All I want this holiday season is…hope for a better life!
The first several years after I started the Educarte program, my local team and I invested a lot of time, energy and resources into throwing a large holiday party for the kids and families we support. It was always a wonderful time, and we loved having volunteers from both sides of the border help with our holiday events. However, over the last few years as we have focused our efforts on serving young people with disabilities, our program has quickly grown to include a therapy clinic, private elementary school and a life/vocational skills program serving young people with disabilities. Although we have worked hard to keep up with the demand for services, the sad reality is that we are only able to serve a small percentage of the young people with special needs whose families are desperate for them to receive therapies and/or have the chance to go to school. So, last year we decided that, instead of investing a lot of time, energy, and resources in hosting a large event during the holiday season, we would instead focus on growing support to be able to serve more very special young people in the coming year.
When we first made this decision, I was concerned that the parents of kids in our program would be disappointed that we would no longer be hosting a large holiday party. However, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that they overwhelmingly preferred that we invest in growing support to be able to give more disabled kids like theirs in this community hope for a better life.
Two very special success stories
ARMANDO: When Armando began receiving support from Educarte he was 17 but his developmental age was only four years old. Thanks to consistent support from the therapists at our clinic and his parents, Armando has made tremendous progress over the past few years. He has learned to read and write, and a recent evaluation showed that he is now functioning at the level of a 12-year-old. Since August Armando has been attending our new private special education school, Escuela de Victoria. In addition to traditional academic skills, he is learning important life and vocational skills like how to prepare his own food and how to take food orders. He is also learning to speak English, and his teachers are confident that with continued hard work and dedication, Armando will not only become much more independent, but he will also gain the skills he needs to be gainfully employed in the future.
ELIU: Eliu was born with Pierre Robin syndrome, a rare genetic condition that left him with an underdeveloped jaw and a cleft palate. He was also diagnosed with autism and general developmental delays. When Eliu entered the Educarte program three years ago he was 2 ½ years old and, due to his condition, he had a breathing tube in his neck and ate through a tube in his stomach. When we first met Eliu, he moved very little and spent most of his waking hours being carried by his mother or sitting on her lap. Doctors told his parents he would not be able to communicate and would likely remain completely dependent on them to meet his basic needs.Since Eliu began receiving consistent physical and speech therapy at our CATI clinic, he has made amazing progress! He has learned to communicate using sign language and is now a very active and social little boy who is becoming more independent each day. Doctors were recently able to remove Eliu’s feeding and breathing tubes and, thanks to support from our speech therapy team, he has now begun eating like other children. Eliu’s parents are thrilled with the progress he has made, and even more thrilled that he is now attending our new school—something they thought would never be possible for him.
As I reflect on the nine years since I founded the Educarte program I am filled with tremendous gratitude for so many of you who have donated to support our efforts along the way. Thanks to your generosity we have been able to accomplish so much. But our work has just begun as there are still so many very special local young people desperately waiting for the professional support they need and deserve to be able to reach their potential and thrive. This holiday season I hope that some of you will consider giving a young person on our waiting list hope for a better future by making a year-end, tax deductible donation at www.AmigosEducarte.org
Armando is thriving in our new private special education school
Between therapies at our clinic and attending our new school, Eliu has made amazing progress!
