On Monday, January 20th, Variety held its first presentation of equipment in Schuylkill County in partnership with Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29, organized labor, and many other community partners. It was a phenomenal day, as Variety presented 28 adaptive bikes, 3 adaptive strollers, and 32 communications devices!

For 11-year old twins, Madelyn and Kaylynne, it was an especially memorable day, as these sisters both received their very own adaptive bikes!

Madelyn also received a communication device, and the first thing she said to her mother through the device was, “I NEED CAKE,” because she wanted to celebrate the new bikes and her communication device (her new voice)

A few hours later Monday night, I received this photo from her mom (below), and they were celebrating the day with CAKE!

This may seem like a little thing, but it was HUGE for this family.

A tremendous thanks to the IU29 staff who were incredibly motivated and are already planning for our next presentation to keep the momentum going! This is a powerful example of how kids can be identified and provided with life-changing equipment, even in a predominantly rural county like Schuylkill.

Additionally, we received great media coverage to help you share in the joy of the day – see below.

• WNEP-TV:  https://wnep.com/2020/01/20/students-with-disabilities-get-life-changing-equipment/
• Republican Herald:  Click here to read the full article.

Thanks so much for sharing in the joy of our kids and families.

P.S. I hope that you’ll have some CAKE this week to celebrate with Madelyn and all our kids! The Variety team celebrated right away!