Director devotes career to helping others

During the almost 30 years Kathi Schmidt has worked at Reach Unlimited, she has spent countless hours trying to expand services in Cypress and the surrounding area to those with intellectual disabilities.

A local nonprofit organization that provides services to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Reach Unlimited was founded in 1983, and Schmidt came on board shortly thereafter.

"I fell in love with our clients," she said. "They were young and independent and excited about becoming independent adults. I was inspired by their enthusiasm for independence."

For the first nine years Schmidt spent at Reach, she served as a bookkeeper and then financial manager before moving up to executive director 20 years ago. Since then, she has grown the organization from a $2.5 million to a $9 million agency, overseen the addition of several group homes and has plans to grow the organization even more in the coming years.

Reach primarily works with individuals ages 16–76 who have some form of an intellectual disability, which could range from autism to mental disabilities.

"My favorite day is going to the Learning Activity Center and seeing happiness and smiles on the faces of the clients," Schmidt said.

The Learning Activity Center, which opened in 2005, gives clients a place to receive job training, social skills, music and cooking skills, as well as spend time with other clients.

Under Schmidt's leadership, the organization is launching a capital campaign in the next three months to raise $8 million to build a 45,000-square-foot addition to the center in Cypress.

"It will be four times the size it was when we are finished," Schmidt said.

The new addition will allow room for 10 new classrooms, a gymnasium and multipurpose room, and a kitchen and caf, which will be open to the public.

Reach Unlimited serves about 300 clients today with a wait list of 160, Schmidt said. She expects the addition to the activity center will allow the organization to serve about 500 or 600 individuals.

In addition to the Learning Activity Center, Schmidt has overseen the development of a handful of group homes for Reach's clients. Since 2009, eight new homes have opened, and there are a total of 18 now, spanning from Spring Branch to Cy-Fair to Tomball.

Schmidt is also involved with several community organizations such as the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, the Cy-Fair Express Network and the Private Provider's Association, which helps private providers lobby the state legislature to improve the quality of service for intellectually disabled Texans.

Ultimately, Schmidt said she enjoys spending time with the clients at Reach.

"I hear stories from parents saying their child is sad on Friday afternoon because they can't come back for two days," she said. "Then they say they are so happy on Sunday nights before they come back."