The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital is now Bethany Children’s Health Center.
Playing adaptive basketball and soccer will be a new reality for children with special needs.
The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital is proud to announce that it has been awarded $19,000 as part of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation National Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) 2021 1st Cycle Direct Effect Quality of Life grants. Sixty-seven grants totaling $1,305,579 were awarded. The Quality of Life Grants Program supports nonprofit organizations that empower individuals living with paralysis. Since the Quality of Life Grants Program’s inception, more than 3,400 grants totaling over $34 million have been awarded. Funding for this program was made possible through a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living (ACL grant #90PRRC0002-03-00).
The Reeve Foundation National Paralysis Resource Center has several grants under the Quality of Life program awarding grants in different category areas, varying in different amounts.
The Direct Effect Quality of Life grants program funds organizations up to $25,000 to support a wide range of projects and activities that will impact individuals living with paralysis and their families.
“The Reeve Foundation is humbled and proud to be able to support important organizations by offering life-changing projects and programs through this grant cycle,” said Mark Bogosian, Director, Quality of Life Grants Program, Reeve Foundation. “Funding projects that prevent harassment and displacement of low-income tenants, offering Paralympians an abuse prevention curriculum and other community-based activities like adaptive sports and gardening to end food insecurity is an example of how we’re aiding people living with paralysis to regain their independence and back into their local community.”
The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital will use the funds to purchase specially designed wheelchairs for basketball and to adapt existing wheelchairs for soccer play. The hospital recently opened a state-of-the-art Adaptive Recreation and Fine Arts Center which features a basketball court, and plans to complete an adaptive playground and ballfield later this summer.
“We are honored to be recognized by the Reeve Foundation for our mission of maximizing the potential of every child and making sports and other recreational activities accessible for all children,” said Nico Gomez, Chief Executive Officer of The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital. “The funds received will allow children in our care and in our community to experience the joy and sense of accomplishment that sports provide. We look forward to seeing smiling faces and hearing the cheers of everyone rooting for the kids.”