Developing and Nurturing Independence (DANI) – an organization that’s dedicated to helping people with disabilities find ways to contribute to society – recently opened its new greenhouse in Vaughn, Ont., where it grows and sells hydroponic microgreens. The greenhouse fits with the organization’s values, because it provides opportunities for DANI participants to find meaningful work, while also filling a need in the community.

While speaking about the greenhouse, Kathy Laszlo, co-founder of DANI, reminisced about a speech she gave at her son Danny’s graduation. She told the assembled students she hoped they would grow up to be the kind of citizens who give back to society; who would look out for her autistic son and people with similar challenges.

Years later, one of those students walked into her office. Snir Seitelbach had been her son’s classmate, but Kathy Laszlo hadn’t seen him in ages.

Seitelbach remembered Laszlo. He also remembered her speech and said he was committed to offering the support she’d hoped for. The two spoke for an hour and a half that day and Seitelbach agreed to use his business background to help DANI reach its goals.

“It was very, very moving,” she said. “Years later, he still remembered, and he wanted to act on it. So that’s very special.”

Laszlo is the director of DANI, a Toronto-based organization named after her son and created to help guide him. When Danny Laszlo was close to graduating high school in 2006, his mom was part of a group of parents who were looking for an organization that could continue to offer their children support. But no organization provided what they were searching for.

“Our kids were the first generation who always had been integrated in schools and camps and just in society. They grew up to be part of the regular population. So we wanted to have something for adults once they finished high school, which would be something similar, where they are not segregated away, but they are part of the community,” she said.

People like her son value the same things in life as everybody else. It was essential for Laszlo to respect those values and help DANI’s participants realize them.

“These people are no different than anybody else. They want to work, they want to give back to the community, they want to socialize, they want like you (want). They also want to leave the house in the morning and when they come home, feel that they did something to make the world a better place,” she said.

So when the group of parents couldn’t find the right organization, they founded it. They registered DANI as a charity in 2006, planning trips and events for its seven participants. After a few years, DANI moved into a house near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue in Toronto, to allow it to provide more programs for more people. But DANI was struggling to fund its programs through donations and tuition fees alone.

That’s when they decided to incorporate a social enterprise. DANI would provide job training to its participants, which would also allow it to generate funds to run its programs. Laszlo said they modelled the organization off one in South Africa. She actually visited the organization for advice, and they recommended DANI begin a catering business, because it would allow people of various abilities the opportunity to work.

So they began running a catering business out of the house, but soon hit another wall – the literal walls of the house, which prevented the organization from accommodating more than 11 participants. In 2013, DANI moved again, to a former daycare on Clark Street in Thornhill, Ont.

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From there, DANI’s growth took off. Today, it supports over 100 families by offering a wide range of programs, including educational, Judaica and art classes, as well as providing goods and services to the community, including catering, a cafe, an event centre and, of course, the new greenhouse. It already has a few regular customers, but the organization is always looking for more.

“Yes, donations are always welcome, but really what we need is to spread that word that we are here and what we do,” Laszlo said. “We’re asking for a hand up, not a hand out. We want people to use our businesses, use our services, come here and see what we’re doing, because that’s the best advertisement – to see these youngsters at work.”