Paragould, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — May 23, 2025 — After years of hard work and with her new nonprofit status in hand, Jonesboro grandmother Vickie Lewis said she is closer than ever to fulfilling her dream of opening Arkansas’ first sensory gym for special needs children and adults, Zachary’s Sensory Gym.
Lewis received notification of her nonprofit status by mail May 15. She submitted the paperwork to the IRS a year ago and was approved in April.
Although she was unable to find a building in Jonesboro, she could lease a building in Paragould. The gym will be located inside the old fitness center, next to Batten’s Donuts and Bakery, located at 1735 Paragould Plaza.
“It’s perfect. It has spaces for our calming rooms and our reception area. I wanted to keep the babies and the kids separated from the bigger kids and the adults. There’s room for that. So, it worked out perfect,” she said.
Lewis said the owners wanted $5,025 down on the building, which she said she didn’t have after pouring her money into fundraising efforts. She said she called her realtor, who got a Paragould bank and another person the realtor knew to donate. The combined donations totaled $4,325. Lewis needs $800 by July 1 to start moving in.
She said more fundraisers are already underway with the booth space at the KLEK Juneteenth Community Fair on June 14. Lewis added that organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Elks Lodge are offering to help.
Instead of having her gym in Jonesboro as she originally planned, Lewis signed a five-year lease at $4,300 a month for the Paragould location, however, the building owners are going to give her July, August and September free.
“That gives us time to raise around $35,000 to get everything ready to open,” Lewis said. “We’ve got to have internet. We’ve got to have cable. We’ve got to have liability insurance. We’ve got to have power, which of course goes in our name. So, we have to add that in there. Then, we have to have an inspection to come in because we’ll have a few of the swings hanging from the ceiling and then we’ll have some of the swings on the frame.”
Now with her nonprofit status and a building, Lewis said she hopes getting donations will be easier, as a lot of people will not give without them.
“I even had a couple of donations out of Little Rock, and they would like to come when we’re open to bring their special needs members,” she said. “I just think this is amazing.”
The inspiration behind the gym is her special needs grandson, 20-year-old Zachary Harper, who is autistic and nonverbal. He also has epilepsy, a sensory processing disorder, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Lewis said she is very passionate about providing him and other special needs individuals with a better quality of life.
“This is a community project and we’re volunteers. We don’t get paid for this. This is for special needs kids and adults to have their own fun village because most of them can’t make it out here in these crowds and noises… and there’s families who are isolated and I’m not going to have it that way,” Lewis said.
Lewis is also looking into grants. Although she did just apply for an Ag for Autism grant, she said doesn’t know much about grant writing yet and she is looking for a grant writer. However, she can’t afford one yet, so unless she can find a writer willing to work pro bono for now, Lewis said she plans to take classes and learn how to write them herself until they find someone.
“I try to teach myself the grants and I can do these simple grants, but when you start talking about the state and federal grants from the government … that’s a nightmare,” Lewis said.
However, she said she’s meeting with a woman who teaches grant-writing classes who’s going to teach her the basics of the process.
Once the gym is open, Lewis said she believes the revenue will cover the monthly costs through yearly membership fees, day passes and birthday party fees. While the fees are not set in stone yet, Lewis said she was researching the different prices from across the United States to determine at fair price.
For more information about or to donate to the gym, visit the Zachary’s Sensory Gym website or call 870-530-7871. Donations can be made through one of the gym’s wish lists on Autism Products and Amazon, which will be available soon. The gym will also have a GoFundMe on Facebook in a few days.