Perks Cafe lets kids learn while they earn in Morton Grove
By Cathryn Gran cgran@pioneerlocal.com January 19, 2012 6:20PM
Suhib Ali takes coffee orders at the Molloy Perks Cafe on Jan. 19 at Molloy Education Center Center in Morton Grove. | Rob Hart~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:08AM
On Thursday mornings, the smell of fresh coffee wafts through the halls of the Molloy Education Center in Morton Grove.
Manning the Perks Café from 9-10 a.m. are high-school-age students who have physical or learning disabilities and attend the center, which serves residents of Niles Township.
The café, a new program offered this school year, offers students an opportunity to improve their communication, socialization and vocational skills, uses concepts learned in speech-, occupational- and physical-therapy sessions, Principal Michael Meyers said.
“The therapists and the teachers brainstormed this project,” he said. “It’s a clever way to integrate therapies in a more meaningful way.”
The center always has offered a cooking component to its curriculum, Meyers said.
“It used to be snacks, but now we have muffins, cookies,” he said.
The advent of single-serve machines allows students to safely brew coffee and make hot chocolate, he added.
“And the kids have to do the shopping, preparations, budgeting,” he continued. “There’s the cleanup component where we work on (food-service) hygiene issues.”
For teachers who can’t make it to the café during operating hours, students take orders for delivery.
“With the delivery service, we get more kids involved,” said Jenny Spiegel, speech language pathologist. “This program is multifaceted. It gives the kids more things to do.
“They work on fine and gross motor skills, communication. It targets all their skills. And we keep tweaking the program as the year progresses.”
Café attendants recently began sporting uniforms, Spiegel noted.
And while not quite a self-sustaining program, the café does offer a perk of its own to participants.
“The kids earn enough money to have a party at the end of the year,” Meyers said.
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