Providing a HAVEN
Nonprofit institute founded by priest continues to thrive
SHAWNEE — The excitement was palpable inside the barn on the western edge of St. Gregory's University.
Spike the potbellied pig and goats Edward and Casper vied for the attention of several individuals with special needs, but the small animals were no match for the majestic horses inside the gate, at least momentarily.
The Rev. Paul Zahler watched as a volunteer guided a young man to a horse named Belle and encouraged him to pet the animal. The young man, Tony E., beamed as he leaned his head on the horse patiently standing still for the interaction.
For Zahler, such scenes are a regular occurrence at the nonprofit National Institute on Developmental Delays (NIDD), which he founded at St. Gregory's in the 1960s.
Along with popular equine therapy sessions, the priest and a caring staff and volunteers have created curricula that introduce youths with disabilities to activity-based programs designed to spur growth and help them make their way in mainstream society.
Recently, Zahler and his institute team have begun to use technology to share their curricula and programs with families across the state and country.
Zahler said budget cuts to health programs for individuals with disabilities has meant that some families have been unable to travel to Shawnee for the institute's child development program offered daily or a three-day camp offered each month.
The priest said the camps, in particular, are often seen as a haven for people with special needs and they provide their families with much-needed respite.
The institute staff and volunteers created videos which show families how to do some program activities in their homes.
Virginia Reeves, the institute's administrative director, said the institute's goal for the latter part of 2016 was to create several videos that families can access online sometime after the first of the year.
She said many families that had been traveling to the institute are not getting supplemental help for transportation now and they can't come from great distances anymore.
Zahler said the online programming fits the institute's mission.
"We looked at this as really going into the mission of the institute to reach all children and their families," he said.
Reeves said families already have expressed excitement about the institute's newest approach, and many can't wait to get started.
Programs aid families
Over the years, Zahler has shown that he has a knack for being determined and willing to evolve to meet the needs of people in the communities he served.
The Minnesota native arrived in Shawnee in 1950 to attend St. Gregory's High School. He said he had made a pledge to his mother before she died when he was a preteen that he would join the Catholic priesthood.
St. Gregory's, he said, was one of very few places acrossthe country where he could fulfill his dream of playing high school and collegiate sports while also pursuing his priestly vocation.
An avid sportsman, he played baseball and football. In 1956, he became a Benedictine monk at St. Gregory's Abbey. He was ordained as a priest in 1962.
Zahler taught several classes at St. Gregory's University in those early days, including psychology, mathematics and theory and practice in child development.
He said he was swimming in the university pool one day when he came up with the idea to work with youths with developmental delays at the pool. Zahler said some of the parents whose children attended the university's child development center (which opened in 1976) were skeptical at first but they trusted him.
The children responded favorably to the water activities that Zahler created, and he began developing what he calls his "air, land, water, fire" approach, which incorporates natural environments as a backdrop for learning activities.
The priest has been all over the world studying best practices in programs for people with developmental delays. And people from other countries have reached out to him to learn more about his own methodology.
Funding for such programs has always been challenging, but Zahler said the institute has had some foundations that have come alongside the nonprofit so that its doors have remained open.
He said these organizations have helped the institute build bridges to connect the institute with those who need its services. The donors include the Avedis Foundation in Shawnee, the Aldridge Foundation, the Anschutz Foundation, the Craig Foundation and the Canadian Valley Electric Foundation. Zahler said the local Knights of Columbus and Elks Club have also provided aid.
He said the institute has enjoyed all of the children and families who have participated in its activities over the years.
Now, he sees the online distribution of programming as a way to cut to the heart of the nonprofit's goal to help people with special needs.
The online resources will encourage parents to learn and implement activities in the home that will eventually help not just the person with special needs but the entire family.
"Parents know their kids. If we can get the parent to do our programming, they're going to respond faster, I think," Zahler said.
He said along with the online programs, the institute is helping families connect with community resources close to their own homes.
Zahler said he's just happy to see that his faith-inspired mission to serve those with special needs will continue on, this time utilizing technology.