Amazing Mom: Cassy Caputo Wants to Help Make Everyone Happy

Cassy and Keith Caputo have always been a team. Keith, 43, has Down syndrome, and his mom, Cassy, 69, has been helping Keith accomplish his daily tasks every day since he was born. But Cassy, a single mom of three, never dreamed that Keith would accomplish as much as he has in – and for – their Long Island community, from having a part-time job to starting a charity that helps others. She couldn’t be prouder. 

Finding employment for Keith, or anyone with a disability can be difficult. While progress has been made toward creating more inclusive workplaces, unemployment and joblessness continue to be ongoing challenges. Today, the unemployment rate for people with a disability is about twice that of those with no disability, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

When Keith was aging out of high school, she initially wanted him to have a job like everyone else, not in a day habilitation program, but after visiting employers suggested by his school, she found out “our” kids were treated differently. “They were given jobs that were dangerous, carrying pots of hot water down steep flights of stairs while other kids without challenges were working the counter, meeting and greeting customers – something Keith would have loved to do. 

“They were also left out of the camaraderie of bonding with co-workers, so it appeared to be a lonely sort of existence. Remember, this was 22 years ago.”

After several visits to different employers, Cassy decided a day hab program would be best for Keith. An opportunity came at IGHL, the facility where Keith attends classes every day. He got a job at Smile Farms, a program hosted at IGHL that creates meaningful work opportunities for people with disabilities in agriculture and hospitality. Keith works in the greenhouse with other growers, potting plants, moving plants, washing pots, dumping soil. They also go out into the community, helping deliver to Meals on Wheels.

“It's a paying job,” Cassy says. “He loves that, he loves being in the greenhouse.” The staff give Keith and his fellow growers the right mix of challenge and support, which Cassy says, makes them all feel worthwhile.

“It was more important to me that he be happy, not that he earn a bigger salary per se," she says. "And it turned out to be the right decision for Keith since he's been at the same location for 22 years! He has friends and his staff is very kind and understanding.”

Keith’s hard work paid off and this form of empowerment had a profound effect on Keith, who happened to be awarded Farmer of the Year in 2020. What Smile Farms did for him, Keith wanted to do for others and play a meaningful role in his community by helping others. What better way to do that than starting his own organization? 

Cassy and Keith started their charity Helping Makes U Happy almost 10 years ago, and it has had a tremendous impact, bringing in over $100,000 into the community. For Cassy, working in philanthropy alongside her son is a full circle moment, bringing her back to her life purpose.

“When I was younger,  I started going to college for community services. At the time, due to a family situation, I had to drop out of college, and then I got married, and eventually became a single mom to three kids. And so my career took another path but I'm doing community service again, and I'm right back where I should have been.”

Cassy is indeed exactly where she is supposed to be, and the people of Long Island are better for it. “I'm always in awe of how much we accomplished together,” she says. “So it’s just a great kind of warm and fuzzy feeling, because when he was first born, I never would have imagined my life would turn out like this.”

Cassy and Keith answered some questions about their incredible organization and why they make such a great team.

What is Helping Makes U Happy?

Helping Makes U Happy is a nonprofit that we founded in 2015 after Keith lost a very close friend, who was his mentor as well and had taught him a lot, brought him into the helping fold of doing things in the community and working with kids. When he unexpectedly passed away, Keith was extremely heartbroken. After three months of him crying, morning, noon and night, I took him to a special needs psychologist who spoke to him and then said to me, he's missing the helping things he did. 

He decided he wanted to form his own nonprofit. We talked about what he wanted to call it, and he said, “Well, helping makes me happy, it makes you happy. It makes everyone we help happy.” And I said, “Why don't we call it Helping Makes You Happy?” And he said, “I like that” and so that's how we started.

He has a tremendous amount of support from local communities, and it's grown – we started off in my little ranch house and we ended up renting a building close by because it just blew up! Everybody comes to Keith; we have tons of volunteers of all ages, from 5 to 85 and we just do happy, helping things.

What are some of the events you put on with Helping Makes U Happy?

We're approaching our Halloween giveaway, and that's something we started doing from the get go. We collect gently used Halloween costumes – who needs to be spending so much money on something for one day? – and we give them away. It gets bigger every year; organizations will donate new costumes to us, and we give away about 250 every year.

Then comes Keith's most favorite event, which is his mega auction. And that's how we raise most of the money we use for helping throughout the year. That also has just blossomed. And last year, 600 people came, and we raised $58,000 in one night. 

And then we do Thanksgiving and Christmas: We give food to families referred to us through local schools. And at Christmas, we give them food and gifts. And then we do what we call the Super Bowl party raffle, which raises money for six scholarships. This year, we gave away $11,000 in scholarships to deserving high school seniors.

In the summer, the schools refer families to us, and we collect, pack, and deliver food to them. Every week, it's usually in the neighborhood of 34 families, and we have a group who comes in to pack the food, a group who comes in to deliver the food. We also have a local bakery, Nettie's Country Bakery, which donates loaves of fresh baked bread every week to each family. 

It’s a well-oiled machine that really is a community of helping.

You’ve clearly tapped into something in the community. Why do you think people are so eager to help? 

Because Keith is the real deal, there's nothing false about him. What you see is what you get. 

He just wants to help people, and he'll go out of his way to do that. So I think the crux of it is, everybody knows, if there's anybody with a problem in the community, house fire, or someone's got an illness, they'll come to Keith and say, “Is there any way you can help us?” And he'll always try and do something. Doesn't matter if it's people, doesn't matter if it's animals. He just always wants to help. 

What do you think other people get out of volunteering? 

In this day and age, the mental health crisis is something to be reckoned with, and it's very good for your mental health to volunteer to help others. I think that's why a lot of our volunteers continue volunteering with us year after year because it just brings them such joy and Keith brings them such joy when they see how happy he is doing what he does. 

We always say we're giving them a hand up, not a handout. And we get families that we've helped who will then after they've pulled themselves up, come back and help us. And so that always makes you feel so good.

What do you get out of volunteering? 

It makes me feel fulfilled. I love all the people that we have come in contact with. Like any other operation, business, whatever you want to call it, you have good days, you have bad days. Sometimes we'll have a bad day, and we'll be walking across the parking lot, and randomly someone will come up to Keith and say, “Are you Keith Caputo, from Helping Makes U Happy?  I just want to shake your hand. What you do for the community is amazing.” And after they walk away, I look at Keith and say, “How’s that make you feel now?” And he said, “Pretty good.” I said, “Me too.” And that's why we do what we do, because it makes us happy, too.

Has being Keith’s mom redefined motherhood for you?

I would say yes. Did I think my golden years would be spent doing all I do? I thought maybe I would be relaxing, traveling, doing things like that, but one day, you say to yourself, you know what? It's just not my life. I know there are people who would get a respite worker to stay with him while they go off and do their own thing, but it's not in my makeup to do that. So, yeah, that's my life as a mom. I'm very fortunate. 

What does it mean for Keith to be a part of Smile Farms? 

Well, he loves it. They're so supportive of him, and a few years ago, they even made him their Farmer of the Year, which was such an honor for him. But he just loves that camaraderie and how the Smile Farms family is so supportive of what he does. He'll write to them if he has an event coming up and he has a question, and they're always very responsive to him. They come to his events. They'll come to the mega auction. They drop things off to us as a group. They collect things for him, and it's just a wonderful thing. I often say to him you're so fortunate to be there. 

What advice do you have for other people who may want to start their own charity? 

We feel it is very important to be open and transparent. When we have a fundraiser, we tell them how much money we bring in and what we're using the money for. People are so willing to support him, even in these days where everyone is struggling, everything is so expensive. I think that's the most important thing, and to be positive and try not to take on the negativity. We try to only post happy things because there's enough sadness in the world.

Why is it so important for people to “pay it forward”?

When I was first a single mom, it was difficult for me, it was a struggle. I remember feeling embarrassed if I couldn't make a bill; there were times where I had to ask a friend, could you loan me money just to get me through this period? It's embarrassing. It's awkward. It's very hard to see people struggle like I was struggling and I know what they feel. You know the embarrassment, the wanting their kids to have what other kids have. So, yeah, I think that's why it's important, and it just makes me feel good to know that we're doing something to help.

I just have one last question, for Keith: Can you tell me what it's like being on a team with your mom and working together?

My mom is a smart, wonderful woman. I’m so proud of her for what she’s done for her community. My mom is my rock and I love her and I want to thank her. I’m so excited and happy, jumping for joy that my mom came and helped me and I was so thankful.