Meet Andrea Gamble

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrea Gamble and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrea, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
After years of working with individuals on the autism spectrum and other developmental disabilities, I have been discouraged as many of my individuals grow up, want to work, but are unable to get hired or maintain a meaningful job. The AUsome Cat Cafe will be a job training site and future employment for adults with various abilities. We will work not only on job training skills that will allow the individual to experience many different jobs (working with animals, retail, food and beverage, janitorial services, etc.) but we will also help guide them to meaningful employment beyond the cafe (when possible) and provide job references to be able to be employed outside the cafe.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I currently own Language Works LLC/Rainbow Kidz and have for over 16 years. We provide ABA therapy to children, teens, and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. Wanting to do more for the adult population, due to the lack of services and meaningful employment opportunities, we have created the AUsome Cat Cafe. The AUsome Cat Cafe will serve initially as a job training site for adults with autism and other developmental disabilities which will give them the opportunity to experience many different types of jobs so they can gain not only knowledge, skills, and experience, but also determine which type of job they enjoy the most (working with animals, interacting with customers, retail, food and beverage, janitorial, etc.).

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Favorite spots in the city would have to be the Stock Yards in Fort Worth. Always a great place for people to visit to really experience Texas. Other great places would be Dallas World Aquarium, Perot Museum, and the Fort Worth Zoo to name a few.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shout Out would go to Lisa Dennis from Cats in the Cliff. After losing my cat of almost 20 years, I got into fostering, met LIsa, and my first 3 kittens were from Lisa’s rescue. One of those kitties was very sick and they asked if I could bring it to my current ABA center to keep an eye on him. Once I started bringing the kittens to my center, the kids, teens, and adults that come for therapy fell in love with the kittens and it was amazing to see how much they helped during our therapy sessions. After watching many of my adults engage with the cats and some discussions with Lisa, the AUsome Cat Cafe idea started. Lisa has been a huge help in getting our 501c3 (since she had experience with her own rescue) and with developing a great relationship with one of the city of Carrollton’s contact who has been a major support and guidance in what we need to do to make this cafe come to life.

Website: https://www.ausomecatcafe.come

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AfJSouaVu/?mibextid=wwXIfr