<\/p>\n

“I’m a water skier, Mom!”\u00a0 With his arms raised high and a smile from ear to ear, those were Matthew’s words as he sailed back to the pier in his adaptive ski chair on Bangs Lake in Wauconda, Illinois.<\/p>\n

Inspired by their volunteer work at the Dreams for Kids 20th Anniversary Holiday for Hope celebration, Ron and Liz Roberts had decided it was possible to bring this kind of magic to their \u201chome\u201d lake.<\/p>\n

Why not?\u00a0 Liz did what comes naturally: she called, she organized, she planned,\u00a0and enrolled people.\u00a0 Hearing of what could take place on their lake, each of their neighbors, friends, and their kids heard the call and each one answered. \u00a0In their answers came the simple words, which have defined Dreams for Kids for 20 years: “I can do that.”<\/p>\n

At the same time, all across Illinois, there were 50 kids who did not know their lives were about to change. \u00a0Each of them lives with different strengths and weaknesses; however, unlike many of us, their disabilities have led them to be classified as someone other than \u201cjust a kid.\u201d \u00a0Cerebral Palsy. Spina Bifida. Autism. These are words which society has imposed on them as limitation rather than possibility. \u00a0They know these words do not define who they are. \u00a0They know how the world could be.<\/p>\n

At 10 am that morning, Ron Richards put his arms around the first kid off the bus, sat him into his adaptive water ski chair and guided him into the water. \u00a0However, at this moment Matthew was consumed with fear, rather than excitement. \u00a0His first words were, “I am not going. I can’t do this.”<\/p>\n

Having spent his young life with his dreams hidden from view, and no opportunity in sight, Matthew was afraid. \u00a0As Ron reassured him, that, yes, he could do it, and that he would have the time of his life, Matthew held on tight and trusted that this all could be possible. \u00a0The ski boat pulled away and Matthew disappeared onto the lake, into a world only he could describe, and one the rest of us could only imagine as we watched from the shore. \u00a0When we saw him next, Matthew was transformed.<\/p>\n

No one will ever forget his smile, and his voice rang proudly with words of pure joy – “I’m a water skier, Mom!”<\/p>\n

Adapted from an article by Tom Tuohy, Founder and President of Dreams for Kids.\u00a0 For more information on DFK, click here www.dreamsforkids.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I’m a water skier, Mom!”\u00a0 With his arms raised high and a smile from ear to ear, those were Matthew’s words as he sailed back to the pier in his adaptive ski chair on Bangs Lake in Wauconda, Illinois. Inspired by their volunteer work at the Dreams for Kids 20th Anniversary Holiday for Hope celebration, Ron and Liz Roberts had decided it was possible to bring this kind of magic to their \u201chome\u201d lake. Why not?\u00a0 Liz did what comes naturally: she called, she organized, she planned,\u00a0and enrolled people.\u00a0 Hearing of what could take place on their lake, each of their neighbors, friends, and their kids heard the call and each one answered. \u00a0In their answers came the simple words, which have defined Dreams for Kids for 20 years: “I can do that.” At the same time, all across Illinois, there were 50 kids who did not know their lives were about to change. \u00a0Each of them lives with different strengths and weaknesses; however, unlike many of us, their disabilities have led them to be classified as someone other than \u201cjust a kid.\u201d \u00a0Cerebral Palsy. Spina Bifida. Autism. These are words which society has imposed on them as limitation rather than possibility. \u00a0They know these words do not define who they are. \u00a0They know how the world could be. At 10 am that morning, Ron Richards put his arms around the first kid off the bus, sat him into his adaptive water ski chair and guided him into the water. \u00a0However, at this moment Matthew was consumed with fear, rather than excitement. \u00a0His first words were, “I am not going. I can’t do this.” Having spent his young life with his dreams hidden from view, and no opportunity in sight, Matthew was afraid. \u00a0As Ron reassured him, that, yes, he could do it, and that he would have the time of his life, Matthew held on tight and trusted that this all could be possible. \u00a0The ski boat pulled away and Matthew disappeared onto the lake, into a world only he could describe, and one the rest of us could only imagine as we watched from the shore. \u00a0When we saw him next, Matthew was transformed. No one will ever forget his smile, and his voice rang proudly with words of pure joy – “I’m a water skier, Mom!” Adapted from an article by Tom Tuohy, Founder and President of Dreams for Kids.\u00a0 For more information on DFK, click here www.dreamsforkids.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[62,194,316,607],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-four-foundations","tag-children","tag-giving","tag-make-it-better","tag-youth-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}