More Than a Game

Twice each week, stop by the Sussex Avenue School and you’ll find a group of about 30 kids bouncing basketballs or playing pickleball in the gym. But this is more than just kids having fun. This is a clinic run by SNAP—Special Needs Athletic Programs—a Morristown nonprofit with the motto “kids helping kids.”

Kimberle Strasser has been involved with SNAP for almost 20 years. Back then, her son, Charle, who has autism, would attend the sessions and play basketball and other games with the nonprofit’s founders, Morristown brothers Matthew, Zachary, and Daniel Certner. “Charle absolutely loved it,” she says. “He loved being around other kids and getting to socialize and play.”

Socializing and sports is something not always available to special needs kids, Strasser says. Recreation programs and school districts cannot meet every need, and special needs children are left without opportunities to socialize or play with others. “Often, these are the kids who aren’t invited to birthday parties,” she says. 

Even though Charle is now in his 20s, SNAP remains so important to her that she took over the nonprofit two years ago. She currently serves as its president.

Sport and Social Connection

Each student at SNAP is paired with a tween or teenage mentor, whom Strasser trains extensively. “We do a lot of empathy training,” she says. “I have the mentors go through different stations and do hands-on activities so they can feel what it’s like to have ADHD or dyslexia or autism. Once they feel it, it really drives their actions.”

Even so, SNAP clinics do not always go smoothly. SNAP students can have trouble focusing or might have meltdowns, Strasser says, and mentors learn how to handle these situations. “Many of our kids have autism, so even though they could be great at dribbling a basketball, and maybe they can get it in the hoop a little bit, the dynamics of learning the game and what you can and can’t do can be too difficult.”

Instead of focusing on rules, SNAP emphasizes fun and building relationships. “These teenagers are just incredible human beings,” Strasser says. “Some days the students might not want to do anything but talk about dinosaurs or fairies, and these teenagers nod their heads and ask questions and make the students feel so incredibly special.”

The benefits run both ways, says Colleen O’Kane, who has been a mentor since she was in sixth grade and says her years with SNAP have changed her for the better. “I’ve grown in compassion, patience, kindness and understanding,” she says. “The students end up helping me perhaps even more than I’m helping them,” she says. 

Rising eighth grader Eleanor Kimball has been a SNAP mentor for two years. “My favorite thing about SNAP is the joy it brings to all involved,” she says. “I’ve learned so much about leadership, empathy, and how to handle challenging situations.”

Empathy in Schools

In addition to running SNAP’s weekly sessions, Strasser also spends time in Morristown classrooms, starting with third grade, teaching students about empathy. “My passion is educating people about disabilities, and the school district embraced it right away,” she says. 

She teaches kids not to judge a book by its cover. Typically, her lessons start with a photo of a blind person sitting in a wheelchair. She asks the kids what they would do if that person dropped a book. “All the kids say they would help the person,” she says. The next slide is of four or five “typical-looking kids,” including her son, Charle. “I ask again—what would you do if one of them dropped a book?” she says. This time, she says, about half the kids say they would pick it up. 

“This is a great springboard to a conversation about how just because someone looks like things are OK on the outside, on the inside it might not be OK,” she says. “On the inside, there might be chaos in their brain.”

It’s important, she says, for kids to understand that you don’t always know what’s going on in someone’s life. “Kids want to do the right thing, but they aren’t always sure what that is,” she says. “We talk a lot about encouraging words and how to tell if someone needs help.”

Moving Forward

Since taking over SNAP two years ago, Strasser has worked to expand the program. She is offering more weekly sessions and is hoping to start a program for 18- to 21-year-olds, and college-aged mentors, in the next year. “I have kids who are aging out of SNAP,” she says. “I have a 19-year-old who still comes but he is paired with a much younger mentor. I want him to have a relationship with someone his own age, and also to do some more age-appropriate social activities.”

Strasser funds all this through donations and grants. Last year, Caring Partners of Morris & Sussex awarded her a grant, but more funds are needed to continue and grow the program. 

“My hope is SNAP will continue growing and giving back to families the way it has for mine,” says Jackie Magan. Her son Aiden is a student with SNAP and her son AJ is a middle school mentor. She has seen firsthand the impact SNAP has on families and the community. 

“Recreational programs are often not designed with children with disabilities in mind, and programs like SNAP provide opportunities, inclusion, and experiences that many families may not otherwise have access to,” Magan says.

One of her favorite things about SNAP, she says, is that it creates a sense of community. “The kids are not treated differently–they are celebrated for exactly who they are. The relationships, encouragement, and joy that come from the clinics go far beyond sports.”