Community Spotlight: Sarah N: Transitioning to Life After High School

Sara Crimm, Director and Co-Founder of Families CCAN

At Families CCAN we are privileged to meet many people whose life experiences show us how successful planning can lead to positive outcomes. Sarah N. is an example of someone who is using her strengths to pursue employment and volunteer opportunities. In addition, she continues to participate with Families CCAN Cook to build her skills and engage with others who love cooking.  We recently sat down with Sarah, who shared some details of her busy life. 

Tell us a few things that people like and admire about you.

“I am a friendly person who is kind, and likes to talk to people. I am a very hard worker. I care about other people and I like to have fun.”  

What are your hobbies or things you love to do in your free time? 

“I love to cook and to eat.  I also enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles, word searches, and watching shows and movies. I am very involved in Special Olympics and play a lot of different sports with them.   I compete in the sports of Long-Distance Running, Swimming, Snowshoeing, Floorball, and Golf.  I also attend Special Olympics Pennsylvania’s Sports Camp in Western, PA every August for a full week.”

Do you have a paid or volunteer job?  

“I have 2 paid jobs and 2 volunteer jobs.     

One of my paid jobs is I work for Sodexo at Moravian University in their dining hall.  I work Monday – Friday when college is in session from 7:30am – 10:00am.   I make all the pizzas that the college students are going to eat at lunch and dinner that day.  I have to build about 35 full sized pizzas every morning, and there are always 3 kinds:  plain, pepperoni, and the pizza of the day.  They tell me each day how many plain, how many pepperoni, and how many pizzas of the day they need me to make.   I build them, put them on a big rack, and put them in the walk-in refrigerator.  Then during lunch and dinner they pull out the pizzas I built as needed, and put them in the oven to cook. For the pizza of the day, there is a recipe book that I follow that tells me how to build each type of pizza.  

My other paid job is at Sterling Heights where I work as a kitchen assistant. It is a Senior Apartment Complex.  Everyone who lives there is independent (it is not an assisted living), and their rent includes meals.  So the kitchen at Sterling Heights has to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for their residents every single day.  I work there every Friday from 4pm – 6pm and every Saturday from 8am – 11am.  Some of the things I do every week are building trays of plated salads for the residents, chopping vegetables for soups, stews, and salads, filling small containers with things like brown sugar and raisins for oatmeal, or canned fruit for desserts.  I help to clean my station, and every once in a while, they have me help with bussing.  

I volunteer at 2 different places:

At Eastern PA Down Syndrome Center I volunteer every Monday from 11am – 2pm.   I help with all kinds of office work.  Sometimes I make calls to members, sometimes I help with stuffing mailers, sometimes I help get ready for big events. Whatever they need. 

I also volunteer at Essentials Café, a community restaurant in the town where I live.  It is a ‘pay what you can afford’ restaurant.   Some people pay the asking price for their meal, some people pay the asking price plus extra, some people pay less than the asking price, and some people pay nothing.  There are only 2 paid employees of the restaurant, the manager, and the chef.   Everyone else who works there is a volunteer.  They have over 120 volunteers who help them staff the restaurant.  The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch 5 days a week, Tuesdays through Saturdays.  I volunteer every Thursday from 11-2 to help them with lunch.   I serve food, I fill drink orders, I clean tables and I bring customers things they need.    

I got all 4 of these positions through the job training program at my High School. Sodexo and Sterling Heights were places my school often sent their students to do work experiences. I was able to get hired by both places by doing a good job during my training. The volunteer jobs at EPDSC and Essentials were unique experiences set up just for me. The school supported me in those roles for a few months until I could be there on my own.”

Do you have any paid supports like a job coach? 

“Yes – I have a job coach at Sodexho. He makes sure I do well, stay on track, and he answers questions. He also helps me when I need to ask my bosses questions about things like my schedule.“

You finished high school this past year. Do you think the transition from school has gone well? 

“I just aged out of school in December (2025).  I did not want to leave because I loved my teachers, and loved being part of school.  I miss it a lot. My transition went well because I had a few jobs lined up that I was already doing in the school’s job training program, so for at least part of each day I had somewhere to be.  But it was a little scary and I worried about leaving school.      

I am really grateful that I had jobs to go to when school ended.  I think it would have been extra hard if I didn’t have things to do. “  

Where do you live and who lives with you?  

“I live in Bethlehem with my parents, my older sister Katie, and my dog Sulley.”  

We are so glad you have been joining Families CCAN Cook. What are two or three things you like about Families CCAN Cook?  Is it helping you improve your cooking skills?  

“I love cooking so much.  I love that the class makes it easy for me to do most of the work myself with only a little bit of help from one of my parents.  This cooking class has helped me to follow recipes on my own, and has helped me learn to build a shopping list for ingredients.    

I created a texting group with some of my aunts because of this class.  Every week I send them pictures of me making the recipes, and they send me pictures of the food they make at home. They can’t wait to get my pictures from class every week!”

Has participating with Families CCAN Cook changed your skills or habits? 

“The class has helped me do some things on my own in the kitchen. I also can make a couple of dinners on my own as long as one of my parents or sister is home with me. “ 

What is one thing you are planning for yourself in the coming year? 

“I hope I get to eat out more this year than last year. I also hope that I can go to the beach this summer. “  

We are grateful to Sarah for sharing her story and being a part of our community of home chefs! To learn more about how you can join Sarah and the rest of our Families CCAN Cook community, check out the webpage.  Families CCAN Cook sessions will resume in the fall.