Lily Pad Cafe being built to help those with disabilities

RIDGELAND, Miss. (WLBT) - A new restaurant is coming to Ridgeland that will focus on training people with disabilities.

It’s people like 7-year-old Lily Lape and her friend Hayden Elliot that are inspiring a new project coming to the city of Ridgeland. They both have Down Syndrome.

“They’ve kind of grown up together and as our kids started getting older we just, you know...you’ve always got to think about the future with children with disabilities,” said Deanna Elliott.

This is why she and Kristin Lape joined forces to open the Lily Pad Cafe.

Construction will start in December when the M7 Coffeehouse moves to a new location.

The cafe will train and employ those with disabilities.

“Our goal is not permanent employment. Our goal is to train and send them into the community to show they have the values [and] they have the skills to be apart of the community,” said Kristin.

The Lily Pad Foundation is a nonprofit. They are still raising funds to help renovate and open the cafe sometime next year.

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