Southampton, New York · Since 2015
Every family of an adult on the autism spectrum carries the same question: what happens when we are gone?
No family has to start from zero
In Southampton, nine families answered that question with a home, real work, a circle of friends, and a town that shows up. Then they wrote it all down, and opened the door to every family after them.
Nine adults on the autism spectrum live in three Southampton homes. Everything their nine families learned building those homes is written down, and it is free.
The question
At 21, the bus stops coming.
is the age school-based services end in New York State.
New York State Education Department
young adults on the autism spectrum will age out of school services this decade.
After 21 the programs end, the bus stops coming, and the question every parent has been carrying quietly becomes the only question. Where will he live. What will she do all day. Who will know their names when we are gone. Most families answer it alone, in private, from nothing.
The answer, lived
It started with one family saying the question out loud. Now there are nine.
In 2015, Dr. Lisa Liberatore and Dr. Dimitri Kessaris built real work for their son Michael and his friends, because there was none. Work was one part of a life. In 2020, with the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the families opened the first house on St Andrews Road in Southampton.
Today nine adults on the autism spectrum live in three homes, in one town that knows their names. Four young men in one house. Three in another. Two young women in the third. A full week, not a bed.
The model
Then we wrote it down.
Everything the nine families learned is in one document, The Luv Michael Homes Playbook, and it is free. It opens with the whole idea in two sentences: a house is a structure. A home is a relationship.
- The Playbook: what the model is and is not, who pays and how, the hiring pipeline, the clinical system, a twelve-question readiness checklist, and a first 90 days plan for any town.
- The path a family walks, phase by phase, from first visit to welcome home, with checkpoints along the way.
- The Patron Family Agreement and the resident acceptance checklist.
- A clinical team: a behaviorist, a medical reviewer, and a house lead who knows each person.
- A community first, then a house. Start with classes and a faith partner. Build the friendship circle. Then the home.
Read it first, then a one-on-one walk through the philosophy, the structure, and the day-to-day, for any family or any town.
The four pillars every home stands on
Physical health
Medical review, movement, food that is cooked, not delivered.
Mental health
A behaviorist on the team, a plan for each person, and a way to measure it.
Support professional knowledge
Trained direct support, interns from St. Joseph's, a house lead who stays.
Community education
Classes, a conference, students, and a town that learns the names.
How the light gets out
Four ways the answer reaches a family who has never heard of Southampton.
One day a year, a hundred families get the whole blueprint.
Save my seat for 2027 Watch the 2026 sessions Take home the Playbook, the guide for families Read the Hamptons Mouthpiece account of the dayRegistration fills in seconds. A thousand people come to watch.
Next September, and how to volunteer50,000 students did the homework so no family has to.
How the program worksThree homes, nine adults, one method, given away.
Read the PlaybookHow it is paid for, part one · The students
Fifty thousand students have done the homework. They also raise the money.
The volunteer program is 100% online. A student signs up, gets a page, and does three things: writes to their representatives, adds resources to the database families search, and raises gifts from their own network. Forty service hours. A graduation cord. A letter of recommendation. And every gift of $40 or more sends the donor a bracelet made by the residents.
- ONESign up with a name and an email. A live help call runs three times a week, and that call comes before the app.
- TWOWrite to your state and federal representatives about housing and work for adults on the autism spectrum. Every letter is logged.
- THREEResearch and add resources to the database that families search when the school bus stops coming.
- FOURRaise from your own network on your page. $250 earns the graduation cord. Every gift of $40 or more sends the donor a bracelet, and the tag on it carries a code to the story of the person who made it.
A service-hours program where the hours are real, the letters are real, and the money is real.The volunteer program in one line
How it is paid for, part two · The teams
Half to your team. Half to the homes.
Dance studios, cheer programs, gyms, and school teams raise money on a platform Luv Michael built. Nothing to sell. Teams keep half. And every gift of $40 or more sends the donor a friendship bracelet, handmade by an adult on the autism spectrum in Southampton.
- ONEA coach or studio owner launches a team page in three steps. Every member gets their own page, a leaderboard, and badges.
- TWOFamilies share the link. No catalogs, no inventory, no order forms, no fees.
- THREE50% goes to the season. 50% builds the homes. The team is paid within two weeks.
- FOURStudents earn community service hours, a graduation cord, and a letter of recommendation. Donors get the bracelet, a handwritten card, and a code on the tag that opens the story of the person who made it.
"We raised over $42,000 in just two weeks. Our parents were thrilled to not have to sell anything."Geo Hubela, Icon Dance
Proof, counted
Every number here has a baseline.
adults on the autism spectrum at home in Southampton
SINCE 2020
homes, one town, one method
2020 TO 2026
student volunteers, worldwide
SINCE 2020
raised by students on their own pages, from their own networks
CUMULATIVE
raised by youth teams on Luv Michael's platform, half kept by the teams
CUMULATIVE
of letters from students to state and federal representatives
SINCE 2020
families surfing at Ponquogue each September
5TH YEAR, 2026
people on the beach for Surfers Healing
SEPT 15, 2026
families at the third annual conference
SEPT 14, 2026
The next ten years
Built to outlive the people who built it.
An endowment, so the homes do not depend on any one family.
The founding question was financial as much as personal. The endowment is being formed now, with a gift agreement and an investment policy drafted in 2026.
The model in more towns, in the order that works.
Start with community classes and a faith partner. Build the friendship circle. Then open the house. Any town that wants to do this gets the blueprint and the call.
Housing and work, written into law.
Albany in the spring, Washington after that. Fifty thousand students and a congressman who has sat at the kitchen table are the start of a constituency, not the end of one.
Your place on the thread
Five doors. Pick the one with your name on it.
Start here.
Read the Playbook, then a call with Lisa and Mark, then the path, phase by phase. You do not have to have it figured out to pick up the phone.
Book the call → StudentsVolunteer.
40 service hours, 100% online. Write to your representatives. Build the resource database. Raise from your own network.
Book the info call → TeamsRaise for both.
Dance studios, cheer programs, gyms, school teams. Half to your season, half to the homes, nothing to sell.
Start a fundraiser → NeighborsShow up.
Come to the beach in September. Take a class. Wear the bracelet, handmade by the adults who live here, and meet the person who made yours.
Find your bead → Funders and partnersRead, then call.
The model, the numbers, and both Form 990s are one click away. Then sit at the table with the people who run it.
Give →$75 is one seat in a community class. Monthly gifts keep the classes running between Septembers.
Give monthly →