Community cautiously comes together at Walk & Roll

Kim Bainbridge is looking forward to the March 6 Walk & Roll for Disabilities fundraiser with hope.

For two years, through the COVID-19 pandemic, Bainbridge has protected her adult son, Justin, who has Down syndrome. The Bainbridges have pulled back on social gatherings, missed some family connections, watched church online and avoided eating out at the restaurants Justin loves, all to limit Justin’s exposure to a coronavirus that presents higher risks to people with Down syndrome or developmental disabilities.

Now, the Bainbridges are ready to step out for Walk & Roll — the popular annual fundraiser organized by Omaha’s Meyer Foundation for Disabilities to support recreation therapy programs for adults with disabilities at the Munroe-Meyer Institute.

As local COVID cases have fallen, organizers decided in recent weeks that Walk & Roll would be back in person this year. Bainbridge will attend still feeling cautious about the future of COVID but also feeling some hope that Walk & Roll can return as a social event.

“To me, it's just the hope that maybe we can start, our adults can start doing some things with their friends where it's not such a small circle,” said Bainbridge, who herself works at Munroe-Meyer.

When Walk & Roll gathers March 6 at Oak View Mall, the event will hold a rare place in Omaha’s pandemic timeline.

With spread of the virus lessening, Walk & Roll will be among the first community events returning after pulling back during the pandemic.

Two years ago, it was one of the last community events to gather before the emerging coronavirus threat shut down events big and small. That fundraiser took place March 1, 2020 — just days before Omaha’s first COVID-19 case became public.

In the period between, Walk & Roll was one of countless events that went virtual, relying on Zoom for the 2021 event.

But a Zoom event is not the same, said Mary McHale, president of the board for the Meyer Foundation and herself a parent of an adult child with Down syndrome.

Walk & Roll’s popularity comes in the gathering of local families of adults with developmental disabilities. As those adults grow up, the opportunities become more rare for their families to interact with other families sharing their experiences.

Walk & Roll offers a chance to see friends, to catch up, to connect and support each other.

“It’s just nice to be together,” said McHale, whose son, Daniel, is 23. “For Walk & Roll, the race is not to the swiftest. It’s families getting to see other families. For some families, this is their first time with Walk & Roll, and they get to see — you know what, all sorts of families have all sorts of children, but they’re still a family.”

McHale said she understands some families are not ready to step out yet, although overall registration is on pace with the 2020 event. The event will have COVID precautions in place, including requiring masks for participants and pre-packaging food that will be handed out by volunteers.

The concern is in recognition of the heightened risks people with developmental disabilities face from COVID-19.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with developmental disabilities face a higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes, alongside those with such medical conditions as cancer, lung disease or immunodeficiency.

Bainbridge understands the risks and has shouldered a burden to protect Justin, who is 32 years old. Justin has faced his own struggles, too, losing his job at a fitness center and regressing on some of his activities of daily living.

Bainbridge still looks at the pandemic with some concern.

But she and Justin also are ready to Walk & Roll.

“I can’t wait to see Oak View Mall filled with individuals and families filling every corridor as we walk and roll the mall,” Bainbridge said.  “Plus, I can’t wait to see friends that we have not seen for a long time.”