Autumn Terrill knows how to throw a good party.
Offer awesome music, thoughtful party favors, creatively decorated cookies, of course, but the icing on her party cake is “inclusion.” Terrill’s recently launched company, Give Good Parties, empowers differently-abled young adults by offering paid job training and employment. And everyone is having fun.
Laura Labriola’s son T.J., 18, lights up when he learns that Ms. Autumn has a new project for him. While thrilled to participate in all aspects of shopping and planning for a party, T.J., a senior in Rye’s GARNET life skills program, especially likes to fill candy jars, which he did with great enthusiasm in preparation for a b’nei mitzvah earlier this fall.
“T.J. takes great pride in his job,” said his mom. “Saturday mornings he used to spend playing video games alone in his room. Now he jumps at the chance to go to work. Autumn takes him shopping, she plays his favorite music and knows exactly how to connect and motivate him.”
While Terrill’s effervescent personality makes her a natural to work in this field, she’s also had a lifetime of practice. The devoted older sister of Adam, a developmentally disabled “young” man, she knows firsthand the challenges this particular population faces. Adam, 44, is the driving force behind his sister’s life work. Despite an equally “vibrant and charismatic personality” Adam, who resides in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the state where Terrill grew up, has cycled through countless jobs since aging out of school services.
“He is chronically unemployed,” said Terrill.
As Adam’s legal guardian, she has attended countless meetings with “well-intentioned agencies” for job placement services that lead nowhere. “There’s a deep irony in the disability space: On one hand, political correctness has become so heavily emphasized that people are often afraid to even discuss disability, worried they’ll say the wrong thing,” Terrill said. “At the very same time, our system of care functions in the opposite extreme; demanding endless labels, diagnoses and categories to determine services, funding, and support. In that process, people become reduced to a checklist of deficits, and the humanity, individuality, and nuance of their lives risk being overshadowed. With Give Good Parties, if you’re ready to party, you’re ready to work.”
Determined to break through the bureaucracy and inefficiency of the social service system and to spotlight what this often-marginalized population can do, Terrill launched Give Good Parties. “The Give Good Parties model offers people with disabilities job training now. No red tape. I book the event. I plan the party with my party host. Then I plug in my talent to help with pre-party and post-party tasks. If you are ready to work, I will meet you where you are and will create a job that meets your interests and abilities,” she said.
Emma Capek, 20, loves baking cookies. In preparation for the opening celebration of The Abendroth, a building in Port Chester, Capek not only baked dozens of cookies from her signature recipe, but with Terrill’s assistance, packaged, decorated, transported, and displayed them at the event where she also met the owner of The Kneaded Bread, Port Chester’s renowned bakery.
“Every job is different, we are always learning, always making new community connections,” Terrill said.
Connection is as central as employment to Terrill’s goals. Growing up with Adam has given Terrill a deep appreciation for the glaring gap in the continuum of services for the special needs community. Families across the country well know what is referred to as “the cliff” their children and siblings confront once they age out of the school system. With this in mind, Terrill identifies and nurtures her employees’ skills and interests today with a keen eye on the future.
Terrill strives to increase awareness and visibility of her employees by introducing them not only to the people throwing the party but also to professionals in their space of interest whether it’s baking, art, or music.
Emma’s mom Rita notes the marked impact this has had on her daughter’s life. “Give Good Parties has allowed Emma to fuel and nurture her passion for baking, while honing life skills and feed her self-worth. Emma received a beautiful thank you note from one of Autumn’s clients – her smile said it all. She was so proud of her work and her $20 tip — which she used to treat her brother to ice cream that night,” her mom said with a smile. Terrill finds this kind of connection and empowerment her greatest reward.
As a child, Terrill connected with Adam through a shared passion for the arts. “It’s what connects, engages, and inspires both of us,” she said. “Acting, singing, drama came naturally to me and it’s what Adam responded to.” Though she hesitates to use the term, she acknowledges it was a “way to get into his world.”
In turn, Give Good Parties is a way to bring people like Adam into the world of mainstream employment by showcasing their skills, interests, and passions. “This is not a charity. This is a for-profit venture that pays differently abled adults for their contributions to a real service with their unique talents and hard work,” she said.
“Autumn is so talented, and her staff is amazing,” said Emily Keenan, a Rye mother of four who hired Terrill and her team to throw a graduation party for two of her children last June. “They thought of everything and ran the whole party soup to nuts. Emma put together a beautiful candy display in school colors. The students she employs are just another awesome component to her phenomenal work.”
While a unicorn in the event planning sphere, Give Good Parties is a natural extension of Terrill’s trajectory and dedication to special needs individuals and their families. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles where she developed a one-woman show named “Gork,” about Adam, which aimed to break down misconceptions about people with disabilities while shedding a humorous and compelling light on often undervalued members of our communities. (“Gork” won Best Solo Show at the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival.) She spent years working for agencies and schools that supported children with special needs in L.A. and New York but preferred working with families.
In 2005 she developed a play-therapy program for children with autism and other disabilities, providing home-based therapeutic services to families throughout New York City. Terrill earned a Master of Arts from NYU in 2008 shortly before welcoming the first of her three daughters and moving to Rye, where she remains actively committed to enhancing the lives of young people with and without disabilities. She serves on the board of the Rye Youth Council, New Canaan Mounted Troop and most recently co-founded an initiative called “Pitch Your Peers,” which engages women in local philanthropy and funds grants to charitable initiatives that serve Westchester County.
While Give Good Parties is booked through the holiday season, Terrill has lofty goals to launch new initiatives that support and celebrate the differently abled in Rye and beyond. She knows that a community that welcomes, embraces, and nurtures the most vulnerable among us is a happier — and more successful — place. She hopes her mission will inspire more businesses to employ people like T.J., Emma and Adam — but for now she’s thrilled to celebrate the joy and pride her employees have found in work that feels like a party.
To learn more about Autumn Terrill and Give Good Parties, visit www.givegoodparties.com
