More than 300 people turned out on March 3 to take part in the 15th annual Walk and Roll for Disabilities, an event held by the Meyer Foundation for Disabilities to raise funds for adult programming at the Munroe-Meyer Institute.
Organizers estimate that the walk, held at the Oak View Mall, raised more than $30,000.
“It’s a great fundraising event,” said Mary McHale, president of the Meyer Foundation. “As individuals with disabilities age, especially when they turn 21, there are a lot of things that they don’t have the opportunity to do any longer — things that they had access to while they were in the educational system. Our foundation’s mission and our objective is to raise funds to support programming for adults 21 and older.”
See video on the 2019 Walk and Roll
The event funds programming at MMI such as the Adult Cooking Club and the Wheel Club, a weekend adaptive bike-riding club for adults.
McHale said the fundraising event has proved enduring in part because it brings the community together.
“It’s an opportunity for our families to get together, and it’s really low-stress,” she said. “Our staff from the MMI Department of Recreational Therapy is here, and they get to see the participants with their families, which is not always something that happens in the hustle and bustle of work. We have a lot of nonprofits that work with our friends with disabilities here, as well.”
Joshua Bates, father of Greg Bates, the event’s Honorary Advocate, said MMI has had a huge impact on the family.
See photo album from 2019 Walk and Roll
“We’ve built relationships,” he said. “We’ve been able to navigate advocacy programs. And it’s enabled us to help Greg maximize his opportunities out in the community and grow socially.”
The event also promotes awareness, McHale said.
“When we as families bring our friends to this event, they get to see lots of other families who have loved ones — whether they’re small, whether they’re adults — who are, as we say in the disabilities community, more alike than different,” she said. “They see that everybody has a family, and we’re just like everybody else, and we want our children to have the same opportunities.”
Russell Albin, father of Cadie Albin, who with wife Cheri and sons Connor and Chase, were the Honorary Family for the event, singled out one particular adult activity which had been impactful.
“They would take the kids, when they were high school age, out to the malls and show them how to spend money,” he said. “As a parent, I didn’t realize how important that was as a skill. The things that they offer, in the adult programs and the camps, all accumulate to give our children the opportunity to become functioning adults.”