Opening Doors: Jeffrey Linehan’s Story

November 2025

Jeffrey Linehan was never meant to be shut in. In childhood, teachers predicted a lifetime of limitations: “They said he’ll probably never talk or walk right,” recalls his mother, Kathy. “One lady at school basically said ‘he’ll be lucky to get through school, sitting in a corner’—just getting by.”

And while Jeffrey courageously overcame those limitations, graduating from high school and even landing a job at Sam’s Club, he found himself at age 30, “just getting by.” His vocational education program had failed to teach him basic functional skills like telling time, how to manage his breaks, and where he was expected to report, and the job at Sam’s Club was short-lived. He spent his days at home while his parents worked full time; he had grown distant from his Christian Science church community after years of absence—a Sunday service was too long to sit through without fidgeting. “Jeffrey was getting more and more bored and grumpy because he didn’t have any purpose,” recalls Kathy.

But that same spirit that lifted Jeffrey beyond the predicted limitations early in his life was still at work. Jeffrey’s parents refused to accept the material view of him, and Jeffrey made progress. “For me, it’s always been about denying that he has limitations on everything,” Kathy says.

The first step was opening the door and heading outside. He learned to ride a bike in his 20s and found he loved visiting neighbors, helping unload groceries, or feeding dogs. He attended a different church with neighbors, who gave him helper jobs such as setting up sound equipment and chairs each Sunday. He began to speak with relative ease. He was yearning for a life beyond his home.

And then Jeffrey joined the first session of CherishAbility’s Vocational Training Program in 2021, an experience which opened the first of many doors in Jeffrey’s life. For three weeks, Jeffrey lived with two other trainees at the A/U Ranches and worked in the dishroom in a highly structured program. With the 24/7 support of CherishAbility job coaches, Jeffrey learned to wake up early, communicate with his teammates, and wash dishes in a commercial kitchen. They studied the Bible Lesson every morning, and discussed the spiritual qualities they would focus on during the day. For the first time, Jeffrey was part of a team, and he felt he was making a contribution. He left the experience with a résumé and a new spring in his step.

Jeffrey returned the following summer for his second stint with the program, and soon afterward he was hired on the spot for a job in a school cafeteria. Thanks to the training and on-the-job experience he gained at CherishAbility’s Vocational Training Program, Jeffrey is now entering his third year in the job.

Getting your foot in the door is one thing, but opening doors for others is something else entirely.  CherishAbility’s program renewed Jeffrey’s love of Christian Science, and on an October Sunday, Jeffrey returned to his branch church after 15 years away. He sat quietly listening through the service and afterward attended a fellowship picnic. Jeffrey had so changed and matured since leaving Sunday School that church members asked his mom who that handsome young man was. He left the picnic with a new question: “Could I be an usher here?”

A month later, Jeffrey applied for membership and was joyfully accepted. Jeffrey is now a proud member of the ushering team—enthusiastically opening the doors for all to attend services at his branch church.

The church doors aren’t the only ones Jeffrey opens for others: Today he commits his summers to mentoring new trainees at CherishAbility’s Vocational Training Program. “The work program is such a catalyst to individual growth, just in how they see themselves and what they can do,” says Kathy, who joined CherishAbility’s board in 2023. “It builds a confidence you can’t measure. That confidence has changed how Jeffrey approaches the rest of his life.

“As I look back and think about all the predictions of how diminished his life would be, it hasn’t been that way at all,” she continues. Far from the shut-in life predicted, Jeffrey is productive and independent—he has a debit card, rides his bike to work, and buys himself dinner at the Olive Garden and Noodles and Company. Jeffrey is open to unlimited opportunity. “All those perceived limitations have dropped away, one by one. … Jeffrey thinks he can do anything—and isn’t that the truth about all God‘s ideas?” says Kathy. “God gave us unlimited possibilities because we are His children. And Jeffrey‘s living proof of that.”