Posted by Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Marg Seregelyi
Reach for the Rainbow, an organization that helps children and
young adults with disabilities, continues to partner with the
Sudbury YMCA. The YMCA sends these children and young adults to
YMCA camps every summer in an effort to help enrich their lives
with new learning experiences.
It all started with Donna Trella. Her daughter, Dove, was
diagnosed as being mentally handicapped since she was a young
child. After putting her daughter in segregated programs for
the first few years, Trella decided to integrate Dove into a
regular classroom. In 1984, at the age of four, she was put
into a JK classroom in Toronto.
Determined to change public attitudes about mentally
handicapped children, Trella wrote a letter to Ontario Place in
Toronto and asked if they would consider a day of integration
for handicapped kids. The response was positive. The park
started a "Reach For The Rainbow Day" during its opening
weekend in May and continued it for every opening weekend over
the next five years.
"It became a phenomenal day," says Trella. "All the
disabled-related agencies were there."
TV personalities like John Candy, Andrea Martin and Martin
Short attended during the 80s.
"Children, for the first time, were able to go to a public
place with their parents and not be stared at," she said.
The children were involved in fashion shows and participated in
wheelchair races.
Acknowledging that parent relief was an issue, Trella decided
to form a non-profit organization called Reach for the Rainbow.
The organization approached the YMCA John Island Camp, which
began running the program in 1989. Camp Falcona jumped on board
four years ago.
In September of 2008, Reach for the Rainbow received a
three-year $100,000 annual grant to establish three chapters.
Having her roots in Sudbury, Trella is planning on opening a
chapter here in her hometown. Trella says the goal of the
organization is to invest as much money as needed to develop
the Sudbury Chapter, with the co-operation of the community to
sustain the funds. The other chapters will be in Hamilton and
London. A co-ordinator will be hired for the Sudbury chapter
this May and a survey is being conducted to find out what is
needed in the community.
The organization is planning a province-wide fundraising walk
this fall.
For more information phone Maggie Patten at 1-416-503-0088 ext
120 or e-mail
[email protected]
or go to
www.reachfortherainbow.ca
.
