Emma Litavis (right) stands with a Respite Center resident.

When Emma Litavis was a second grader at Elmwood School, she took a tour of the Michael Lisnow Respite Center.

“Their message and people stuck with me,” Litavis said.

And what was the message she recalled?

“If I see someone alone at lunchtime, I can go sit with them and talk,” she noted.

Today, Litavis is a staff member at the Respite Center, conducting the same tour that left such a strong impression.

For the past three years, she has worked at the day program, facilitating outdoor activities like pickleball, cornhole and games and covering day and overnight shifts in group homes in Hopkinton.

She believes her visit and having a younger family member with disabilities shaped where she is today.

“I love the love here,” Litavis said. “It is a warm and welcoming place.”

Added Litavis: “My visit as a second grader opened me up to a world of disabilities and awareness about them.”

Sharon Lisnow founded the Respite Center 26 years ago in honor and memory of her son Michael, who passed away at age 10. Born prematurely and weighing only one pound, Michael was initially given only a 10% chance of survival during his first months of life.

Though he was blind, challenged with brain damage, unable to walk or talk and fed through a tube, Michael thrived in a local public school setting and had a lot of friends.

Lisnow keeps his spirit alive at the center.

She noted that for more than 20 years, Elmwood second graders have visited and spent time with the children there, gone on a tour of the facility, heard Michael’s story and gained an understanding about what inclusion means, and not just as it relates to disabilities.

She estimates that 9,000 second graders from Hopkinton have taken the tour.

“They come to us for a field trip, two or three classes at a time,” Lisnow said, “walking back and forth.

“The children have wide eyes when they arrive and say it is the best field trip and so much fun when they leave.”

She noted there is a lot of “give and take” with the children. “I say, ‘Raise your hand if you ever felt left out,’ and all the hands go up, including teachers and parents.

“They have so much to say about how they feel …. and their attitudes are remarkable.”

Members of the Hopkinton High School football team pose with a Respite Center resident at last month’s Michael’s Run.

Litavis also is impressed by the children’s reactions.

“They are really listening, observing and taking in a message,” Litavis said. “Don’t leave someone out because they are in a wheelchair. … Play a game they can do. No one should be left out or not be a good friend.”

After the presentation, the second graders go outside and play with individuals from the center’s program in the backyard.

Lisnow mentioned that one of the program participants, Michael Mullins, who has Down syndrome, sang the national anthem at Fenway Park.

“We can point to him and say, ‘Look what he can do.’ We all have differences. He sang at [Pawtucket Red Sox minor league] games for 10 years and moved up to the major league!”

Lisnow said the value of the program is that it “demystifies” people with disabilities. “It changes the way [children] look at people who are different, and that lasts the rest of their lives.”

She added that Hopkinton High School’s football team walks with her program’s participants in the Michael’s Run event each October. Lisnow noted high school kids interact easily and well with individuals with disabilities, thanks to that early exposure field trip.

“So many of them say they remember coming to the Respite Center,” Lisnow said.

For Litavis, it is a “full circle moment,” being on staff now.

“It has helped me find parts of myself I did not know I have,” she said. “Here, we are all loved for our uniqueness.”