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April 1, 2022 • Schneps Media
Life’s WORC celebrates 50 years
of helping people with autism
Victoria Schneps is a dynamo
of devotion and a
catalyst for change for the
needs of individuals with autism,
developmental disabilities,
and special needs. For over a
half century, Schneps has made
it her life’s work to support Life’s
WORC, an organization that she
founded 50 years ago — and the
tens of thousands of lives that
they have positively impacted,
cared for with dignity, and improved
their quality of life.
For Schneps, her passion began
with personal experience.
Her daughter, Lara, suffered
brain damage and seizures in
her infancy. As a devoted parent,
she first sought a cure for
her daughter’s injuries, a search
that later evolved into one for
quality care. She located the
Willowbrook State School on
Staten Island, which was able
to accept Lara in their Infant
Rehabilitation center.
It was Willowbrook that
changed Schneps’ life, and it
was Schneps who then changed
the lives of countless individuals
with special needs. Schneps, at
the time a public school teacher
in New York City, started Life’s
WORC, an acronym for Women’s
Organization for Retarded
Children, as an advocacy, fundraising,
and volunteer organization.
Hosting the organization’s
foundational meeting in the
living room of her home, Life’s
WORC — founded primarily
with neighbors and friends with
healthy children who wanted to
help — sought to aid the facility.
“They all felt compelled to
volunteer because they were
blessed with healthy children,
many saying, ‘There but
for the grace of God, go I,’”
said Schneps.
However, shortly thereafter,
New York State instituted significant
budget cuts to the programs
for this vulnerable population.
With new limitations of
resources came drastic negative
impacts to the quality of care.
Seeing firsthand the deplorable
conditions at Willowbrook,
Schneps and the women of Life’s
WORC turned from volunteers
into picketers and protestors, to
bring change.
Geraldo Rivera, Victoria Schneps
“We started a women’s organization
to help volunteer and
raise money for Willowbrook,”
Schneps recalled. “About a year
after we started our efforts, Gov.
Nelson Rockefeller slashed the
budget. With these slashes came
drastic changes in the quality
of care. These people at Willowbrook
were helpless, like my
daughter. They were living in
conditions that were unsuitable
for anyone — especially those,
like my daughter, who required
around-the-clock care to be fed,
to be diapered, and bathed.”
The facility was forcing children
and others into tragic
conditions that were both unsanitary
and inhumane. At the
same time, a young journalist
was made aware of the problems
arising at Willowbrook, thanks
to Schneps. That reporter was
Geraldo Rivera, who set his
sights on telling the stories of
the families and individuals at
the facility — an expose that
would shock the world.
“I connected with Geraldo
Rivera and he was snuck into the
facility by a doctor who worked
there,” Schneps said. “People
were actually dying and Geraldo
recognized the sad and tragic
conditions that myself and many
like me were going through, as
our family members were helpless.
Geraldo’s recognition of
the importance of this story is
why he is forever linked with our
movement, our advocacy, and is
a real champion for the needs of
this community.”
Meanwhile, Vicki’s husband,
an attorney, encouraged the
families of Willowbrook to file
a class action lawsuit against
the facility, in concert with the
American Civil Liberties Union.
This legal effort was successful,
bringing long-awaited justice to
those involved.
“There was the hostility that
we faced, but thankfully, the
parents association of Willowbrook
won the lawsuit,”
said Schneps.
The shutdown brought awareness
and sunlight to a system in
desperate need. And, with the
innovation of trained care professionals
and the leadership
of Schneps on the issue, Life’s
WORC launched the state’s
first-ever group home for children
with special needs in Little
Neck, Queens — with half of
the residents coming from Willowbrook
and others from the
Queens community. This facility
would soon become a model
used across the state for humane
and adequate care for this vulnerable
population.
“Following the lawsuit, it
paved the way for new laws on
the books to allow for a new
concept, embraced by the care
providers of this vulnerable
community, known as group
homes,” Schneps said. “We laid
the groundwork to revolutionize
the industry, bringing dignified
care to these individuals, while
leaving the large-scale wards in
the past. What this did was, it
allowed group home settings to
become lifetime homes for individuals
with special needs, with
peers and friends, activities, and
recreation. When we purchased
the first group home, there was
resistance in the community,
and we won the case in Queens
Supreme Court that ruled that
group residences have rights
to be in R1 and R2 residential
neighborhoods.”
The state now funds group
home settings, where qualified
and certified caregivers with
expertise, knowledge, education
and training all contribute to
the quality-of-life and independence
focused care model.
“Our biggest challenge, on the
industry-wide level, is continuing
to fight for New York State
to properly staff and fund group
homes,” Schneps stated, about
where advocacy has been most
impactful of late. “Many people
in our community involve intense,
personal care, which is
costly, but critical. Group residences
provide a warm home,
where individuals can take pride
in the progress they are making
on a daily basis, and expand
their personal horizons.”
While her involvement may
have started 50 years ago,
the advocacy continues for
Schneps, whose life has been
dedicated to bringing support
for Life’s WORC. In recognition
of her efforts, Life’s WORC
will be honoring Schneps at
their 50th Anniversary Celebration
Gala slated for April
1, alongside Geraldo Rivera.
The sold-out, star-studded gala
is slated to take place at the
Garden City Hotel.
Funding has poured in from
many of New York’s most notable,
including but not limited to
a $50,000 donation from honoree
Rivera and his current and
former Fox News Channel colleagues.
Top-rated news anchor
Sean Hannity donated $50,000,
as did former host Bill O’Reilly.
Various other Long Islanders
and New Yorkers have opened
their wallets, and their hearts,
to give to a cause that continues
to thrive after five decades of
changing lives for the better.
Also contributing the maximum
donations are The Koufakis
family, the Rogan family,
Subaru of America, and the
“Life’s WORC has become my life’s work,
literally,” said Victoria Schneps.