Special needs individuals get a warm welcome at this Texas restaurant
The Each & Everyone Foundation in Texas provides job training, placement and a home for adults with special needs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A job training and placement foundation in Texas is helping adults with special needs live a more independent life.
In Mingus, Texas, The Each & Everyone Foundation offers "vocational training programs for adults with intellectual differences," according to its website.
The organization’s founder, Jan Underwood, launched The Each & Everyone Foundation in April 2010 and considers herself a parent advocate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She started the foundation after seeing the benefits a vocational degree brought her son Austin, who has Down syndrome.
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"There’s a real lack of vocational training for people to be placed in jobs," Underwood told "Fox & Friends Weekend" during a Sunday morning segment on August 28, 2022.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jan Underwood (left) and her son Austin (middle) talk to ‘Fox and Friends Weekend’ co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy (right) about the job opportunities available for adults with special needs in Mingus, Texas. (Fox News)
She continued, "I wanted to create a vocational on-the-job training setting for adults with intellectual differences."
Underwood said The Each & Everyone Foundation trains the adults who seek out its services within one to four weeks.
The organization reportedly finds jobs for foundation members in their respective communities.
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"We bring them in, just like any other employee, and we just train them," Underwood told "Fox & Friends Weekend."
The Each and Everyone Foundation has placed some program participants at Jan Underwood's business, Beneventi's Italian Restaurant, where they gain vocational work experience. (Fox News)
Some of the program’s members work at the restaurant Underwood owns, Beneventi’s Italian Restaurant, located about 70 miles west of Ft. Worth, Texas.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Aside from job training, Underwood said each program participant gets a tiny house where they can practice their independence.
Austin has gone on to become a small business owner, just like his mom.
"Several of [those who have] come through the program have never been away from home," Underwood said.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Underwood’s son, Austin, said he thinks adults with special needs should try to venture out and live on their own so that they can learn self-reliance and freedom.
Austin has practiced what he preaches.
He's gone on to become a small business owner, just like his mom.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He owns and operates his own hot dog food truck in Fort Worth.
His business is named Austin’s Underdawgs.
Austin estimates that he’s sold more than 50,000 hot dogs so far.
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There are three hot dogs on the menu, including The Classic Dawg, The Straw Dawg and The Jalapeno Straw Dawg.