Specialized Needs Recreation launches campaign for new space

COEUR d'ALENE — Monday tends to get a bad rap, but at Specialized Needs Recreation, it’s a day to look forward to. 

It’s when participants socialize, play board games, engage in artistic hobbies, catch up on weekend gossip and maybe even try something new, like weaving on a loom.

"I’m making a scarf,” Jacquelyn Nunoz of Rathdrum said, focusing on intertwining white and dark blue yarn on a wooden tabletop loom.

Next to her, Melissa Elliott weaved a scarf speckled with bright colors. Also of Rathdrum, Elliott is a newer SNR participant.

“When I first started, I was a little bit scared because I didn’t know anyone,” until she was introduced to everyone, she said.

It’s fun, but the loud noise of the facility can be frustrating, Elliott said over the sound of a bouncing basketball and voices of other participants echoing off the walls.

A lot takes place in the small suite at 3700 N. Government Way in Coeur d'Alene. Although 2,000 square feet sounds roomy, it's no longer enough space to accommodate the many activities SNR offers its participants.

"We're bursting at the seams," Executive Director Lindsay Patterson said.

When SNR hosts its youth camp each July, "there are periods of the day that are difficult to navigate because of our space constraints," she said.

Founded in 1984, SNR formed to fill the need for recreational and socialization opportunities for individuals with special needs. It promotes social interaction, socialization, life skills, recreation and community service for its participants to build independence. It serves those with Down syndrome, intellectual disorders, autism, acquired brain injuries, physical disabilities, vision and hearing impairment and more.

In 2024, SNR had 642 youth visits and 5,255 adult visits. Its participants live in communities from Sandpoint to St. Maries.

According to data provided by SNR, 23.2% of adults in Kootenai County are living with a disability. One in four families has a member with a disability.

Evlin Clark of Cataldo has been volunteering at the center for two years. She and fiber arts guild colleague Rochelle Fairfield come every Monday to help with activities such as weaving.

“It was on my bucket list when I was retiring anyway because I had worked with special needs where I lived, and I didn’t know this existed," Clark said.

She said volunteering at SNR is most gratifying.

"The best day of my week is coming here and working with them," she said. "Every community should have an organization like this. It’s all socialization for them, and life skills.”

SNR's team recently announced the Building Belonging campaign to construct a campus for the nonprofit that will accommodate the diverse needs of the community it serves.

A proposed campus includes an office, an art/dance/yoga center, a garden area, courts for basketball and pickleball and adequate parking. Ideally, it could be constructed on donated land, but a remodeled building with land could also be the answer.

Patterson said she and her team anticipate the cost will be in the ballpark of $5 million, but that could change depending on location, land lease opportunities and other variables.

"We are desperate for a new location that's going to meet our growing needs," she said. "If that's a new build, awesome. If it's a building we redo to meet our needs, great. What's most important in a build for our future and Building Belonging is that we have a space where we can provide services and opportunities for people to come together to socialize and participate in recreation with their peers."

Accessibility and location are top priorities, Patterson said.

"We have to be located in an area where people with special needs to get to us utilizing public transportation," she said.

SNR provides more than once-a-month cooking classes or lessons in fiber arts. It's where friendships are forged and people of all abilities are welcome and celebrated.

"They know what's happening in each other's lives," Patterson said. "They are up on each other's happenings because of opportunities like this to get together, hang out and visit with each other. Without SNR, a lot of these people would not have that connection with one another."

Rather than have a waitlist, SNR strives to ensure everyone has a place — even when space is limited.

"This population of people lives a lifetime of nos. 'They can't, it's not for them, they don't fit, they won't know anybody there, nos nos nos,'" Patterson said. "For me, personally, a waitlist is just another way to say, 'Sorry, you can't come.' I have tried hard to avoid that response. We have days that are really full, and we have other days that are not."

She said it's really up to the community as a whole to create a space where members of this population can belong, be connected and have a good time with people who are most like them in the world.

"That's something we all strive for," Patterson said. "I'm really hopeful my community will find that in their hearts as we continue to grow and serve this community."

Info: snridaho.org

    Jacquelyn Nunoz, right, and Melissa Elliott, both of Rathdrum, work with looms to weave scarves Monday at Specialized Needs Recreation in Coeur d'Alene. Fiber arts are just one of the many activities the nonprofit offers its participants, who live in communities from Sandpoint to St. Maries.
  

    Ethan Barker makes a scarf Monday at Specialized Needs Recreation. The nonprofit is in an early phase of its Building Belonging campaign to construct a campus to accommodate its expanding participant population.