Meet Jim Wurster

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jim Wurster. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jim below.

Jim, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

My parents always instilled in me and my brothers, a purpose to help others and be kind. My purpose to be a good man and husband started when I married my wife 53 years ago. My purpose to become a good father started when our first daughter was born. My purpose to advocate for people with disabilities started when our second daughter was born with autism. Being compassionate and also standing up for your child’s rights is critical in helping create a better world. When I retired from work, my next life began as I helped start a nonprofit to help adults with disabilities have more meaningful lives through social and employment programs. That was 11 years ago. And I have kept moving forward ever since.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

For the past 11 years, I have been running a nonprofit organization called New Avenue Foundation. Another father who has a disabled daughter like me started this organization to make a difference in helping adults with disabilities have better and more meaningful lives. Our vision was and is to actively engage families and caregivers and individuals with disabilities. We have done this by creating opportunities for our loved ones to try and see what works for them. If they fail or don’t like it, then at least they had the opportunity t0 try. Having the opportunity is the key.

So, we started with creating a weekly Friday night coffeehouse that has been running for 9 and a half years every Friday. We provide snacks and beverages and games and activities for everyone. It’s a time to socialize and make new friends. Since half of our friends are made in our jobs, this is important because our kids typically don’t get the opportunity to have a job. And on Fridays we always have live music. Music reaches everyone and brings out laughter and smiles and the wonderfulness of each person. We always try to bring music into our events and projects.

We also provided opportunities to get out into the community by attending community-sponsored events. This helped socialization in a different way and also taught our kids different skills in greeting and helping customers. Then about 5 years ago, we wanted to extend the opportunity to a business. So, we started a cafe where we trained and employed adults with disabilities. They learned new skills that are important in working with customers and in running a business. And we also started a coffee roasting business to help in the same way.

Unfortunately, the cafe was closed after 3 years because we ran out of energy and manpower to keep it running. The coffee roasting business continues with us trying to grow the business.

And now we are expending on the socialization program. We started in April, a daytime Tuesday program. Our kids are always looking for meaningful activities to fill their days. This program started when a local Quaker social justice organization called Pendle Hill, reached out to us wanting to have us use their facilities to create a program like our Friday night coffeehouse. And so we created Harmony Clubhouse, a weekday social event. About half of the time, we just sit in a circle and talk about what has happened over the past week. We might play Uno and chat, too. Then for the second half of the day, we have a structured activity like yoga or exercise, arts and crafts, and interactive music. So far, everyone likes this format. And we also play games outside, like bocce and corn hole and frisbee.

And then a local church reached out to us to start something at their church. This Wednesday program will start in September. It will be slightly different in format because their facilities will allow us to do more and different things. We will be in a gym. We can divide the gym in two and do 2 different activities like basketball on one side and arts and crafts on the other. But the real goal here is to be flexible and see what our attendees want.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I believe the most important skill in my journey is problem-solving. Every aspect of life is all about solving a problem to make things work. Another important skill is compassion. Don’t view the world as negative but rather as what can be done. Dare to dream. Help others and be kind. Don’t put limits on anyone or anything. Anything is possible.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

We are looking for compassionate and caring people. They can be individuals or an organization. People power is critical to any and all nonprofits. Without that, my dream will end when I die. We need successors who will carry on the dram and mission. We need Board members to help us keep moving forward.

You can contact me via phone at 610-246-8939 or email [email protected] or via our websites:
https://newfdn.org

Welcome to Our Community Cup Coffeehouse!


https://ourcommunitycup.coffee
Via Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/james.wurster/
https://www.facebook.com/NewAvenueFoundation/
https://www.facebook.com/ourcommunitycupcoffee/
https://www.facebook.com/ourcommunitycup/
Or Instagram:
@ourcommunitycupcoffee
@newavenuefdn

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Jim Wurster, Maria Wurster

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