Economy Doesn’t Slow Caring At Easter Seals
Easter Seals Receives Donations To Renovate Facilities.
Easter Seals Southwest Florida is in the midst of a facelift that won’t make it look younger but will make it brighter for children and adults with disabilities.
The nonprofit organization received $10,000 from attorney Stuart J. Roth, founder of the Center for Faith and Freedom, as the lead gift in Easter Seals’ $70,000 campaign to remodel the “Bamboo Room”, so named for its panda bears and bamboo motif.
“This is the room where our staff provides therapies and care to people who have multiple disabilities,” says Dr. Kameron Partridge, Vice President of Programs and Services at Easter Seals. “Mr. Roth’s generous gift inspires others to care and that caring is translating into better equipment and needed improvements to the space.” Roth says that he couldn’t stop thinking about the Bamboo Room after touring Easter Seals and felt led to “plant a seed” for others to give as well.
At the same time, there are others rallying around Easter Seals. “The economy is not keeping people in our community from caring,” Partridge says.
Architect Robert Vecchione of COBROOKE Ideas I Architecture I Design donated $10,000 in pro bono architectural services to update the 52-year-old Easter Seals facility. Saturday, September 18th, he will be joined at Easter Seals by a dozen volunteers from other nonprofit agencies and businesses including Sarasota Young Professionals, The Salvation Army Manatee County, Publix Super Markets, and Ringling College of Art and Design. Mike Roscoe of Turner Tree and Landscape will lead the group in landscaping the entire front lawn. “We want the children and adults who come to Easter Seals to have smiles on their faces when they see what their community has done for them,” says Roscoe.
“People are always asking if the economy is making it hard to get support,” says Ashley Canesse, Vice President of Philanthropy. “I have to say it’s actually bringing out the best in a lot of people. If you’re a parent whose child has disabilities, you want Easter Seals to be here and to be strong for them. We are so encouraged that our community stands with them.”
Easter Seals offers disability services to children and adults throughout the lifespan. The organization serves Manatee, Sarasota, Hardee, DeSoto, and Highland counties. For more information, please call (941) 355.7637 or visit their website at www.easterseals-swfl.org.
Tags: Ashley Canesse, Dr. Kameron Partridge, Mike Roscoe, Robert Vecchione, Stuart J. Roth, Turner Tree and Landscape