Almost a quarter of a century ago, six families found they shared the same dream — that their children with special needs could attend their parish grade school with their siblings and friends. Through hard work and advocacy, the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education (F.I.R.E.) was established and in 1996, three children with special needs were enrolled at Visitation and St. Peter’s schools. They were followed by other children and other schools became partners with the foundation, which raised money to help with salaries for para-professionals and special education teachers to support and instruct students with special needs, purchase equipment and technology to empower and aid students in learning and offer professional development and training to educators enabling them to address their students’ unique needs and help them succeed.
Today, 12 Catholic grade schools, St. Elizabeth; St. Peter’s; St. Therese; St. Regis Academy; St. Patrick; Visitation, Our Lady of Hope; Holy Cross; Nativity of Mary; Our Lady of the Presentation; St. Thomas More; Borromeo Academy and two high schools, St. Pius X and St. Michael the Archangel, partner with FIRE Foundation, which continues to raise funds to continue helping schools create environments of learning where students with special needs learn and thrive alongside their typically developing peers.*

*Excerpt from Catholic Key by Marty Denzer