As Lindy Cleveland, founder and executive director of Unless U, started maturing from a teenager into a young woman, she noticed that her older brother, Jordan, wasn’t able to accomplish milestones like driving a car or going to college that she and her friends could.
Marye Grace Sauermann, director of marketing and development at Unless U, said about that time in Cleveland’s life “her heart began to hurt. She was not really able to understand why her older brother, Jordan, didn’t get to do those things.”
For young adults like Jordan, who has Down syndrome, the majority of educational and social opportunities end at age 21 after extended time in high school. Many end up sitting at home with only the company of their families because of the lack of options for learning and spending time with peers.
Cleveland took a nonprofit and grant writing class at Samford University in Birmingham. The goal in the class was to dream up a nonprofit and figure out how to fund it. Cleveland decided to address the problem of her brother and his friends having nowhere to go and, with the help of her classmates, dreamed up Unless U.
Sense of belonging
Unless U started as a program simply for Jordan and his friends. Cleveland wanted them to have similar experiences to hers — the feeling of college, a place to belong. The plan was to offer a faith-based program with academics, life and social skills and job training, structuring it using a schedule similar to a high school’s.
However, Cleveland had more in mind. One way Unless U was going to be special was that it would give the students the opportunity to develop hobbies and recreational activities, but at first there wasn’t space.
Unless U quickly outgrew her parents’ house and began using some Sunday School classrooms at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham and then eventually got its own campus in Vestavia Hills.
Blessed with the ability to move into this custom space debt-free in May 2021, they had the resources to carry out the program Cleveland had dreamed about. This new facility has five classrooms, a library, a fully functioning kitchen to work on life skills, a fine arts area and a place to hang out.
Unless U has a basketball team, cheerleaders, a readers’ theater, a cooking elective and a drama company, and it partners with local celebrities to compete at its annual “Unless U Got Talent” talent show.
‘Continue to learn’
The most unique aspect is an attached ice cream shop named Unless U Scoops.
“The goal and dream with this place was to create a one-stop shop for our students where they can continue to learn and continue to hang out with their friends. There’s a recreational component to it and a job training component to it. They are getting fed as a whole person,” Sauermann said.
Unless U Scoops not only helps the students but also the community. It’s a safe atmosphere for families to come and teach their children about disabilities.
“We want our students to be in the community and have normal jobs and all that, but it’s opened the door for people to come into our world. This scoop might not be perfect and they might ring it up wrong, but people are coming to our doors knowing what to expect,” Sauermann said.
Another benefit of Unless U is for the families. Many of the students’ parents were aging and had no time to themselves. Respite care is almost impossible to find, especially if the student has multiple medical or behavioral issues.
Sauermann quoted a parent of an adult in that classroom who said, “The special needs community is marginalized, but [students with ‘multi-abilities’] are the marginalized within the special needs community.”
To meet this need, Unless U decided to start serving these students who require one-on-one care. This program is called Post Place.
“A lot of those students have been sitting at home for years. The first week that we started that class, the parents sat in the parking lot every single day and cried,” Sauermann said.
“They could not believe that we were accepting their students and that not only was there a place for them, but they were going to receive exceptional service and exceptional care, and we were going to share the love of Christ with them.”
Living with joy
In August 2022, a building down the street became available and now Post Place has its own campus. After being back in a community of people who love them, formerly depressed students who hadn’t spoken in years are now speaking.
“We get to hear students screaming and praising the Lord, worshiping every day. Our students have a real active relationship with the Lord, which is super encouraging for all of us,” Sauermann said.
“We’re committed to making as big of an impact and difference as we can,” she said. “We believe in our students and lovingly challenge them to be the best versions of themselves, and they surprise us every day. We say that we teach them, but they really teach us a whole lot more than we teach them.
“It’s really cool what the Lord is doing here. We say that it’s the happiest place on earth, and I really do believe that.”
To learn more about Unless U and Unless U Scoops, go to unlessu.org.
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