looked into placement for our clients to move to.”
Cates said she went through the closing down process, but took her time doing it, in the hopes she could find a way to make LifeROOTS come back in as a potential business again.
“Some of the clients we catered to had been with us for 14 years and they didn’t want to transfer,” Cates said. “Some of our clients couldn’t transfer because of the distance they would have to travel to reach similar programs.”
Cates worked hard to spread the word about LifeROOTS, she said, and in five months the company was breaking even.
“The board gave me another six months and in a year-and-a-half we had to buy an additional 3,600 square feet because we were growing so fast,” Cates said.
A life mission
Cates said her own life inspired her to continue her work at LifeROOTS, because of how important the nonprofit was to her own daughter.
“In 2001 my daughter was born and injured at birth,” Cates said. “It caused her left arm to be paralyzed and we weren’t sure if there was cognitive damage as well.”
After going to several doctors and therapists that were covered on Cates’ insurance, she noticed the biggest help came from her daughter’s interaction at RCI, now LifeROOTS.
“I felt like the advocacy at RCI was the key to her success,” Cates said.
Today, many parents that utilize the resources available at LifeROOTS for their adult children with disabilities feel the same way Cates did when she would bring her daughter.
Roseann Vasquez said she has been bringing her son Jaymes to LifeROOTS for over two years because of the benefits he gets from socializing with his peers
“I was looking for a place where Jaymes could be with other people during the day,” Roseann Vasquez said. “After checking the place out on my own, I liked the people and what my son would be involved in during the day.”
Vasquez said Jaymes has been calmer, due to the interaction he gets from participating in the LifeROOTS program.
“They know what his needs are, they talk to him about certain things that he wants to do … they really listen to him and they understand him,” Roseann Vasquez said.
According to Vasquez, Jaymes was diagnosed with autism at age 4. Since then, she said, the entire family does what they can to include him in everything they do to make him feel important.
Jaymes said he likes hanging out with the people at LifeROOTS and values the independence he gets in the program.
“I like to meet other people, I like to socialize, and gamble at the casinos,” he said, laughing.
Part of the LifeROOTS program includes different outings for its clients, like going to the casino, bowling centers and Isotopes baseball games, he said.
“They only give me $5, but I like to go to the casino because it’s fun and I get to socialize with other people outside of my family,” Jaymes Vasquez said.
Cates said she is proud of the progress LifeROOTS has made for both the clients and the business itself.
“We don’t want to be a secret in our community anymore,” Cates said, “instead we want the community to know about us and utilize our services.”