So that was the basis for The Good Citizenship Project, which is now morphed into something entirely different, except for that it's based on the idea that, everybody, everybody, doesn't matter who you are, what your diagnosis is, what culture, ethnicity, anything, we all need meaning and purpose. Every single one of us needs a reason to get up in the morning, and for The Good Citizenship that means going and helping other people by helping out in farms and barns. So, parents with people that have autism will contact me. I will go pick them up at their house and we'll bring them to local farms and barns, and I teach them how to do all the chores. Through that, they get to interact with all the animals that are there. Sometimes it’s horses, sometimes it's llamas and peacocks, sometimes it's cows and we do all the chores and I mean all the chores, cleaning up the manure, moving the hay, fixing fences, learning how to trim the goats' hooves. And everything that goes in between that. So, they get these marketable skills that they need to be able to go out into the world and be positive contributing members of the community. And the barn owners get much needed help...So, everybody wins and I am there to make sure that if there's someone confused, they don't know what to do or maybe there's a better way to do that chore, I teach them. I teach them how to do it and I base that on my own autism and obvious signs of autism throughout the family and all the years working in the field.....I'll never be rich doing this financially, but I will always be rich in spirit. Always. Because I know that what I'm doing helps other people and I'm teaching others to be helpful and kind and involved in community. At the very basis of it just giving back and doing good where you can, and that's enough for me.
Leigh Anne Bianchi was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1974. She spent the first 11 years of her life there. She and her family then moved to Kentucky, Ohio, and finally Holden, Massachusetts. She arrived in the Wachusett area at the age of 14. She currently resides in Paxton. She has worked as a nanny and babysitter as well as in preschools, daycares, farms, and the food service industry. As the founder and sole worker of The Good Citizenship Project and Chris’s Collections, she touches upon how she came to develop these organizations and what their core values are. She speaks on how she teaches her clients marketable, transferable skills. Leigh Anne also speaks of her mental health challenges and her methods of coping. She also emphasizes the importance of speaking one’s mind and believes in the importance of listening. She discusses gender roles and the unfair treatment of women, as well as the changing atmosphere of Worcester. Leigh Anne also reflects upon the significant role that her spirituality, core values, and upbringing have in guiding her work and life decisions.