Grant and Lynda Tache

Faith – The Dynamic Duo

Lynda and Grant Tache Offer Hope to Families With Disabilities Thanks to the Collaboration Center Foundation

BY STACEY GUALANDI / PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF COLLABORATION CENTER FOUNDATION

“This has been a journey for both of us to get to where we are today.” For Lynda Tache and her son Grant, that journey was a difficult and often painful one, but it’s now making a huge difference for families with disabilities.

Tache recently announced that the Collaboration Center Foundation she co-founded is “the largest and most comprehensive scope of one-stop-shop services in Nevada for the special needs community.”

In just four years, Tache says this community collaboration project has already successfully changed the lives of caregivers, family members, and individuals of all ages with intellectual, developmental, physical, and learning disabilities.

That welcome news came during the Foundation’s 3rd Annual “Night en Blanc” charity gala at the newly opened 5-acre renovated former horse ranch, now the official home of the Collaboration Center.

“This is such a huge safety net support network,” said President and CEO Tache. “There is nothing else like this.”

The Collaboration Center not only offers hope but also provides treatment and therapy, partner services, recreation and community inclusion, health and wellness, life skills, vocational training, and educational workshops, all under (several) roofs.

“We know there’s no cure, but the earlier the intervention, the better the support system, the better the outcomes. Half the battle is knowing you’re not alone.”

That’s something this single mom learned the hard way. Tache says most of her life with her son Grant has been “in survival mode.”

Grant was born with several developmental and learning challenges 22 years ago, which put this mother and son on a tightrope right from the start.

“When he was nine months old, I knew something wasn’t right,” said Tache. “My friends were having babies, and we’d go to lunch, and he would just start screaming his head off. I didn’t know what was going on, so we’d have to leave, or he would play with toys and just spin them.”

At one point, she and her husband at the time thought Grant had a hearing loss because he wouldn’t respond to his name.

“I’d ask the doctor all the time, ‘What’s going on?’ but he didn’t know,” said Tache. “[He] would say, ‘Lynda, that’s just boys, you know, nothing’s wrong; we’ll just keep an eye on it.’”

But Grant soon became more aggressive. “He would just melt down, have these horrible tantrums, and tear the house apart,” said Tache. “If anyone heard that, they would think that I was murdering him.”

With no answers and nowhere to turn, the overwhelming stress cut short her financial career and ultimately ended her marriage.

“I know I had PTSD,” admitted Lynda. “Those were almost hopeless years because I would say, ‘What’s going to happen?’”

It took an agonizing five years for Grant to finally be diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Sensory Integration Disorder, all co-morbidities he still has to this day.

“I was like, ‘Okay, what now?’” said Tache. “It was the perfect storm…and I remember I would just cry like every day. Life became so isolating because we would not be invited back to birthday parties and other events our friends would have.”

Help eventually arrived via former Nevada First Lady Dawn Gibbons. The two women joined forces with other key stakeholders to craft the first autism funding legislation, the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders, and what is now the Autism Treatment Assistance Program. At eight, Grant entered that breakthrough program, which addressed and changed his behaviors and began to change their world.

“I then just decided I’m going to throw my life into getting Grant what he needs and then figure out how I take that and help others in the process,” admitted Tache. “Everything I went through was so traumatizing, but if I’m getting answers, I can’t sit back and watch other families struggle.”

After exploring every nonprofit and state program, Tache was inspired to start Grant A Gift Autism Foundation in 2009. The ability to give families much-needed treatment and resources became her personal cause, while Grant became her “Chief Inspiration Officer.”

“Every program we created then and now and continue to do is because we’ve gone through it with Grant,” said Tache.

She even went on to spearhead the UNLV Medicine Ackerman Autism Center at her alma mater, but by 2017, she opted to transition out of the nonprofit world.

“I swore up and down I was never going to run another nonprofit. I was done because I was just really burnt out.”

That is until Cindy Goussak came calling two years later to ask her to create a business plan for a multi-disability inclusive center. Tache couldn’t say no, and the Collaboration Center was born.

“I’ve always wanted to do more, so I was already formulating a concept like CCF in my mind,” said Tache. “Health and wellness is so overlooked…I thought if we could put those together with medical and therapies, it’s a done deal.”

Since then, the Center has partnered on its 5-acre campus with several organizations like Boy’s Town, Christopher Smith Foundation, Children’s Heart Foundation, Serving Our Communities, Foster Kinship, the Pallares Foundation, Let’s Talk Therapy Center, State Medicaid, Sing Out for Autism and others because Tache says the need is too tremendous.

These and many more for-profit businesses rent space and offer extended services, like preschool amenities and a Grab and Go Cafe, inside the Helms Helps Hub.
“Not one organization can do it all,” said Tache. “It was very strategic who would be here and what they were doing. They had to buy into the mission.”

That mission is to create the largest disability network to help those in need get the best resources available statewide and across the country.

“The social workers and case managers in our own Pathways program talk to families—regardless of age—so whatever the need is, we manage that client and then refer or enroll them in our family support groups and inclusion events.”

While touring the property, you see what an $8.5 million rehab can accomplish. The Center turned former horse stables into a beautiful ADA-approved working campus with a life skills kitchen, a game room, a meditation walk, a hydroponic garden, an art center, a community garden, a recreation area, and areas for special events and wedding ceremonies.

“It’s a natural environment,” emphasized Tache. “We’re even going to have a tortoise habitat!” (they were hibernating!)

Moving forward, much emphasis is on getting all the programs and services up and running to full capacity. The former horse arena will be converted into an adaptive recreation center, and a storage garage will become an adaptive gym.

“We’ve already touched over 10,000 family units,” said Tache of their success so far. “Some families, we’ve done 40 different services and referrals on an annual basis!”

Today, her son Grant is flourishing and is employed by Collaboration Center’s Ambassador program. As a result, he has become the face of the Center.

“I was quite the kid, and I think Mom can confirm that,” joked Grant.

He is now dating, assisting the Adventure Scouts on campus, and inspiring young people with similar disabilities.

“I consider myself very nice and very kind, and I like to help people when I can,” said Grant. “[One friend at the Center] Ian just likes me a whole lot, which feels great—the fact that there are kids out there who look up to me. Overall, I’m content with where my life is right now. I live on my own, and I have some good friends, a dog, and a loving family.”

“I never in a million years would’ve believed that he would be at this place,” said Tache. “Grant is still growing, maturing, and becoming the best person he can be, so I always love to talk [about him] to young families who are newly diagnosed because there is hope!”

At the Night en Blanc event, Grant shared with the sold-out crowd that he wished he had had a “Collaboration Center” as a kid.

“I understand what he’s saying because everything we did, we pioneered,” added Tache. “It’s a lonely place to be, I have to tell you, especially when people don’t understand what you’re doing or going through.”

Grant said there are always hurdles, but he takes them all one step at a time, thanks to the support of his devoted mom.

“What can I say? I love her,” said Grant. “She’s part of the reason I am who I am today. She’s very passionate about her work and very busy, and I know why. She has a reason because she’s doing all this, and it’s great.”

“I just feel in my bones that this is my purpose,” said Tache.

But now that her son is in a good place, she says it’s time to start thinking about Lynda. “I definitely didn’t take care of myself like I should have. I’m still, to this day, working on that, but I think that’s normal for all of us,” said Tache.

She admits there have been sacrifices and knows she can’t keep this pace forever, but living with so many challenges all these years has changed her for the better.

“When you have these special children, regardless of their condition, whether it’s medical, mental health, neurodevelopment, you learn to not take things for granted,” said Tache. “You almost have this deeper sense of humanity because you’ve had to deal with these things. Everything is a milestone.”

While this dynamic duo has achieved so much and come so far, Tache says they still have a long way to go.

The new year is already shaping up to be a busy yet purposeful one for this mother-son team: they’ll be celebrating National Developmental Disability Awareness in March, holding fundraising events (Monday’s Dark on March 18th!), holding the 4th Annual Night en Blanc gala at the ranch on September 26th; completing the Center’s new recreation area, developing a community medical and mental health clinic, and adding more partnerships.

“When everything is done here, we’ll be fully operational and able to serve 20,000 Nevada residents on an annual basis…then I want to start a scholarship program,” said the woman whose work is never done. “After that, the world is my oyster. Maybe I’ll buy a place in Baja, California!”

That will certainly be the end of one journey, and the beginning of another.

For more information, go to collablv.org