NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — A Pasco County nonprofit organization is helping those with disabilities learn to achieve their goals and provide for themselves.

What You Need To Know

  • New Port Richey nonprofit Lighthouse for the Blind and Low Vision is helping those with disabilities learn to achieve their goals and provide for themselves

  • Through the work of the nonprofit, Katie Firmani says she has taken what she learned and started her own business and garden called Beyond the Seeds
  • The organization received a grant through Respect of Florida which helped make the garden possible

Lighthouse for the Blind and Low Vision has been offering rehabilitation programs for those who are blind and visually impaired for nearly 10 years. One student says she has turned her lessons into a sustainable living.

Katie Firmani, who is the proud owner of Beyond the Seeds, looks after the plants outside in the facility’s garden.

“It makes me feel good inside,” Firmani said. “Proud and happy.”

It’s a side project of hers that has become a job thanks to Lighthouse for the Blind and Low Vision.

“I just wanted to do something like this,” says Firmani. “I love it, it’s a passion.”

The organization helps those who are blind and deaf by teaching them life skills — skills that they can then use to seek employment.

“I’m just proud to be a part of a team that allows us to create jobs for people who are visually impaired and blind — who have a 75% unemployment rate and just need an opportunity,” said Peter James, a business development manager with Lighthouse.

In the classroom, it's a mix of learning and real-life experience. Lighthouse has partnered with local businesses, like Thirsty Buffalo Brewing Co., to help students gain experience in the real world.

“It was just a perfect fit for that,” said Thirsty Buffalo Brewing Co. owner Mike Bishop. “Whenever we’re looking at doing things for the community, where they can come in and learn new skills or come in just to experience what we’re trying to do here, it’s all about pulling the community together for one common cause.”

For students like Firmani, knowing what they want to do comes naturally. She said it was just a matter of getting some help to make it possible.

“We got a grant from the Respect of Florida program, and with the money we got, we were able to start all these new plants with help from the community,” said James. “They give us plant cuttings and they donate dirt buckets and things that we need, and we’re learning together how to grow.”

“I love working with Katie. She comes in excited and ready to learn new things every day,” he added. “It gives me a boost and I just love to be a part of it.”

You can find Firmani's plants for sale during Tasty Tuesday Community Market — which is held every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to noon at the New Port Richey Public Library.