Maria Varquez and the Kelliher Center developmental disability team are helping adults with build confidence, find community, and show the rest of us how much we stand to gain when we truly engage with one another.
Every day at the Kelliher Center in Lexington, a group of adults with developmental disabilities heads out into the greater Boston region — to museums, food pantries, community centers, and workplaces. They are volunteers, employees, art-makers, and community members. And according to Maria Varquez, the program’s Community Support Coordinator who has anchored the center’s day-to-day work for years, the learning runs in every direction.
“You can learn a lot from each of them,” Maria says. “It’s not just them learning from you. They share their ideas and the way that they think and the unique ways they perceive the world.”
That sense of mutual exchange — the idea that community inclusion is a gift to everyone — is at the heart of what the Kelliher Center accomplishes every day.
A Day in the Life
The Kelliher Center is a day program at Eliot, serving adults with developmental disabilities through two interconnected tracks: community integration and employment support. Maria is responsible for both.
On the community integration side, she and the Kelliher team coordinate a rich monthly calendar, built around the interests and input of the people they serve. Some partnerships have become fixtures: the Museum of Fine Arts, where Kelliher participants have spent years building relationships with museum volunteers and guides, learning about themes and artists, and creating their own artwork in response. Meals on Wheels, where the group makes weekly deliveries through the Woburn Senior Center every Thursday. Food Link in Arlington, a food pantry where program members do hands-on sorting and stocking every week.
And then there are the adventures: a recent IMAX screening of a documentary about the NASA telescope at the Mugar Omni Theater, trips to the Addison Gallery in Andover and the Museum of Science, bowling outings, and Friday lunches where the group votes on where they want to eat.
“They choose,” Maria says simply. “We vote as a group.”
Real Work, Real Confidence
For individuals who want to pursue paid employment or volunteer roles outside the program, Maria and the Kelliher team provide hands-on job search support. They help identify openings, build and update resumes, coordinate with schools and guardians, and walk participants through the application process, whether online or in person.
The results reflect just how capable these individuals are when given the right support and the right opportunity. One program member now works at a local cafe, managing the register, restocking shelves, and interacting daily with customers. The growth Maria has witnessed has been unmistakable.
“She’s gotten a lot of confidence just by doing customer service and socializing. It’s built up her identity.”
Another individual applied to Trader Joe’s because he knew the staff there and felt a connection. Another wanted to work at a car wash, drawing on past experience. The specificity of those desires — the personal stakes behind each application — reflects something Maria and the Kelliher team take seriously: that every person who walks through the Center’s doors brings their own lived experience, preferences, and goals.
Person-Centered, Every Day
Supporting adults with developmental disabilities well means not relying on a single, flattened approach. Some Kelliher program members are eager to be challenged, to find work, to push into new spaces. Others are happiest socializing and participating in activities. Many have complex lives outside the program — new living situations, family transitions, evolving support needs.
“Every day requires problem-solving,” Maria says. “We have to really try to get everyone’s participation and get their needs met.”
The staff works to know each person deeply — who tends to hold back, who needs encouragement, who will rise to a challenge if given the opening. Creating an environment where people feel safe enough to speak up takes real investment and connection.
One moment that has stayed with Maria captures how that connection can help individuals grow, and navigate difficult times in their lives. A program participant who arrived while also navigating a significant life transition to an Eliot group home, gradually, over months, began to open up. She started asking to go on outings. She began to advocate for herself. And when she learned it was Maria’s birthday, she wrote her a card.
“She said something to the effect of, ‘I’m not even sure where I would be if you weren’t here at Kelliher.'”
“It was really touching,” Maria says. “Because she was experiencing some pretty big changes in her life, leaving her family home. We couldn’t push her to do things she didn’t want to when she was already going through that in her residential setting.”
The team made sure she knew she could come to them — that her feelings were welcome, that she had adults who would listen and encourage her to advocate for herself, including at her own ISP meetings. “We didn’t want her to get lost in all these changes.”
What Maria Wants You to Know
Maria came to this work through a residential developmental disability setting years ago. What has kept her engaged is watching people surprise themselves and others. She wants everyone to understand what’s possible when you actually show up — not to teach, but to connect.
“You can learn a lot from our program members. I’m still learning. They give me something to learn about almost every day.”
And for any family considering the program, her message is clear: “They can feel safe here. They can feel safe to be themselves. We welcome everyone for who they are when they come through the door.”
Oh — and one more thing.
Before this interview, Maria asked the Kelliher participants if there was anything they wanted shared. They had a clear collective answer.
“They said: we are the best program.”
And they want everyone to know the mottos by which they live:
“Don’t ever give up.”
“We are on team team. Together we can move the rock.”
The Kelliher Center is part of Eliot Community Human Services’ developmental disability programming, serving Greater Boston adults through community integration and employment support programs.
