Thank You to Our Amazing Donors
Sara’s Garden is SO blessed by such caring and truly generous Northwest Ohio organizations, businesses, and family foundations! A SUPER summer thank you goes out to the Ohio Elks Cerebral Palsy (CP) Fund, the Delta Eagles Auxiliary, Lockrey Manufacturing, and the Roach Family Foundation for helping to support our special needs children and their families!
Ohio Elks Association
Thank You to the Ohio Elks Association, its CP Fund, and the Toledo-Sylvania Elks Lodge #53! The Ohio Elks CP Fund donated $14,000 towards the purchase of a key piece of rehabilitative and conductive education (CE) equipment—the Dynamic Stair Trainer Triple, which will electronically elevate steps and simulate a walking slope for our special needs students with cerebral palsy (CP) and other neuromuscular disorders at our new regional special education campus in Springfield Township in Holland, Ohio. It will assist our students from across Northwest Ohio with their rehabilitative, CE, occupational therapy (OT), and daily life skills needs.
The Ohio Elks Association provides financial aid to established Cerebral Palsy Treatment Centers, and Sara’s Garden is honored to be one of their chosen programs. Every year, Ohio Elks Lodges from across the state raise money to support organizations, which provide care, treatment, training, and rehabilitation for individuals with CP. We are so grateful to the Ohio Elks Association, the CP Fund, and the Toledo-Sylvania Elks Lodge #53 for this grant.
To learn more about the Toledo-Sylvania Elks Lodge #53 or the Ohio Elks Association, to make a donation to the CP Fund, or for a fun family day out, stop by the Sylvania Elks Car Show on Saturday, July 29, call 419-841-6653, or log onto https://www.elks.org/lodges/home.cfm?LodgeNumber=53
Delta Eagles Ladies Auxiliary
A big thank you goes out to the Delta Eagles Ladies Auxiliary, which generously donated $5,000 to New Horizons Academy (NHA) and $5,000 to Special Grounds Coffee. The donations will be used for occupational therapy (OT) and vocational skills training supplies for our special needs students and young adults as they practice, master, and hopefully transition their daily life skills into job placement and work-related skills. NHA serves preschool to high school students while Special Grounds Coffee offers vocational skills training and work study placements for special needs young adults.
Delta-area special needs students make up over 10% of NHA’s enrollment. Out of 25 school districts, Delta has the third largest student population at NHA. With student scholarships covering just a portion of NHA’s tuition costs and with over 80% of our students considered low-income, Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy are constantly looking for ways to cover our educational expenses. We are just so grateful to the Delta Eagles Ladies Auxiliary for helping us to cover part of our OT and vocational skills costs, so our special education students can practice the daily life and work skills that they will need to become as independent as they can possibly be.
A special congratulations goes out to Pam Castillo on becoming the Ohio State Auxiliary Outside Guard. You can send her your congratulations and warm wished through the Delta Eagles Facebook Page. For more information about the Delta Eagles Auxiliary, call 419-822-0227.
Lockrey Manufacturing
For the first time ever, Sara’s Garden and its special needs students were the recipients of the Lockrey Manufacturing Community Service Grant. Thank you, Lockrey and its 100% employee-owned business for designating us as one of your 2023 community service organizations! This 100% Made in the USA Toledo manufacturer and its very generous employees donated $12,000 towards Playworld’s Balance Trax Obstacle Course and Parallel Bars System for children and young adults with CP as a part of the new, fully inclusive playgrounds at New Horizons Academy’s Springfield Campus to increase physical education (PE), rehabilitation, CE, wellness, and recreational programs for special needs children.
School-aged children with cerebral palsy (CP) are 30% less active and about twice as sedentary as their typically developing classmates. Today’s educators know that play is about more than just fun, recreational, physical activities. The obstacle course and parallel bars are created and customized to meet the needs of children with disabilities. They are physically adaptable for kindergarten to high school students with a wide range of physical and neurological disabilities, and their benefits are endless including lower extremity strengthening, reciprocal leg motion patterning, balancing skills, using visual, spatial perception, and social interaction with adults and peers including building relationships, modeling dignity, sharing ordinary spaces and activities, and making choices together.
For more information on Lockrey Manufacturing, its employee-owned and operated Toledo facility, or its 100% Made in America equipment, log onto https://www.lockreymanufacturing.com/
Roach Family Foundation
Long-time supporter, the Roach Family Foundation donated $10,000 to help Sara’s Garden expand and improve its Vocational Skills Lab at its NHA Springfield Campus. This expansion and renovation include the addition of a three compartment sink and hand washing station, a coffee/beverage prep station, and a commercial washer and dryer with installation of commercial-grade plumbing, electrical conduits and new outlets, and dry wall and finishing. This expansion would support our special needs students’ vocational education in weighing, bagging, and beginning to market and prepare our locally blended and roasted coffees both through retail sales and wholesale efforts with all proceeds going back into supporting the vocational needs of our special education students.
The students would be trained in our vocational skills lab to package, brew up coffee creations, serve customers both on-site and through the Coffee Cart, clean and maintain the unit, and package and sell simple breakfast treats and desserts. The students are so excited and looking forward to serving customers in the Holland and Springfield Township areas. They love visiting and working at the Wauseon Career Center, but they want to become active members of their community–serving coffee and working in Lucas County.
For more information about the Roach Family Foundation, its scholarships, or its work in the Toledo-area, stop by its program center at 2319 S. Detroit Ave. in Maumee.
Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy rely so heavily on the generosity and caring of Northwest Ohio businesses organizations, so please take a moment during your busy day to thank the Ohio Elks Cerebral Palsy Fund, the Delta Eagles Ladies Auxiliary, Lockrey Manufacturing, and the Roach Family Foundation for all they do for Sara’s Garden and New Horizons Academy!
Donations continue to be accepted and fundraising efforts continue for the inclusive outdoor playground at our NHA-Springfield Township Campus in Holland. For more information on the playground project or to donate to it, please call 419-335-4NHA or email info@sarasgarden.org.
