Toby's Place Opens Shared Housing Option for Young Adults with Disabilities
Disabled adults move into dedicated housing
Goal of sponsor Toby’s Place is to teach independence
BY DREW DODSON
The Star-News
It was tedious unwrapping individually packaged silverware, but Tristian Engels and Heather Ingram were too excited about moving into their new home to mind.
Tristian Engels and Heather Ingram stock silverware in one of two kitchens in their new home at 704 Fairway Dr. in McCall.
Photo by Drew Dodson/The Star-News
Engels and Ingram are among eight adults with various disabilities, including some on the autism spectrum, moving into a large new home at 704 Fairway Dr. in McCall.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” said Ingram, 23, who works at Toby’s Place, a thrift shop at 506 Pine St. that is renting the home for its employees.
The nonprofit thrift shop was started in 2018 by Suzie Rohnert to help people with disabilities develop vocational skills that can help them gain independence.
For Rohnert, watching Engels, Ingram and the other residents of the new building move in last week to live independently as roommates was a dream 20 years in the making.
“It makes me cry that we’re actually at this point and that we’re actually doing it,” said Rohnert, who with her husband, Howard, has adopted or become guardian for five other children with disabilities.
The new home is 3,600 square feet and contains eight bedrooms and five bathrooms. The home has two kitchens, two laundry rooms and a four-car garage.
The shared floorplan will function similar to a college dorm, with men and women each occupying one side of the building, Rohnert said.
Two resident assistants will live in the building, though Rohnert emphasized that they are not there to be caretakers of the residents or the home.
“We’ve got chore charts already ordered,” she said. “Everybody will have responsibilities, like keeping the house clean.”
The residents range in age from 18 to 29 and all are on the autism spectrum or have other disabilities, Rohnert said.
Each resident will pay rent with money earned working local jobs. Five residents work at Toby’s Place, while others work at places in town like Albertsons and Miner’s Grab N Go, she said.
Last week’s move-in marked the first time that most of them have ever had a chance to live independently with friends instead of under the care of family members.
“I’m looking forward to the new experience, meeting new people and moving out of my parents’ house,” said Engels, 19.
The move-in was the latest step in a journey that Rohnert has been on since 2002 when she met and began working with Toby, a boy at her church that was on the autism spectrum.
Toby, who lives in Nampa, sparked a passion in Rohnert for helping people with disabilities gain skills to become independent and productive members of the community.
Since starting Toby’s Place, seven employees have been able to use vocational skills gained working at the thrift shop to hold other local jobs.
“We could solve a lot of our employment issues if businesses were just willing to give them a chance,” Rohnert said.
“They’re so eager to work, and employers often find they are ‘uniquely enabled’ more than they are disabled,” she said.
Ultimately, Rohnert hopes to buy land and develop up to 75 apartments where senior citizens and people with disabilities could live integrated and together, yet independently.
“This really is a beautiful stepping stone for us on our way to the ultimate goal,” she said of the new home.
The house being rented by Toby’s Place is identical to one next door at 706 Fairway Dr. that is also being developed by Jessey Zerfoss of Denver.
Zerfoss, who hopes to eventually move to McCall, said partnering with the thrift shop felt like a natural fit after the idea was suggested by his father-in-law, Vince Beer, who lives in McCall.
“My wife and I really just felt called to help them set some roots down and grow together with that organization,” said Zerfoss, 39.
Zerfoss has not yet leased the other building, which is also eight bedrooms and five bathrooms, but said he plans to partner with another local employer to provide employee housing.
Disabled adults move into dedicated housing
Goal of sponsor Toby’s Place is to teach independence
BY DREW DODSON
The Star-News
It was tedious unwrapping individually packaged silverware, but Tristian Engels and Heather Ingram were too excited about moving into their new home to mind.
Tristian Engels and Heather Ingram stock silverware in one of two kitchens in their new home at 704 Fairway Dr. in McCall.
Photo by Drew Dodson/The Star-News
Engels and Ingram are among eight adults with various disabilities, including some on the autism spectrum, moving into a large new home at 704 Fairway Dr. in McCall.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” said Ingram, 23, who works at Toby’s Place, a thrift shop at 506 Pine St. that is renting the home for its employees.
The nonprofit thrift shop was started in 2018 by Suzie Rohnert to help people with disabilities develop vocational skills that can help them gain independence.
For Rohnert, watching Engels, Ingram and the other residents of the new building move in last week to live independently as roommates was a dream 20 years in the making.
“It makes me cry that we’re actually at this point and that we’re actually doing it,” said Rohnert, who with her husband, Howard, has adopted or become guardian for five other children with disabilities.
The new home is 3,600 square feet and contains eight bedrooms and five bathrooms. The home has two kitchens, two laundry rooms and a four-car garage.
The shared floorplan will function similar to a college dorm, with men and women each occupying one side of the building, Rohnert said.
Two resident assistants will live in the building, though Rohnert emphasized that they are not there to be caretakers of the residents or the home.
“We’ve got chore charts already ordered,” she said. “Everybody will have responsibilities, like keeping the house clean.”
The residents range in age from 18 to 29 and all are on the autism spectrum or have other disabilities, Rohnert said.
Each resident will pay rent with money earned working local jobs. Five residents work at Toby’s Place, while others work at places in town like Albertsons and Miner’s Grab N Go, she said.
Last week’s move-in marked the first time that most of them have ever had a chance to live independently with friends instead of under the care of family members.
“I’m looking forward to the new experience, meeting new people and moving out of my parents’ house,” said Engels, 19.
The move-in was the latest step in a journey that Rohnert has been on since 2002 when she met and began working with Toby, a boy at her church that was on the autism spectrum.
Toby, who lives in Nampa, sparked a passion in Rohnert for helping people with disabilities gain skills to become independent and productive members of the community.
Since starting Toby’s Place, seven employees have been able to use vocational skills gained working at the thrift shop to hold other local jobs.
“We could solve a lot of our employment issues if businesses were just willing to give them a chance,” Rohnert said.
“They’re so eager to work, and employers often find they are ‘uniquely enabled’ more than they are disabled,” she said.
Ultimately, Rohnert hopes to buy land and develop up to 75 apartments where senior citizens and people with disabilities could live integrated and together, yet independently.
“This really is a beautiful stepping stone for us on our way to the ultimate goal,” she said of the new home.
The house being rented by Toby’s Place is identical to one next door at 706 Fairway Dr. that is also being developed by Jessey Zerfoss of Denver.
Zerfoss, who hopes to eventually move to McCall, said partnering with the thrift shop felt like a natural fit after the idea was suggested by his father-in-law, Vince Beer, who lives in McCall.
“My wife and I really just felt called to help them set some roots down and grow together with that organization,” said Zerfoss, 39.
Zerfoss has not yet leased the other building, which is also eight bedrooms and five bathrooms, but said he plans to partner with another local employer to provide employee housing.