Guilford, Connecticut — Tom Pinchbeck never dreamed he'd turn his family rose farm into an employment center for people with autism.
In 2008, faced with a sagging U.S. economy and fierce international competition from South American rose growers, Pinchbeck found himself priced out of the market. He had no choice but to do the unthinkable — close the farm started by his great-grandfather.
Shortly afterward, a college friend of Pinchbeck's, Jim Lyman, approached him with an interesting proposition. Lyman was looking for a way to address the very real problem that many young adults with autism, including his own son, Eli, face: How to transition successfully into adulthood as they grow beyond the cutoff age of built-in state benefits and supports.
"Lyman approached me with the idea of using the greenhouses as a background for vocational therapy for people on the autism spectrum," Pinchbeck says. "I was still reeling from having to close the place down, and it seemed like an interesting way of putting together a really unique program from the ashes of Pinchbeck's Farm."
To read the rest of the story, please go to: CNN
