Mission/History

The Highland Friendship Club Mission Statement

The mission of the Highland Friendship Club is to serve individuals with disabilities from teens through adulthood by providing a range of opportunities to develop lifelong skills, friendships and connections within their community.

How did Highland Friendship Club start?

In June 2002, Pat Leseman and Rosemary Fagrelius, sat at the Leseman's kitchen table, pondering a long summer of unstructured, empty hours ahead for their teenage sons, Michael and John. The young men had been best friends since they first met in a preschool program for children with disabilities. Frustrated at the lack of age-appropriate, interesting and accessible social opportunities for teens and young adults with disabilities, Pat and Rosemary decided it was up to them to create fun, interesting opportunities for their sons and their friends.

Armed with creativity, knowledge of their community, a blank calendar and a list of their sons' friends and classmates, the two mothers began filling the calendar with interesting, age-appropriate activities and events like adaptive recreation teams, trips to the zoo, movie nights, ball games and service projects. Assuming that other parents were equally frustrated, the two began calling other parents of adolescents with disabilities to see if they were interested in being part of the effort. The calls brought an enthusiastic response from eight families. The Highland Friendship Club was born.

Fast Facts about HFC

• 185 members belong to HFC, in 2009 40 new members joined HFC
• HFC members live in St. Paul and other communities around the Twin Cities.
• HFC offers a year-round schedule of activities including an expanded summer activity schedule
• Community partnerships with Cretin-Derham Hall School, the Jewish Community Center of St. Paul and St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Saint Paul provide HFC with free space for activities
• 18 part-time staff members including a part-time executive director and part-time program coordinator.
• Over 200 volunteers and 250 individual donors support HFC through volunteer hours, in-kind donations and contributions
• HFC has 10 Volunteer Board Members and 4 Board members are either a parent or sibling of an HFC member
• HFC has three board committees - Finance, Program & Fundraising & two fundraiser event committees - Art of Friendship and Lanes for Friendship
• HFC members are active members of the Program Committee

Our Promises to Our Members

The Highland Friendship Club makes five important promises to its members.

Promise #1: Fun, Friends and Futures

The Highland Friendship Club was started to provide opportunities for teens and young adults with disabilities to make friends, have fun and create connections for the future to help them create full, multi-faceted lives. Those three elements continue to be the foundation of our decision-making and the basis of the events and activities we organize.

Promise #2: Independence

Most teens and young adults will admit - eventually! - that the road to adulthood and independence isn't smooth or direct. For teens and young adults with disabilities, that road can be even rockier and more complicated because of their physical and mental challenges, communication difficulties and need for ongoing support. The Highland Friendship Club is committed to helping members become more independent and confident in their ability to: advocate for themselves, make healthy choices and build personal relationships. One way we do this is by allowing members to choose the activities they want to participate in and the friends they want to spend their time with, as well as their level of participation.

Promise #3: Age-Appropriate Activities

The Highland Friendship Club is for teens and young adults with disabilities. We promise that the events and activities we organize will be of interest to all teens and young adults. That's why music, art projects and classes, sporting events, movies and community service activities dominate our Calendar of Events. Opportunities to participate in adult activities are an important part of an independent adult life.

Promise #4: Personal Choice

Opportunities to choose what you want to do, who you want to be with and where to go are crucial to independence. Yet, teens and young adults with disabilities have few opportunities to make these simple decisions. In fact, the social lives of most teens and young adults with disabilities depend on their family members. At the Highland Friendship Club, we turn this upside-down by creating a range of social opportunities that members can choose from - they decide which ones interest them and which don't. Family members can hang around if they want, but most Club events and activities are designed for members.

Promise #5: Safety and Respect

Physical and emotional safety and personal respect are among your most important, basic rights. Highland Friendship Club staff members and volunteers are committed to making sure that our activities and events are accessible, safe and welcoming to every person - regardless of ability. Our staff members are trained to work with people with disabilities and have been thoroughly checked out to help ensure that Highland Friendship Club activities are both safe and fun. Mutual respect is an important part of achieving that goal. We are committed to creating and maintaining a friendly, inclusive, "people-first" environment that respects your unique gifts, talents, abilities.