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Jun 21, 2023

Family plans the sensory

Business and local economy reporter Business and local economy reporter Courtney Willegal, co-founder of Keep Calm Tool Kits, stretches a sensory toy cat in the temporary space for her business.

Business and local economy reporter

Business and local economy reporter

Courtney Willegal, co-founder of Keep Calm Tool Kits, stretches a sensory toy cat in the temporary space for her business.

Courtney Willegal’s youngest son was just 18 months old when she started to suspect he was developing differently. He’d scale double-high baby gates, put everything from electrical cords to plants in his mouth, and chew his own clothes.

Eventually, Sean Feuquay, now 11, would be diagnosed with four mental health conditions, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a sensory processing disorder and a disorder that prevents him from regulating his emotions or body temperature on his own.

Willegal, who lives in Sun Prairie and earned a masters in counseling, was familiar with the needs of children with sensory issues. She knew some seek out stimulation more than the average kid, while others are easily overwhelmed by just the sights and sounds of everyday life.

She did everything she could to help Sean soothe himself, from searching for toys and chairs that would let him release energy, to offering him a cozy hammock where he could curl up out of sight when he needed a break.

Sean Feuquay and his mom Courtney Willegal founded Keep Calm Tool Kits in 2019 to provide fidget toys and other support for families of special needs children.

But even for a trained professional, parenting a special needs child wasn’t easy. She regularly felt alone, even though she knew that millions of kids in the U.S. have a serious mental health condition.

Now, about 10 years after Sean first started climbing those baby gates, he and his mom are business partners in a venture designed to make life easier for families like theirs.

Pop-its, fidget toys and an array of other sensory toys are sold in the temporary home of Keep Calm Tool Kits.

“Everything that we're doing here is what I always wanted to have for my sons,” said Willegal, who launched Keep Calm Tool Kits with Sean in 2019 and is now preparing for a major expansion.

Birth of a fidget business

The idea for the business came from Sean’s frustration that his classmates seemed to always want to borrow the smashable, squeezable or spinning fidget toys he’d bring to school. Counselors and teachers would ask where they could get toys like his.

“Can’t everybody just leave my fidgets alone?” Willegal recalls Sean asking.

Fidget toys for sale are organized into bins in the temporary space of Keep Calm Tool Kits, located at 2801 International Lane.

But when Willegal explained that she’d carefully researched the toys she’d picked, looking for high-quality products that would hold up and hold his interest, Sean had an idea.

“This isn't fair. We have all of this extra. Why don't we sell them?” he asked his mom.

So the two set up a six-foot table with a dozen types of fidget toys at a local craft fair. In just two events, they’d made $400 in sales. “To him, he was rich,” said Willegal, who taught her son to account for the cost of their inventory and set aside money for future business expenses.

Soon the pair were ordering directly from manufacturers, building inventory and selling online. When the inventory outgrew their garage, they began fulfilling orders from a storage unit. The business now has distributors making sales in North Carolina, Massachusetts and Texas too.

In 2021, they took the business on the road locally, buying a retired ambulance which they gutted and turned into a mobile sensory room to set up at events like the Dane County Fair.

Courtney Willegal, co-founder of Keep Calm Tool Kits, opens the door to her mobile sensory unit, or the “rig” as she calls it. The former ambulance has been refurbished and is now used as a calming sensory space for children who may become overstimulated and need a break at local events.

“Quite often, when parents go out there with kids, they get overwhelmed, overstimulated, cranky,” Willegal said. But with the overhauled ambulance, Willegal can darken or brighten the room or adjust the temperature to help kids regulate their emotions, providing a chance to reset.

“I wanted to create a safe space where the family can still have a good time and not have to leave an event, which is what I had to do so much with my children.”

Sensory Zone coming 2023

Now, the two are preparing to grow their business again, this time to around 11,000 square feet. They’ve leased a space at 1736 Roth St. on Madison’s north side for their Keep Calm Sensory Zone, a “sensory-friendly” family activity center for children of all abilities, projected to open in February 2023.

Currently under renovation, the space will feature a downstairs play area just for toddlers, an upstairs “sensory gym” for kids of all ages, an outdoor play area to be designed based on community feedback at a later stage, and about 3,000 square feet of retail space.

Play structures and swings are gathering in the future toddler play space of the forthcoming Keep Calm Sensory Zone on the north side of Madison.

Visitors can pay one-time admission ($20 per child) or purchase an unlimited monthly membership ($58-$75 per child). Those who just want to shop in the store needn’t pay admission, and store customers can try out the zone once for free. Families can also rent the party room for birthdays or other special events.

The facility will be open to all, with no diagnosis required. Those who qualify for the state’s Children’s Long-Term Support program may be able to use that funding to pay for access, Willegal said, but participation is not limited to those in particular programs or insurance groups.

The goal, she said, is to create a place that serves the whole family, including parents and siblings of kids with mental health disorders. That means not only welcoming them into the space but being able to offer referrals as needed, whether to an autism-focused therapist or a hair stylist who will put a fearful kid at ease. That, she said, separates the Keep Calm Sensory Zone from kid-focused facilities like We Rock the Spectrum Kid’s Gym or The Sensory Club, both of which have locations in the Milwaukee area.

Courtney Willegal, co-founder of Keep Calm Tool Kits, demonstrates a wall panel that will be part of the upcoming Keep Calm Sensory Zone, set to open on the north side of Madison in February.

“When my child was having struggles I was also having struggles,” Willegal said. “We're trying to create that parent-child interaction (and) family support area, versus looking at it as just the child who needs support.”

Every day, Willegal said, she gets calls from parents asking when the new facility will open.

For now, the business won’t offer respite services, so parents or guardians will need to remain onsite while children play. That means they’ll need to either directly supervise children or pay for one-on-one or small group support. Those who opt for the latter can take a break in the Adult Zen Zone or visit the separate event center another entrepreneur is planning to open just down the way.

The operation is a for-profit business, funded with a $160,000 loan from the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC). Willegal is also working to get 501(c)(3) status for her related nonprofit, Calming Kids Foundation, which provides training and tools to help first responders work safely with children with mental health disorders.

A family of entrepreneurs

While its future home is being outfitted, Keep Calm has set up its shop, complete with more than 125 different fidget toys, in a business park beside the Dane County Regional Airport. Shoppers can check the Facebook page for the latest store hours. Kids are welcome to shop alongside their parents or hang out in the adjoining sensory room, filled with bubble tubes, wobble chairs and an aromatherapy diffuser.

Because the company buys directly from manufacturers, Willegal said, she’s generally able to offer prices lower than customers will find at online retailers. And while she doesn’t think of herself as a salesperson, she loves to offer personalized recommendations for any kid’s particular needs.

Even shy Sean has taken to telling customers about the items he loves most, though he opted not to answer questions when the Cap Times called him.

“He, to this day, is my not-so-silent partner,” Willegal said. “He consults on what we're bringing in. He's our product tester. He works the register.”

His older brother Gregory Feuquay, 14, who’s been helping out with the business since those first craft fairs, told the Cap Times that it’s “been an amazing experience.” Now a freshman at Sun Prairie East High School, he’s enrolled in a college-level entrepreneurship class and has plans to start his own business selling clothing emblazoned with designs of bearded dragons.

“Just seeing my younger brother start his own business and seeing it prosper to where it is now really makes me so proud of him,” Gregory said.

What are the most important values driving your work?

Our mission is to help all families thrive through sensory play, education and coaching. Our other goal is to provide families an inclusive environment where they can feel comfortable and not secluded, not feel like they are being judged, and where their kids can be kids.

How are you creating the kind of community that you want to live in?

Right now, an inclusive, sensory-designed environment for kids with special needs or any type of behavioral needs does not exist. So we’re collaborating with as many community organizations as possible. We’re trying to give (families) that sense that there's a place that they belong. It's open to anybody anywhere. People can come from Illinois or from anywhere in Wisconsin.

What advice do you have for other would-be entrepreneurs?

Dive right in. You don't need to have a full, laid out plan. You just need to have a vision. But also have it be passion-driven (so) you'll never work a day in your life. People are going to tell you no. “No” needs to become your next best friend. Move on to someone else until someone else listens.

I was told no very many times. I was told nobody's going to come. We now get phone calls everyday: “When are you open? When can we come?”

Are you hiring?

We just hired our resource team lead. When we open and get busy we will be expanding our team with more resource specialists, those making connections for the families, and more sensory staff that will work in the gym, in retail and in events.

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In 2019, Courtney Willegal and her 8-year-old son Sean Feuquay set up a folding table at a craft fair, hoping to sell some of the same fidget …

In 2019, Courtney Willegal and her 8-year-old son Sean Feuquay set up a folding table at a craft fair, hoping to sell some of the same fidget …

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