“BITTY & BEAU’S gives these workers meaning to their
lives,” she says. “I come here to see the smiles on their
faces.”
Germano is a member of a knitting group — affec-tionately
called the Knit Knuts — that meets on
Tuesdays at Bitty & Beau’s Coffee. Several them are former educators and
transplants from different areas of the country.
Bonnie Rosenmeier was born in the Bronx and taught in Brewster, New York.
“We had a close family friend with IDD,” she reminisces. “Luckily, his
family had a lot of money and they owned a local drugstore soda fountain,
and he had a job for life. Otherwise, he would have had nothing due to his
disability.”
Rosenmeier was an educator of children with special needs. She says acquir-ing
life skills, socializing and interacting with different people is just as impor-tant
for children with IDD as what they learn in school.
Right: Bitty & Beau’s Coffee was featured on the Rachael Ray Show in December
2016. Below: Ben and Amy Wright with their four children, Lillie, Beau, Bitty and
Emma Grace, at their coffee shop.
38
WBM july 2017
PHOTO COURTESY OF JILL KNIGHT/WRAL
Changing the way people respect other people.