Paralysis community to benefit from accessible outdoor activities this summer
SHORT HILLS, N.J., July 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation announced today that it has awarded almost $800,000 in Quality of Life grants to nearly 100 non-profit organizations nationwide. Created by the late Dana Reeve, Quality of Life grants are awarded twice a year to organizations that improve the day-to-day quality of life for people living with paralysis. Since inception of the program in 1999, a total of 1,454 grants have been awarded, totaling nearly $12 million. A large number of the 1st cycle 2008 grants were awarded to projects that help children and adults with paralysis and their families fully enjoy their summer vacations with outdoor activities, camps, adaptive playgrounds, and travel opportunities.
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CAPEable Adventures of Sandwich, Massachusetts, received a grant to support adaptive cycling on Cape Cod. Another grant, awarded just in time for summer, went to the City of St. Petersburg Recreation Department's Community Based Adapted Kayaking Program in Florida. The St. Pete Paddlers will provide opportunities for people of all abilities to enjoy and benefit from kayaking. Horseback riders will be excited to learn of two grants that will help fund the purchase of adaptive equipment for therapeutic horseback riding. The grants were awarded to the Montgomery Area Nontraditional Equestrians, Inc. in Pike Road, Alabama, and One Heart Equestrian Therapy, Inc. in Colo, Iowa.
Children are perhaps the most excited about their summer vacations, and now children living with disabilities can benefit from several grants awarded to programs funding accessible playgrounds and summer camps. The Reeve Foundation awarded a grant to support Project Fun, a 2,000 square foot wheelchair accessible and interactive playground constructed by Atlantic County Special Services School District in New Jersey. Funds were also awarded to All Children's Playground Trust Fund in Montclair, New Jersey, for the only playground of its type in the local area to serve the needs of families that have members living with paralysis. A grant was also awarded to Camp Aldersgate, Inc. in Little Rock, Arkansas, to support the 2008 Camp Aldersgate Kota Weekend Camps, which include activities for children of all abilities such as adapted archery, an accessible ropes course, SCUBA diving, boating, and more.
"The Reeve Foundation is proud to help people living with disabilities enjoy the warm weather and vacation time with their families and loved ones," said Peter Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. "Through this 1st cycle of grants, we hope the paralysis community can benefit from increased independence, joy and improved access to outdoor and physical activities, this summer and throughout the rest of the year."
Possibly the most important aspect of a summer vacation is time spent traveling with family. A grant was awarded to Let's Travel, Inc. to support a program that provides transportation and some expenses for recreational trips for people with disabilities that use wheelchairs. Let's Travel is led by a man who is C/1 quadriplegic who uses a ventilator, and is a great mentor for the disabled community.
The Reeve Foundation's Quality of Life grants are awarded in 3 categories, Actively Achieving, Bridging Barriers, Caring and Coping, and fund programs across the globe that help people with paralysis become more fully integrated members of society. Some of the grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Cooperative Agreement number 1U59DD000338). Numerous grants were also made possible through generous financial donations from ICAP, the world's leading interdealer broker, and Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products for central nervous system disorders and nerve repair, specifically in spinal cord injury.
About the Reeve Foundation
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. For more information, and to review the entire list of Quality of Life grant recipients, please visit our website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.
CONTACT: Lin Lawson of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation,
+1-800-225-0292 ext. 7129, media@christopherreeve.org
Web site: http://www.christopherreeve.org/
