Local nonprofit GetIncluded.org is hosting its annual gala and this year it’s bigger than ever. The event, “Level the Playing Field with GetIncluded,” will include dancing, silent auction, a photo booth, food from local diverse-owned restaurants The Plum Pit Food Truck and Dos Gringos Mexican Kitchen, and open bar.  

GetIncluded.org, which runs Narberth’s nonprofit GET Café as well as providing other programing, is holding this annual event to make an even bigger impact on the community. The goal is to raise $50,000, which will enable the nonprofit to create more jobs for members of the neurodiverse and disabled communities. This includes plans to build out a 2,500 square foot commercial kitchen space. The commercial kitchen will create training opportunities not just for the café’s current staff, but for even more individuals.

Expanding is important as GetIncluded.org provides a much-needed service to our community. Because of stigma, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities is much higher than the general public.  Employees of the GET Café earn job experience and are able to prove their capabilities, then move on to work in other positions in a wide variety of industries, further dispelling stigma. However, the number of job applications GET Café receives is much higher than current available positions. There’s even a wait list for volunteers. Expanding via a large commercial kitchen will allow more employees to gain experience and build their resumes, causing a positive ripple effect across our community. 

“The GET Café is a place where I feel welcome to be myself, where I am supported and accepted, where I am appreciated for my strengths and personality, and not made to feel purposeless,” a GET Café employee named Will shared with Main Line Parent. 

GetIncluded.org has a strong support system within the Main Line community, having weathered the strain of the pandemic thanks to individual donations and community support. GET Café has become a center for the Main Line community, where people gather for human connections, a positive atmosphere and excellent food and coffee. The gala is a time when everyone in the community – both longtime friends and new – can get together to celebrate the good in the world. 

Silent Auction Preview:

• A week at a vacation home in Avalon, New Jersey.
• Three official GET Cafe commuter coffee cups that gives the successful bidder one month of free coffee drinks for one person and priority service -no waiting in line.
• A NY Jets/Giants Football experience
• A basketball coaching session with Brett Brown (former 76ers coach)
• One month unlimited yoga from Yoga Garden