On a busy afternoon on State Street in Media, the sound of arcade games fills the air. Behind the counter of Game On State, Artie greets customers with the kind of confidence that comes from knowing exactly what he’s doing — because he does. He can run the whole store. A few blocks away, at Chosen Tweed, Xander works in a natural dye studio, stirring fabrics, contributing to something beautiful. Neither of them is in a back room. Neither is doing busywork. They are fully, visibly, meaningfully employed — and they are just two of the more than 20 adults with disabilities who have found their way through ANEWAY For Purpose.

Each year, the Main Line Parent team asks readers who they love and why through a ballot that opens in December and runs through Valentine’s Day. Families don’t just vote; they share heartfelt, specific endorsements in their own words. Their stories make the annual LOVE List a sincerely trustworthy collection of referrals because every nomination reflects a real family’s real experience.

Main Line Parent Members like ANEWAY For Purpose collect endorsements year-round directly on their Profile Page. Each endorsement counts toward the following year’s recognition. ANEWAY For Purpose has now earned this recognition as a Main Line Parent LOVE Award Winner — Inclusivity Champions — a third year in a row, in addition to a 2024 Family Favorite honor for Birthday Parties, which shows how deeply, Main Line families love and trust this organization.

Congratulations ANEWAY for Purpose, Main Line Parent 2026 LOVE Award Winner – Inclusivity Champions

The Moment the Light Bulb Went On

ANEWAY’s story begins, as so many powerful things do, with a parent who refused to accept an unacceptable answer.

Aimee Rubin, ANEWAY’s founder and executive director, was navigating the transition process for her son after his initial college experience didn’t work out as planned. Like so many families of young adults with disabilities, she found herself deep in a frustrating maze of services, paperwork, and waiting lists. She reached out to the executive director of Community Integrated Services, Susan Schoenfeld, and asked a simple question: what happens to the people who don’t have someone like me advocating for them?

The answer stopped her cold.

“She said they fall off a cliff,” Aimee recalled. “And that just wasn’t acceptable to us.”

Around the same time, Aimee and her husband Eric — a teacher and a physician with zero retail or business experience — kept noticing that Media, their beloved hometown, didn’t have an arcade. Eric had grown up near the Jersey Shore, where arcades were a staple of childhood. They’d long imagined one on State Street. They just didn’t have their why yet.

Then, one February morning in 2021, it clicked.

“Eric said to me, ‘What if we open an arcade in Media and we use customized and supported employment?'” Aimee said. “When you say that a light bulb went on — that’s really what happened.”

After that, the pieces came together quickly. A space on State Street opened up. Aimee knew the landlord. She called Dr. Tiffany Orrin at Rose Tree Media School District about the possibility of partnering on their transitional Top Shop program. Dr. Orrin called it brilliant. Media Borough was supportive at every step. And in October 2021 — still navigating COVID and pitching the concept over early Zoom meetings — Game On State was born.

Real Jobs. Real Skills. And Real Community.

From the very beginning, every decision at Game On State was made through one lens: what jobs can we create?

Filling candy bags. Heat-sealing them. Stamping packages. Every task was designed intentionally, building toward real employment. And it worked so well that demand quickly outpaced capacity.

“We realized early on we didn’t have enough jobs for the number of people who wanted to work,” Aimee said.

That realization led to Print On State, a custom apparel operation where employees design and press merchandise. Then Sweet On State, a customized candy gift line. And most recently, Common Grounds. This mobile coffee and candy cart now operates two days a week at Boeing through a partnership with Aramark.

All of it falls under the umbrella of ANEWAY For Purpose, a nonprofit formally established in 2023, with the support of board chair Joel Bernstein and Alan Casnoff. The name says it all: a new way, for purpose.

“I believe that everybody has a strength,” Aimee said. “No one’s better than anyone else — we just know different stuff. I’m very focused on what individuals can do instead of what they can’t.”

Most employees begin by joining ANEWAY’s social programs — karaoke, art sessions, the Thursday candy workshop — where Aimee watches and listens. She learns what each person is good at, what lights them up. Then she builds a job around that.

Liam, who has Down syndrome, loved pushing the coffee cart on Fridays during his time in the Rose Tree Media Top Shop program. When he aged out of the school system at 21, ANEWAY made him the model for launching Common Grounds. He now works the coffee cart and runs the Game On State floor independently — no support person needed.

Liam’s mother told Aimee that in high school, Liam wouldn’t even enter the school auditorium. Now he sings and dances at karaoke every week. “Liam gained so much more than a new job,” she shared. “Through karaoke he gained friendships, confidence, and communication skills, and turned into the kind of employee who shows up ready for anything. Today Liam works at ANEWAY’s newest enterprise, Common Grounds, delivering coffee to Boeing employees with a smile. The boy who once shrank from anything new now walks into a room full of strangers and lights it up.”

“You start with them being employed,” Aimee said, “but it’s just so much more than that.”

A Model That Extends Beyond ANEWAY’s Walls

What makes ANEWAY particularly compelling in 2026 is a workforce initiative that reaches beyond its own businesses.

Last year, Josh Young was planning the opening of Chosen Tweed, a home decor and gift store on State Street. He connected with Aimee early and with the help of her grant writer, they envisioned a natural dye studio within the store. The board chair’s son, Noah, was drawn to the minerals and natural materials involved. A studio took shape. And four ANEWAY employees — including Artie and Xander — became part of Chosen Tweed’s team.

The arrangement is carefully structured. ANEWAY employees split their time between two days a week at Game On State and two days at Chosen Tweed. Before they ever walked through the door, Aimee helped them prepare and then stepped back when they were ready.

“It’s this partnership integration that is a holistic approach,” she said. “I look at the whole individual. The stories I love hearing most are not just about job skills — it’s life skills. Noah used to be hesitant to talk to people. Now he chatters and orders from the menu and is driving in to work. Much more self-sufficient.”

Aimee also helped Chosen Tweed think through accessibility in a way most businesses never consider. They identified which tables Xander’s wheelchair could roll under and which studio setups would allow him to participate fully. That institutional knowledge, earned over years of running an accessible arcade, now transfers directly to partner businesses.

The vision is clear: ANEWAY doesn’t want to be the only place where this happens. Boeing is already talking about a second coffee cart location in their facility. Aramark is exploring bringing Common Grounds to additional sites. And Aimee has a simple message for any business owner reading this.

“I would love for other businesses to ask how they can get involved. You will never find my employees in a backstock room by themselves. It is mutually beneficial — the skills that neurotypical and neurodiverse employees are getting from one another are real. Not checking a box. Integrated.”

It Takes a Village — and ANEWAY Is Building One

The 86% unemployment rate for adults with disabilities isn’t just a statistic. It’s a family reality.

“One in four people has a disability,” Aimee says. “I hear story after story from people who come in and learn what we do, and tell me they have a niece or a cousin [with disabilities]. Everybody has someone who is dealing with this.”

On the days when she’s exhausted and stretched thin — and those days are real — it’s the families she calls on for strength. She spent $250,000 of her own family’s savings to launch Game On State, didn’t take a salary for years, and paid back that loan in full by February 2025.

“We are changing each family’s life,” she said. “Because now their child has a purpose. They have a place to go where they feel valued and successful, and where they have friends. I don’t think there’s one parent out there who doesn’t want that for their own child.”

As for Aimee’s son, who was the original inspiration for all of it — he now works at Disney full time. He applied to the Disney College Program on his own, was accepted, and still consults with ANEWAY on operations. His story isn’t ANEWAY’s to tell in full. But it is proof that the model works.

What’s Next for ANEWAY For Purpose

Aimee’s five-year vision is as ambitious as her origin story.

She wants Common Grounds to go fully mobile — a wheelchair-accessible vehicle that can bring coffee, community, and employment to neighborhoods across Delaware County. She wants Media to become what she describes as a genuinely inclusive hometown: a place where adults with disabilities don’t just work, but live, socialize, eat, and belong. A community that looks out for them.

And she needs more businesses to open their doors.

“I can’t do it alone,” she said. “But I really believe that when a business does this — truly integrates — everyone benefits. The employees, the customers, the community.”

This Community Built ANEWAY. ANEWAY Needs This Community.

Aimee is clear-eyed about what it will take to keep growing. Boeing wants a second coffee cart location. Aramark is exploring bringing Common Grounds to additional sites. More businesses are watching. The demand from families, from young adults aging out of school systems, and from employers who want to do better, is real and growing.

But she can’t do it alone.

“I can’t create any more businesses right now,” she says. “I need more people to open their doors. And I need more hands.”

That means businesses willing to hire ANEWAY employees — not as a gesture, but as genuine integrated team members. It means donors who understand that every dollar goes directly toward employment hours, social programs, and the next coffee cart. It means volunteers who want to get their hands dirty helping plan events, like the annual ANEWAY to Shine Gala. And it means board members — people with nonprofit, legal, or operational experience — who want to help shape what ANEWAY becomes next.

For business owners who want to help, reach out to Aimee directly at anewayforpurpose.org to talk about what integrated employment could look like for your team.

If you want to donate or volunteer, every contribution supports real employment hours and expanding opportunity.

If you just want to show up, visit Game On State on State Street in Media. Bring your kids. Play some Skee-ball. Buy some candy. You’ll see exactly what this community has built — and you’ll understand immediately why it’s worth protecting.

Family Focus Media Community Builder of the Year

ANEWAY For Purpose is Family Focus Media’s 2026 Community Builder of the Year and a Main Line Parent LOVE Award Winner — Inclusivity Champions. At this spring’s Best for Families Celebration, the Family Focus Media team was proud to present Aimee with a $500 check. The award was funded entirely by the plaques purchased by the businesses and nonprofits in our network who share our commitment to inclusion. It’s a small but meaningful reflection of what happens when a community decides to show up for one another.

That’s why we name a Community Builder of the Year. Not just to celebrate — but to activate. Last year, we recognized GETincluded and GET Café for their groundbreaking work creating inclusive employment in Narberth. This year, we’re asking our readers, our fellow business owners, and our community partners to do the same for ANEWAY: learn their story, share it, walk through their door, write a check, or make a call. Our team is committed to showing up for ANEWAY For Purpose — and we hope you’ll join us.

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Photos courtesy of ANEWAY for Purpose, as seen in the Best for Families Guide.

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