By Pastor Micah Garnett, Trinity Lutheran Church, Canton, Illinois
One of Mosaic’s partner congregations, Trinity Lutheran Church of Canton, Illinois, is opening real possibilities for people with disabilities through its TLC Sensory Place. Since opening in the summer of 2024, TLC Sensory Place has provided a freely accessible sensory play area that is specially geared toward young children, along with autistic people and people with sensory disorders regardless of age. The play area currently consists of a sensory activity fence that offers fun ways for visitors to engage many of their sensory systems, including a zigzag wiffle ball track, bead mazes, doorknobs, switches, latches, bungee cord “strings” to pluck, a bicycle horn, and more—most of which have been donated by Trinity members. TLC Sensory Place has hosted playdays for the community and a local childcare center, and there is also a simple mobile app that visitors can access with a QR code to learn about how the activities work with their sensory systems.
Trinity’s Visioning Team developed the project in response to a lack of pediatric occupational and physical therapy providers in their county, which requires affected families to drive long distances for therapy. While TLC Sensory Place’s sensory activity fence is not as effective as the help of qualified therapists, it is a unique resource that can help families work around the therapy access gap. The project is also an outgrowth of Trinity’s commitment to “all-abilities” ministry through nearly a decade of deepening partnership with Mosaic in Macomb, which led to Trinity becoming a Rejoicing Spirits host site in 2019.
While the always-open status of TLC Sensory Place—much like a city park—makes it difficult to determine how many people have visited so far, Pastor Garnett has been surprised by the number of people he encounters at community events who, when he brings up the play area in conversation, tell him that their children have enjoyed the activities. Trinity has already taken steps to expand the play area in the future, having received grants to add an enclosure fence and a second activity fence that will allow musical and noise-generating items to be grouped separately from quieter items. For more information about TLC Sensory Place, visit www.mytrinitylutheran.org/tlc-sensory-place.
