You may remember a blog I wrote a while back about a little girl we met while eating out with friends. If you don't, let me refresh your memory. While having dinner at one of our local favorite Mexican food joints one night, a young girl approached our table and began talking to John. It was clear that she knew John. Her mom then walked up to introduce herself. It turned out that the girl, Emma, was a student at Shafer Elementary and was in John's 2nd grade class. Her mom then told us a story that melted all of our hearts. The school was having a contest for someone to draw a picture of a Knight (the school's mascot) and the winning picture would be on the cover of the year book. Emma came home and told her mom that she thinks sometimes Knights can be in wheelchairs so that is what she drew. She submitted her picture of a Knight in a wheelchair and she titled her drawing "John". Her picture didn't make the cover, but it did make it inside of the year book. So I mentioned to Emma that when the new school year started, she should join Special Buddies.
Special Buddies is a program that pairs special needs students with typically developing students as buddies. The program is aimed to help students celebrate everyone's differences and to teach students that just because they are different on the outside, they are all still the same on the inside.
Emma joined Special Buddies this year and she is one of John's buddies. But that little girl was just beginning to impress me with her very kind and generous heart.
As the Special Buddies Parent Liaison at Fred and Patti Shafer Elementary School in Katy, Texas, I threw out the idea to our sponsor that we should try and get a wheel chair swing for our playground. It would be nice to have a piece of equipment that our students in wheelchairs could enjoy. You see, at Shafer, we have 19 life skills students, and 5 of those students are in wheelchairs. That means that 5 of those students go out to recess with their class every day and have to sit on the sidelines and watch their friends play because there is no wheelchair accessible equipment for them. So in my first contact with the Special Buddies parents, I outlined the events we were planning for the year and some special projects we wanted to work towards. One of those projects was the wheelchair swing. I soon heard from Emma's mom that Emma was taking it upon herself to get some inclusive equipment installed on our playground. She also was taking the initiative to raise funds for this. If you have ever priced anything that is labeled "special needs" then you know just how expensive these things can be. So it's going to be no small feat to raise the amount of funds needed not only to purchase the equipment, but also to pay for the installation.
Since this project started, we have decided instead of just a wheelchair swing, we wanted to get something called a Sway Fun Glider. This is what it looks like:
As you can see, it is a large structure that would be inclusive for kids of all abilities. You could actually fit two wheelchairs on the structure along with other kids sitting on the benches. And you can have more kids standing around the outside helping to make it rock. We don't have an exact price on this equipment, but our estimate is that it will cost between $10,000 and $20,000 for the equipment and the installation. As of today, Emma, on her own, has raised almost $3000 towards this project. Also on Emma's agenda is to attend a school board meeting and try to encourage the board to install inclusive playground equipment at all new campuses. What an amazing young girl she is. Like I said, she has a very kind and generous heart.
If you feel so inclined, you can help Emma reach her goal so that all of her friends at school can enjoy recess. As it is now, the kids that are in wheelchairs can only sit on the sidelines and watch the other kids play. They don't get to join in on the fun with them. This is not okay with Emma she wants to change this. To donate to Emma's Special Knight Project, visit the following link:
www.youcaring.com/emmacares
The link includes details of the fund raiser as well as a cute picture of John and his two buddies, Emma and Charlie. If you are unable to contribute to this fund, then I ask that you pass along our information to any of your friends whom you think might be able to help. You can share our link on Twitter, Facebook or by email. It would be great to see the faces of the kids as they get to enjoy this equipment and participate in recess for the first time.
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