Walk 4RKids raises more than $45K

Sept. 09--Twenty-two teams and about 300 people helped raise more than $45,000 to support adults with disabilities in the annual Walk 4RKids Saturday morning at Meadowlake Park.

The walk raises operating funds and awareness for 4RKids Foundation, which provides em­­ployment opportunities to adults with developmental disabilities, support and outreach to their families, and supports local enrichment opportunities for the developmentally disabled.

4RKids Executive Direct­or Tricia Mitchell said the nonprofit currently serves 55 clients in its jobs program, and serves 537 adults with disabilities and their families with enrichment activities, parent education and help connecting with community, state and federal resources.

Mitchell said participation was up for this year's walk, in the number of teams, walkers and corporate sponsors, and team fundraising was up from previous years.

"The teams did amazing," Mitchell told the assembled participants shortly before the walk commenced. "I'm so excited with how well you all did."

While the funds from the walk cover about 15 percent of the 4RKids annual operating budget, Mitchell said community awareness garnered from the event is just as important as the fundraising.

"The whole idea is to get the community involved and have inclusion," Mitchell said, "and to have the community see our folks out having fun, and to give the community a chance to learn about what we do."

Michele Evans said the event also provides crucial emotional support to families of loved ones with developmental disabilities.

Evans was walking Saturday with Team Nathan, a group organized by St. Matthew's Episcopal Church pastor Fr. John Toles to support 4RKids and honor Evans' son Nathan, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder and is nonverbal.

"Having a child like Nathan you can feel very isolated, and because of the severity of his condition there is a lot of stigma and people stay away," Evans said. "This walk is a way for people to connect with us, to interact with us and to love and support Nathan in a way we haven't had before."

Walk 4RKids also is a chance for adults with disabilities to integrate into a community event, said Chasity McFadden, a program coordinator at Billings Fairchild Center, a residential center for adults with disabilities in Billings.

McFadden brought 24 residents to walk with the center's team, Fairchild Fanatics, "to get them more integrated into the community and make the community more aware of our facility and our residents."

"It builds their confidence and it makes them feel like they're not different than anyone else," McFadden said, "and we want them to feel as complete as we feel."

Peggy and Don Harvey, who led team Tiffany's Troopers in honor of their adult daughter, Tiffany, said 4RKids offers invaluable opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities.

"Tiffany is very blessed to have 4RKids," Peggy said.

Tiffany has been working at 4RKids for 10 years, and said she enjoys working with her friends, making dog biscuits, shredding paper and stocking shelves at Loaves and Fishes of Northwest Oklahoma.

"If we didn't have 4RKids I don't know what she'd be doing except sitting on the sofa," Peggy said. "We are blessed she can go there and be productive and have fun at the same time."

Don said the jobs program at 4RKids is a resource not just for Tiffany, but for her entire family.

"It means a lot to have a place for her to go and work and have fun," Don said, "and be with other people with disabilities and make friends."

Those resources wouldn't be possible, Peggy said, without the community's financial support for 4RKids.

"We appreciate the community," Peggy said, "and it's just tremendous to have a community that is so supportive of us."

Mitchell said funds raised through Saturday's walk will help provide for overhead and operating costs not covered by grants and other funding sources.

The top fundraising teams for this year's Walk 4RKids were: Team Jake and Colton, $6,051; Tiffany's Troopers, $4,445; Team Bro, $2,900.

4RKids calendars and T-shirts, costing respectively $10 and $15, still are available at 4RKids, 710 Overland Trail. For more information on 4RKids visit 4RKids.com or call (580) 237-7890.

"We want to make sure anyone in the community who could use our services knows we're here and we can help them," Mitchell said.

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