Deaf, blind students ‘spring clean’ for disabled children

Thirteen-year-old Logan Kelso is kind of like the spokesperson for Zach’s Place, just ask him.

“I’m a big star for Zach’s,” Logan said.

Zach’s Place is the only licensed daycare center in the Pikes Peak region that provides a getaway for children with mental, physical and emotional disabilities.
For Logan, it’s a home away from home.

“Well, I like it because there’s a bunch of special needs kids here that need help, and these are the guys to call.

But the staff can’t do it alone, they rely on volunteers of all abilities.

Twenty-year-old Fernanda Zepeda is a student at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. She and her classmates are cleaning Zach’s Place top to bottom, even individual toys.

“It’s nice that we can help, help to give back to the kids and collaborate with them,” Fernanda said.

“The great thing about some of the organizations that help us out is they get to know the children and the staff and the center and what we do. And, they’ll come back and want to volunteer again and again,” said Zach’s Place Director, Renae Isakson.

In fact, this is the second time students from the school for the deaf and blind have offered up their services.

“They came out and did some outside work, they were awesome. they moved some big rocks. it blew us away from our expectation of what they were going to do,” Isakson said.

It’s a partnership that both parties plan to continue, one that meets the standards of the center’s biggest star.

“I think it’s pretty nice of them,” Logan said.