We are finishing the year 2008 with five employees – three of which started on December 8th hired into the Companionship of Work – Janitorial Services, two secured janitorial contracts, a beautifully designed and created office and training room, and the many blessings brought by family, friends, and faith. Almost four years from the lunch break in the St. Patrick’s Coffee Shop between Guido and Nancy, the mission, to employ adults who have disabilities, has been reached. It is reached by employing Paul, Brandon, and Stephen – three amazing young men who work so hard and strive for excellence in being a custodian. We invite you to come and see dignity, excellence, and purpose in the flesh.

On March 6, 2007, we were incorporated within the State of California, and on June 26, 2007, Los Angeles Habilitation House was awarded 501(c) 3 status. During this time, we opened a nonprofit business account with Wells Fargo and started to use QuickBooks to track actual spending, produce financial statements, and forecast revenues and expenses. Additionally, we decided on a logo to represent the philosophy of the organization and affiliated with NISH. NISH is a national nonprofit agency whose mission is to create employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities through offering work contracts to non profits like Los Angeles Habilitation House. During the summer of 2007, we launched www.lahabilitationhouse.org promoting the mission, vision, and services. Recently, the website was enhanced with the ability to receive online donations. In August 2007, we officially began the fundraising campaign to seed the start up costs. From February 2005 through August 2007, there has been approximately 1,344 hours of “in-kind” time or $100,800 of man-hours at a rate of $75/hr provided by both of us.

In September 2007, Guido resigned from THQ, Inc to work fulltime for LAHH. Nancy and Guido decided the first program for LAHH would be the Companionship of Work – Janitorial Services. Therefore, janitorial services will be the first line of business to be offered to the public. The Companionship of Work -Janitorial Services has three different stages: assessment, training, and employment.

In the following months, Guido wrote and submitted 21 grant applications to foundations located in Southern California requesting funding for different parts of the janitorial startup budget. Through this process, we learned that the foundations responded positively to our program and encouraged us to start by employing a few disabled adults. They asked us to reapply in a year after we had started.

The Board of Directors for Los Angeles Habilitation House was formed and had their first meeting in November 2007. From this meeting, it was resolved to create an Advisory Board to aid in the fundraising and networking and provide guidance to the executive management of the organization. The Board resolved that Guido would become the first fulltime employee for LAHH, ratified the bylaws, and approved the actions of the officers throughout the last two years.

The project’s idea was started during a lunch break in a coffee shop between Guido Piccarolo and Nancy Albin, Co-Founders. By the end of our simple meal, we discussed and agreed that our point of departure to live our life, to commit to our work, to create a family, and to participate in society, is the desire to fulfill our needs for truth, beauty, happiness, love and justice. We feel at one with our future disabled employees in that we both share these same needs and human desires. We believe that it is only from this starting point we are able to relate to other people without attempting to possess and use them for our own profit but loving them unconditionally and respecting their human dignity. With this unstoppable desire for life, we threw ourselves into this adventure, giving our energy, time, resources, and experience to people with disabilities, who are easily forgotten, set aside, and not considered in their human needs and desires. We chose the word “house” to accompany our organization’s name because we are aware that this passion for life, the struggle to live it and to fulfill ourselves can be continually re-awakened and sustained day by day, only through human companionship. We need a “house”, actually everyone needs a “house”, like a child needs the love and education from his family to live fully his life. For this reason, we chose the name Los Angeles Habilitation House (LAHH) for our organization and Companionship of Work for our program. In February 2005 we began to write the business plan while working full time in the entertainment industry. The business plan for LAHH was completed in March 2007.

During the above time period, the business plan would undergo two major revisions with feedback from the President of Regional Health Plans and Health Net of California, Mr. Stephen Lynch, the President of Portland Habilitation Center, Mr. John Murphy, and the Director of International Programs & Services at California State University, Los Angeles, Dr. Michael Fels. We appreciate this feedback and take it to heart.

This feedback coupled with our in-depth market research and the knowledge gained regarding the current lack of jobs for people with disabilities in the beach communities of Southern California allowed for a clear, concise, and reasonable business plan to take shape.