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Autism

ShopRite opens in 'village' for individuals with special needs

William Westhoven
Morristown Daily Record

LIVINGSTON — ShopRite supermarkets cut the ribbon for its newest store located in a New Jersey village that did not exist three months ago.

Welcome to LifeTown, where 53,000 square feet of commercial space off Route 10 has been transformed into a simulated "town," where children with special needs can learn and practice essential life skills in an environment designed just for them.

Malachi Stevens, 14, of Bloomfield, started at the bank on Tuesday, where he filled out a withdrawal slip to receive real cash from the teller. He would spend the next hour spending his money, making a visit to the doctor's and buying ice cream from a cart, flowers from a shop and a ticket to the movie theater.

Liftetown in Livingston is a special village, where special-needs kids can learn and practice essential life skills in an environment designed just for them. November 19, 2019.

"Very cool," said Malachi. "I liked the ice cream best."

Later during his visit, he joined staffers, volunteers and others for the official opening of a mini-ShopRite, where the young shoppers could select snacks and other grocery items for purchase at the register.

"You can't have a town without a grocery store, and you definitely can't have a town in New Jersey without a ShopRite, right?" said Zalman Grossbaum, executive director of LifeTown.

"We are just so fortunate to be part of this program to assist children with special abilities, and children with autism, to learn and have the opportunity to experience what it is like to live and be part of a community," said Neil Greenstein, a third-generation ShopRite owner who presented a donation check of $100,000 to mark the occasion.

Grossbaum explained how LifeTown is a project of the Friendship Circle New Jersey, in affiliation with the Morristown-based Rabbinical College of America under the auspices of Chabad Lubavitch.

Malachi Stevens, 14, a special-needs student from Bloomfield, visits the bank at LifeTown, where 53,000 square feet of commercial space off Route 10 has been transformed into a special village, where special-needs kids can learn and practice essential life skills in an environment designed just for them. November 19, 2019.

The Friendship Circle established the LifeTown concept on a smaller scale, first in Michigan, then in Ohio. The $19 million facility in Livingston is the biggest LifeTown to date.

"New Jersey has the highest rate of autism in the United States, and this area, in particular, has the largest number of individuals with autism in the state," Grossbaum said. "Every opportunity comes with a responsibility to make a difference, to transform the world around us, and not turn a blind eye to what's going on in the world. We have to be there so everybody can maximize their God-given opportunities in this world."

A special-needs student visits the art store at LifeTown, where 53,000 square feet of commercial space off Route 10 has been transformed into a special village, where special-needs kids can learn and practice essential life skills in an environment designed just for them. November 19, 2019.

A bookstore, "no-echo" gymnasium, a sensory room, staff lounge, medical clinic, special classrooms and other facilities line a mall-like hallway past the main entrance and stairs to the second floor. The stairs herald the building's mission of engaging special-needs kids from the moment they enter, with each step playing a progressive musical note to encourage obese children to keep climbing.

The biggest lure to LifeTown, however, are the "LifeTown Shoppes," with stores, a movie theater and other attractions centered around an oval "street" where kids can ride rented bicycles, as long as they pay attention to the stop signs, red lights and pedestrian crosswalks.

Outside, there's a new artificial-turf football field donated by the NFL and the New York Jets, based nearby in Florham Park. The football organizations are just two of countless partners who pitched in to make LifeTown a reality.

"LifeTown is that next level, to not only bring those opportunities for these individuals with special abilities, but also the community is a part of what goes on here," Grossbaum said. "We have hundreds of volunteers. All of our programming is inclusive and creates opportunities for everybody to participate together. That breaks down the barriers in a very natural way. What happens here in LifeTown is an incubator for what will happen in the real world."

Gianluca Tedeschi, 11, of Stanhope, came from school in Byram with his paraprofessional, Tammy Hamill, to explore LifeTown for the first time.

"I think about ice cream, ShopRite and the pet store," Gianluca declared with loud enthusiasm. 

Hamill said when she first started working with Gianluca, he was mostly nonverbal. She said Gianluca, who is on the autistic spectrum, was "thrilled" to be there.

"This is amazing, I haven't stopped smiling," Hamill said. "They work very hard, every day, for little things which also thrill them, but not like this. This is an amazing gift to them."

Karen Izo, a Maplewood resident whose son has special needs, was eager to serve as a volunteer bicycle renter.

"I've been with [the Friendshp Circle] for about 11 years now," she said. "This blew my mind. I've seen it from inception to blueprints, all the way to this. So watching it come alive is remarkable."

Her son, 15, has already hit the town and enjoyed the experience.

"He likes it, and he likes the bikes a lot," she said.

There are still a few more stores and offices to debut at LifeTown, which opened in September at 125 Miracle Way. The name of the former Microlab Road was changed to reflect LifeTown's mission, now occupying the space of telecom company Microlab's former headquarters.

"There's an energy here," Grossbaum said. "There's something so unique when you walk into it, and that is because lt is the community coming together."

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William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com Twitter: @wwesthoven

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