This guest post is by Sue Cassel, President and Founder of Max Cavie’s Guinea Pig Haven, Inc. Sue is applying for our Supporting Small Businesses That Hire People With Disabilities Grant Opportunity ran by my nonprofit KFM Making A Difference. You can learn more about the grant opportunity here.
I hope you can support my nonprofit like I’m trying to support our community. I also produce educational videos to celebrate neurodiversity by spotlighting individuals impacted by a diagnosis. Learn more on how you can help our cause with a small donation (just asking for $3 today, equal to your daily cup of coffee) here.
I always knew that I would start a business that would help my daughter with autism (now age 23), and others with disabilities, to develop job skills. I believe it is important for individuals with disabilities to have opportunities to learn job skills in a safe work environment and to gain experience that can be applied inside or outside of that setting. Having a month to focus on the importance of hiring people with disabilities is a great step in awareness, as well as an excellent way to start a conversation about the safe acceptance of persons of all abilities in every workplace.
All of the workers at Max Cavie’s Guinea Pig Haven are volunteers. We have no paid staff. However, individuals with disabilities can learn skills that could be transferred to other settings where they may be paid employees. They can also choose to remain volunteers with us.
Animal care for guinea pigs includes feeding vegetables, hay, pellets, and vitamins, cleaning and filling water bottles, cleaning cages, and socializing to human contact. However, we also work on broader skills such as time management, organizing tasks, maintaining a clean work environment, and getting along with co-workers.
The mission of Max Cavie’s Guinea Pig Haven is to rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome guinea pigs in need. We got started in guinea pig rescue quite by accident. My daughters wanted guinea pigs several years ago. Over time, many people asked us if we would take their guinea pigs in various situations, which opened our eyes to the need for guinea pig rescue. We rescued guinea pigs out of our house until we started the nonprofit business and built a small rescue in 2020. To date, as a family and as an organization, we’ve rescued almost 200 guinea pigs, most of which have already found their forever adoptive homes.
Our small nonprofit business operates as a community, where the most vulnerable people and animals are valued, resources are shared, and teamwork is essential. Are we idealistic? Maybe. But we have a growing track record of success in rescuing animals and enriching the lives of the people involved in their care.
If we are recipients of a grant, we will use the money for animal care, so we can continue to support both animals and people who find our little community to be a place of acceptance and enrichment. While animals move on to their adoptive homes, we hope that our friends with disabilities will gain skills and confidence to eventually move on to paid positions in the greater community if they so choose, or to go on to gain more responsibility within our organization.
Thank you for allowing me to share about the great things that are happening at Max Cavie’s Guinea Pig Haven.
Follow my journey on Facebook, my Facebook Fan Page, & Instagram!
Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue a post-secondary education.
Have Kerry, one of the only professionally accredited speakers on the spectrum in the country, speak at your next event by sending him an inquiry here. If you have a referral for someone who many want him to speak please reach out as well! Kerry speaks with schools, businesses, government agencies, colleges, nonprofit organizations, parent groups and other special events on topics ranging from employment, how to succeed in college with a learning disability, internal communication, living with autism, bullying prevention, social media best practices, innovation, presentation best practices and much more!
