Monica

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Feel Good Story: Texas Teacher Empowering Special Needs Students with Coffee

Fresh into her career as a special education teacher, Shelby Winder is crushing the game with her kind heart.

Shelby recently graduated from Texas A&M, then landed a job teaching Life Skills at Grand Oaks High School in Spring Hill, TX.  In her role at the school, Shelby helps students with cognitive impairment and adaptive disabilities learn to live and thrive in a society that’s not always inclusive nor geared toward their needs.

Wanting to help her students open up, and learn to better cope with their disabilities, Shelby started a traveling coffee cart, called The Grizzly Bean, to show her students just how capable they truly are.

During the week, her students take orders from other teachers and staff members at the school, and on Fridays the kids push The Grizzly Bean coffee cart around, making deliveries.

Shelby told her local news outlet, “Yes, they all have different abilities, but what I want people to see is that, even though their abilities are so different, they absolutely can hold jobs.”

This is an activity for Shelby’s students to practice their social and communication skills, helping them to work through shyness, and even learning how to run a business by working with expenses and profits.

When The Grizzly Bean first started, it was solely funded by Shelby and her measly first-year teaching salary.  However, after witnessing the positive results, school administrators decided to reimburse Shelby and help fund the cart.

Planning to continue the experiment, Shelby hopes the profits from The Grizzly Bean will help other another school with a similar program.

The kind-hearted teacher shares, “This is so important to me because I know this is so important to them. This is going to build the foundation upon which they grow and blossom and become productive members of society.” Shelby continues, “I just love these kids with everything I’ve got, they’re my pride and joy. I just love them.”

Here’s the (now viral) post Shelby’s friend put on Facebook to brag on his kind-hearted gal pal.

(MSN)

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