{"id":9084,"date":"2023-02-10T09:19:55","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T15:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=9084"},"modified":"2023-02-10T09:19:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T15:19:55","slug":"distinctive-dress-uwl-alum-starts-business-for-those-with-special-needs","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/distinctive-dress-uwl-alum-starts-business-for-those-with-special-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Distinctive dress: UWL alum starts business for those with special needs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Photo<\/a>
Sarah Burch, \u201910, center, started working with individuals with special needs when she volunteered at Special Olympics while attending UWL. She has created Enrich Each Other Apparel, a clothing line that provides meaningful employment opportunities and job skills training to individuals with disabilities alongside peers without disabilities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An athlete all her life, Sarah Burch thought about adding coaching to her teaching plans. Instead, she called an audible that not only sparked an interest in working with those with disabilities, but eventually a special clothing business to help them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Burch started working with individuals with special needs when she volunteered at Special Olympics while attending UW-La Crosse, where she graduated in recreation therapy in 2010.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSpecial Olympics in La Crosse is so much more than sports,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey offer community outings, cooking club, craft club, drama club, summer camp and so much more. This not only helped me fall in love with working with individuals with different abilities, but it also showed me that they deserve programs to explore any interest they might have.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a special education middle school teacher in Omaha, Nebraska, for eight years, Burch saw a lot of growth, development and maturity as students entered and exited her classroom. When students moved onto high school, she saw them think about their future.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Burch had conversations with parents about what was possible for their child\u2019s future. That led her to create\u00a0Enrich Each Other Apparel<\/a>, a clothing line that provides meaningful employment opportunities and job skills training to individuals with disabilities alongside peers without disabilities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe clothing company was a way for those students to learn future job skills,\u201d she explains. \u201cDesigning clothing has always been a passion of mine, and it also allowed the students to spread joy through their stunning smiles and big personalities that come through so beautifully in the pictures they post on social media.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, Enrich Each Other Apparel<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>releases one design each November and runs a sale for one month. Employees model the clothing to share on social media and promote the clothing. When orders are in, the employees inventory, sort, fold and deliver the items.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot only does this business provide opportunities for the employees, but it also spreads awareness about the abilities these individuals possess,\u201d Burch says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>hopes to have the business become a 501c3 non-profit. Eventually, Burch wants the company to invest in its own shirt printing equipment so employees can build more job skills and be involved in printing the items they sell.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow the company on social media @enricheachotherappreal. The next sale will be November 2023.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Written by UW-La Crosse<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwlax.edu\/news\/posts\/distinctive-dress\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An athlete all her life, Sarah Burch thought about adding coaching to her teaching plans. Instead, she called an audible that not only sparked an interest in working with those with disabilities, but eventually a special clothing business to help them.\u00a0 Burch started working with individuals with special needs when she volunteered at Special Olympics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[104],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-9084","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-la-crosse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/9084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=9084"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=9084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}