HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Theresa Daniels has had quite the journey.
“I was not given a lot of hope to succeed by certain people,” she said.
Her mother, Jody, knew she was different by the time she was four.
“She barely talked,” Jody said. “She couldn’t write. She just drew circles.”
By the age of 13, everything became more clear after Theresa was officially diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.
“When you first see a person with a disability, you might think, ‘Well how far will they go in life?'” Jody explained. “Theresa has demonstrated that if you don’t give up, you have faith, and you keep working with people with disabilities, they can accomplish great things.”
Theresa defied the odds by opening up her own business called Theresa’s Twists.
“The purpose is to help people like myself, to gain job skills and life skills,” she said. “That is really the goal of what we’re trying to do.”
Theresa’s business — which is also a nonprofit — helps those with disabilities learn life skills while creating unique pretzels.
“The twist is people like myself are really unique,” said Theresa. “Not one person with autism exhibits symptoms in the same way. They all exhibit them differently.”
However, Theresa’s Twists recently suffered a huge loss.
“Our trailer is completely gone, and it was shocking,” said Jody.
Earlier this week, a trailer containing all of the nonprofit’s merchandise was stolen from the iStorage facility off West Main Street in Hendersonville.
“You kind of expect a place to keep those things safe, and not for it to be wide open so somebody can just take it,” said Theresa.
Despite their trailer’s wheels being booted, her parents said the gate to the facility was open, allowing someone to drive in and take their trailer. They added that the cameras on the property weren’t working either.
“I was very extremely disappointed when we found out it had been stolen, but I’m not going to get angry about it,” Jody said.
The trailer had a pop-up cart, merchandise, and other equipment Theresa’s Twists needed, reaching a total value of nearly $20,000.
“That is really such a huge big part of what we do,” said Theresa. “I’d hate to think somebody would do something with that if they don’t really know the purpose behind our business of what we do.”
According to Theresa, her business will continue on despite this setback, but admits she’s still hurt someone would do this.
“It’s tough,” she said. “I mean, when you start a business, you don’t envision someone taking something that’s important to it.”
News 2 reached out to iStorage, which provided the following statement about the situation:
“We are aware of the unfortunate incident and are cooperating with the local authorities. The storage facility is in the process of having its security system upgraded and we are in dialogue with the customer in regards to this incident.”
If you know anything about the trailer’s whereabouts or the theft, you’re asked to call the Hendersonville Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 615-264-5303 or the Hendersonville Crime Stoppers at 615-594-4113.
