ALA Pilots Help Kids with Disabilities A $14,150 grant from the Alaska
Airlines Pilots Charitable Fund will help provide therapy for thousands of
children with disabilities around the Greater Puget Sound, Wash., area.
Last year, Dynamic Partners, a consortium of organizations that collaborate
to help children with special needs reach their full potential, served 2,300
kids in Washington State’s South King and Pierce Counties.
Dynamic Partners, which is headquartered in Kent, Wash., is expanding its
ability to serve children by opening a third location in Burien. That location,
already under renovation, will allow the organization to double the number of
kids it can serve within the next five years.
The AAPCF grant will purchase four pieces of therapy
equipment for the still-under-construction Burien site. An adjustable recumbent
bicycle and elliptical machine designed to fit kids will be used in the fitness
center for both individual physical therapy sessions and the fitness center
program. The third piece of equipment, called a mat table, is an adjustable
platform to facilitate movement with infants, toddlers, and young children.
Finally, the grant will pay for a zip line. The therapists can attach a variety
of equipment to a zip line, including harnesses and swings, to help improve
movement or strengthen core muscles.
“We have so many kids in such need,” said Patrice Briggs, community relations
contact for Dynamic Partners. “Those pieces of equipment will be touched everyday by many children.”
Since its inception in 2002, the AAPCF, which is funded exclusively by
voluntary donations from Alaska Airlines pilots, has awarded more than $50,000
to nonprofits that help children and their families in Alaska, Washington, and
California. For more information, or to refer an organization for a grant, visit
www.aapcf.org. |