The Hamlin Recreation Department has been awarded $15,000 as part of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s High Impact Priority and Direct Effect Grants, offered under the Quality of Life Grants Program. The award was one of 66 grants nationwide totaling $1,230,983 awarded by the Reeve Foundation to fund a variety of projects and programs to benefit the paralysis community, strengthening the Reeve Foundation’s dual mission of Today’s Care, Tomorrow’s Cure®. Funding for this new cycle of grants was made possible through a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living (ACL).
The Hamlin Recreation Department has used the grant for purchasing eight athletic wheelchairs of different sizes for use by children in the afterschool programs and summer recreation programs, as well as by other members of the community, to enjoy adaptive activities such as tennis, archery, basketball, and pickleball.
The department has also developed a new game based on the popular foam dart leagues currently being played across the nation. This new version of the game is played in sports wheelchairs and the rules have been adapted. In order to create awareness and further develop the game, two free Saturday Open House sessions have been scheduled for November 10 and December 15, from 10 to 11:30 am at St John’s Lutheran Church Gymnasium, 1107 Lake Road West Fork, Hamlin. Whizzing Nerf, as the new game is called, will be a regular program on Saturday mornings scheduled to begin in early 2019.
“It’s been amazing to see the support we have received on developing inclusive programming and in particular this foam dart game which is enjoyed by children and adults all over the country,” said Hamlin Recreation Director Anke Applebaum. “We received this amazing grant and have also been supported by Anita O’Brian, Executive Director of Rochester Accessible Adventures and Doug Westerdahl, President and CEO of Monroe Wheelchair. There is a tremendous need in our communities that we are all coming together on: providing recreational opportunities by including families and friends who have members with mobility disabilities. This way they can all play together and that is huge!”
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