Hello Friends and Family!
Thank you for your interest in helping Luke raise money for CP! This is CP's 69th annual telethon! That means CP has been perfecting their service to individuals with disabilities for 69 years! Amazing! I would like to share Luke's CP story.
Luke is a smart, funny, and handsome (obviously) young man who happens to have Cerebral Palsy due to a condition called Kernicterus. Luke loves to be busy. He loves to talk to people, learn new things, be included in a variety of activites. Go, Go, Go. That is what makes Luke happy. As you may imagine, his time during the pandemic was complicated to say the least. As a person who has challenges with movement and respiration, the threat of contracting Covid was significant and as a family we took his exposure risk very seiously. Several months in quarantine was very hard on Luke both physically and emotionally. He graduated from High School in 2021 smack dab in the middle of the pandemic and was left in an adult world that had little to offer him. As the rest of the world began to open up post-covid, many individuals and families impacted by disability continued to be isolated due to a lack of caregivers and service providers. As a family, we were left without caregivers and in a desperate search for an adult life for Luke that had more to offer than just meeting his basic needs. This is where our CP story really begins (my CP story began decades ago as I completed an externship at CP as a student-speech language pathologist...but that is a story for another day...CP has just been a thread that has been sewn in my life and is a very important part of my history, and Luke's future...anyhoo...on with Luke's story).
We toured CP in March of 2022 almost 2 years to the day since Covid arrived and the world shut down. Luke had been in mandated quarantine, an then again in a sort of situational quarantine due to the lack fo caregivers. We met with Julie Tetzlaff for a tour of CP and to chat about the "fit" of CP with Luke's needs. As we walked the halls of CP, I felt waves of excitement and hope. Luke was observant and silent as he toured each room and hallway. We toured a group meeting room with large bright windows, we toured a fully accessible kitchen that is built for inclusion and independence, we toured a technology room with large screens and computer stations with his peers playing games together, he saw peers whizing by in adapted bikes and walkers, we toured a gym, a sensory room, and an art studio. Generally, he was quietly taking it all in. Quietly, until we walked into the Karate class in action. Luke saw several of his peers empowered to punch and kick, block, assert their personal space, and use their voice and bodies for self-defense. They had him at "Hay Ya." Then we toured the giant heated swimming pools and he was in heaven. CP has created a space in which people with disabilities are truly supported and valued. CP center does so much more than "meet needs." They have created a place where individuals with disabilities are included and supported so they can thrive and continue to grow and develop new friendships and interests.
After our impressive tour of the CP facility, Julie reviewed the extensive list of classes that Luke could chose from which included things like cooking, techology, brain games, body works, swimming, karate, ceramics, gardening, and industrial arts to name a few. If you would like to see the list of over 30 classes, please take a look here: https://www.wearecp.org/i/f/files/ADS%20Green%20Bay%20Class%20Descriptions6_9_20.pdf
CP is an awe inspiring example of excellence in stewardship. Based on our personal experience, they allocate the money raised from fundraising to have a maximal positive and tangible impact on the individuals they serve every day. They are prepared to accommodate many different needs to allow max inclusion in high interest, age appropriate, adult life experiences. This is not an easy, or cheap endeavor. They somehow make it all work by first creating space, next creating classes, and finally finding a way to accommodate individual needs to allow inclusion and independence in activities and classses that might otherwise not be so inclusive.
Luke is busy. He is happy, cared for, and included in a life that not only meets his needs but also offers him choices in classes, and activities and supports friendships that are precious to him and our family. The positive impact of CP center on Luke and this family is immesurable. We are forever grateful to CP. for their awesome stewardship, and to donors who make it all possible. THANK YOU FOR GIVING GENEROUSLY! WE ARE CP!
