Let's Move US Stops By CP Community Day
Our amazing volunteers joined in on a day of "fun, food and friendship" to spread the good word of Let's Move US.
Gregory Gottfried
Let's Move US
If you search through the Let’s Move US available programs, you can immediately find an amuse-bouche of adaptive sports and recreation programs. There’s wheelchair basketball in North Brunswick or maybe horseback riding in Fort Totten Park. Perhaps, you’re intrigued by sled hockey in Philly … we know we are. And yet, if the people who need/want these programs don’t know about Let’s Move US, all of this is for naught. Which is why we’re going to the people and letting them know about what they might be missing out on.
Earlier this month, Let’s Move US ventured over to the Upper West Side for CP Community Day on Haven Plaza, an accessible outdoor space on the Columbia University Medical Center campus. The day is dedicated to cerebral palsy and features over 500 members of the community.
There are activities for the children and even therapy animals, and we were honored to set up a table and meet those who could use our website and adaptive sports listings. We had five volunteers repping Let’s Move US, as well as playing games with kids and adults in between. singing, dancing and (of course) food trucks.
Nikki Chati, Amanda Hill, Veronika Voroshilova, Megan Patton, Christian Khoury
Photo Credit: Charles Manley
“This was my first experience with Let’s Move US that wasn’t on the computer or anything digital,” said volunteer Christian Khoury, a premed student at Rutgers University. “Every time someone would come up to the table, and I’d ask if they were interested in adaptive sports, I’d get an enthusiastic, ‘Yes!’ It was a real surprise to me. I didn’t realize just how big the demand was and how much we’re helping.”
Khoury and his fellow volunteers set up a dart-esque game for water bottles and other prizes, which became a massive hit for the kids wandering around. It was a great opportunity to build community, along with chatting to parents who’ve had difficulty finding activities and community for their kids.
“It’s very hard to find information of this kind,” said volunteer Megan Patton, a fourth-year medical student at New York Medical College. “I have a family friend who has a child with CP, and they told me that this would’ve been great to have when he was younger.
“Since he didn’t have anybody he could relate to with his disability, I found that he tried to hide his disability more, and it became a big detriment to his life. If he had met someone with similar interests growing up, it would’ve been really helpful. He would try a non-adaptive sport and quit it, and then try a different sport and quit it. And he would end up feeling worse about himself in the end. Having more options dedicated to him might have changed the trajectory of his self-esteem.”
As much as this was about meeting the kids who could use this program, it’s equally for the parents spending countless hours searching for adaptive sports, which should be easily findable and navigable. Many would’ve found this a godsend years ago and said as much to our volunteers.
“A lot of parents were intrigued,” Megan continued. “They’ve been wanting to get their children into a specialized sport for so long and didn’t know where to look. One even said, ‘I’ve been trying to find certain programs for years and years, and I was only able to find two or three after searching for a long time. I’m so excited to have a place to actually go find info instead of doing laborious work.’”
Let’s Move US was paired with similarly beneficial programs like Achilles International, Intensive Therapeutics, NY Sled Rangers and Pony Power Therapies. All are doing pivotal work, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be the latest addition.
Our volunteers made sure to note any ideas that kids and parents had to improve the Let’s Move US search function and even noted some additional programs to add. It’s this type of real-world assistance and feedback that will keep the platform growing and changing, supporting those who need it all the while.
“This was the first time I ever got to be face-to-face with the people we’re helping,” Christian said. “I didn’t really know what the event would be like, and I was so happy to be doing something like this. The market for this is so big, and I think we learned even more about what people want and how we should help.”
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