Meet Peter Brill: Dedicated Employee Part Of Fabric Of Council Rock North
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NEWTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- While you never really know the direction life with take you, Peter Brill being a part of Council Rock North High School was written in the stars.
"I pictured such a closed-down life for Peter," his mother, Lindi, said. "We never realized his life would be this rich and this full."
No longer a student, but a dedicated employee who has been working in the cafeteria for 18 years, Peter lights up the lunch room with his school pride, kindness and a beaming smile that grabs at your heart.
"He would be very happy when he was home and with familiar people," Lindi said. "But he would be very nervous even going to a large family affair when he was younger."
"And we were very worried about what would happen to him."
But it was what happened to him in high school that changed his life.
The football coach at the time decided to run a play to get Brill in the game.
"He tried an experiment to have Peter and his best friend, Daniel Gibson, be football managers," Lindi said of the football coach. "But that was the beginning of this entire community embracing him."
"And it led to so much self-confidence," she said. "He just came alive."
From that point on, he found his team on and off the field and began winning at life.
"It's so heartwarming that he's found success," Peter's father said. "Because, when you have a special-needs child, you're always concerned about their future."
"In my wildest dreams, I never dreamed it would be this," Lindi said.
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Spawning from Peter's experience, Athletes Helping Athletes was born. The organization aims to help special-needs athletes get on the field and feel included.
Council Rock North hosts Council Rock South in tonight's Friday Football Frenzy game of the week.