Center aids families of disabled
By Chris De Benedetti, STAFF WRITER

Sylvia Yeh (left), adult day program director at Friends of Children With Special Needs, helps Vivian Sun, 22, prepare lunch at the Fremont nonprofit's new Dream Center. (Bea Ahbeck - Staff)

FREMONT — Josephine Chou has seen firsthand the struggles endured by the families of children with developmental disabilities. Having worked at Friends of Children With Special Needs, Chou praises many parents' remarkable patience while teaching their disabled children even the most mundane tasks, such as feeding themselves.

"That can be very stressful and it takes a lot of love and time to develop (the child's) potential," she said. "I've seen the desperation on their faces."

Helping families who find themselves in that difficult position is exactly why a small number of Bay Area families formed Friends of Children With Special Needs about 10 years ago. "It's important to let them know they are not alone," Chou said.

Now the Fremont nonprofit, which counts more than 400 families among its grass-roots membership, has built a facility to better carry out its mission. Called the Dream Center, the $2.5 million, 6,000-square-foot building located at 2300 Peralta Blvd., in the Parkmont neighborhood.

The culmination of five years of fundraising, the center is for children and adults battling mental or physical disabilities, including autism, Down syndrome or cerebral palsy.

It contains six classrooms, a resource library, a kitchen, an administrative office, a large multipurpose room, an outdoor play area, a courtyard and more than 30 parking spaces, said Chou, the organization's executive administrator.

The organization will run adult and vocational training programs out of the center, including classes centered on cooking, exercise, reading, arts and crafts, and even yoga.
Private donations coupled with funds raised from gala events and one or two concerts per year made the Dream Center a reality, said Albert Wang, the organization's co-chair.

"It's amazing to do that during a bad economy," Wang said. "When we started (in 2001), it was dot-com bust time." The fundraising efforts are continuing, and another gala is scheduled for Nov. 18 in Santa Clara.

Meanwhile, the center's opening-day festivities begin at noon Sunday with a VIP lunch and private tour, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. A grand-opening reception will be from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

"It's our declaration to the community that we're here to serve them," Wang said.

The group's core belief is that, because the entire family is deeply affected by the daily struggles and triumphs of a disabled child, all family members should participate in the child's development. That approach also may help them deal with the sense of guilt and depression that plagues some of these families.

"Parents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles — they all contribute to raising a child," said Wang, a married father of three children, one of whom is autistic.

Friends of Children With Special Needs has served mostly Chinese-American immigrant families, but it is open to people of all backgrounds, group leaders say. However, the organization has been valuable in the Asian community, Fremont Vice Mayor Steve Cho said, especially for those reluctant to discuss a family member's disabilities openly.

"Based on my experiences with my background and my culture, it's something that people didn't want to talk about in past years," said Cho, who is Chinese American. "I knew families that had (special-needs) children and they didn't get any help. People kept it private."

But times have changed for the better, he said, and the center's opening is a tangible sign of that progress.

"As people find out they're not alone, they don't have to feel ashamed," said Cho, 57. "They can help each other out."

Though the grand opening is Sunday, the new center first opened its doors last month. The nonprofit also will continue to operate about 25 programs at sites in Fremont and throughout Alameda and Santa Clara counties. But the Dream Center will be the organization's first true headquarters, Josephine Chou said.

"(The center) is like a baby that is growing," she said "You can see it taking shape. It's our home."