Do you know a generous, selfless, and truly caring caregiver? Consider nominating them for the Shire BRAVE Awards. From now through June 17th, Shire is looking for the best caregivers in the WORLD! You can honor any non-healthcare professional who provides a specific and dedicated level of care to an individual(s) and who is not compensated in any direct way because of his or her role as a caregiver.Read More

I'm very excited to announce the opening of nominations for the third annual Best Mom on Wheels contest. The last two years brought in dozens of entries, making me eager to find out what moms we get to be introduced to this year.

Here's what happens:

- Think of a mom you know who is living with paralysis that shows dedication to her family and community, compassion, and of course something only a mom could have: mother's love.
- Write up a 200-word or less entry describing her.
- Provide a photo and description.

You have until May 1st to get those nominations in.

For complete rules and to enter, go to ChristopherReeve.org/BestMom.

Good luck!!!

Janelle

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Reeve Foundation friend Toby Forrest and his band, Cityzen, need your help!

Cityzen mesmerizes their audiences like a high energy musical roller coaster. The band is fronted by a singer in a wheelchair and backed by unique musicians drawing from genres rooted in progressive rock, funk, classical, hip-hop, and jazz. Recently, Cityzen won Hard Rock Rising's local battle and now represent Los Angeles in the global finals. Over 12,000 Bands Submitted and only 86 made it this far. Now, they need  your help to get to London and open for Bruce Springsteen.

If you would like to vote, just click the link below and "Like" Hard Rock, then click the yellow "VOTE" button next to CITYZEN. Plus you can download their original song "After Dark" for FREE! Please invite your friends, family an colleagues to do this as well, the voting is global. Thanks for your support!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!
(Voting ends at 11:59pm EST on April 24th)

 

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These days blue spaces are few and far between. Too often, someone lacks the respect for accessible van parking spaces and those needing that convenience are denied their right to accessibility. To raise awareness on the issue, BraunAbility has launched a nationwide campaign encouraging consumers to respect blue spaces.

In honor of its 40th anniversary, BraunAbility has launched a Facebook contest, where users are invited to post their ideas for a catchy bumper sticker slogan, designed to make someone think twice before parking in a spot reserved for a wheelchair accessible vehicle.Read More

This is coming to us from our friends at shopautoweek.com:

Vantage Mobility International, a manufacturer and distributor of wheelchair-accessible conversion vans, is producing 25 special-edition wheelchair-adapted 2012 Honda Odyssey vans to mark the company's 25th anniversary.

VMI’s 25th-anniversary, limited-edition Honda Odyssey features a Northstar lowered-floor handicap vehicle conversion plus a custom grille with chrome trim, 20-inch chrome wheels with performance tires and driver’s- and passenger-side step flares. Inside, a two-tone tan and gray leather interior with 25th-anniversary badging greets passengers.Read More

The Campaign for Disability Employment (CDE), a collaborative of leading disability and business organizations funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), announced the prizes that will be awarded to winners of its nationwide “What can YOU do?” Video Contest announced last month. First place winners in each of the competition’s three categories (General Public, Youth, and Employer) will receive an *Apple® iPad®, and cash awards will go to second place winners in the General Public and Youth categories. The CDE is grateful to the US Business Leadership Network (USBLN®), a founding partner of the CDE, for donating the cash prizes and for featuring the winning Employer video at its upcoming 15th Annual Conference and Expo in Orlando, FL, October 1-4, 2012. Read More

It is not always easy to express the amount of respect, joy, love, or admiration you have for someone...especially someone you have never met, never will meet.

With this, I speak of Christopher Reeve. This Saturday, September 25, would have been his 59th birthday. I, as well as I hope many of you, will celebrate this day, not mourn it. Even after Christopher (and Dana) are no longer with us physically, there is no doubt they are here in other ways.

They are everywhere... How we can look at the impact of Christopher in the paralysis field, and not be moved is simply impossible.

So even though I am writing this birthday wish in honor of Christopher as someone who never knew him, I encourage you to read this letter from his oldest son, Matthew, someone who knew him quite well. Here's part of the letter:

Rather than allowing his injury to define him, my father redefined what was possible for people living with spinal cord injuries. And, with the generous help of caring friends like you, he energized an international search for treatments and cures for paralysis -- a search that, with your help, led to this remarkable breakthrough.

We are now closer than ever to realizing my father's dream of regained movement, recovered function, and new steps for individuals living with spinal cord injuries. And though he is not here to continue the journey with us, you and I keep his memory alive by carrying on the work he began. (Picture credit above: Ken Regan; Matthew, Christopher, and Alexandra 1996)


Read all of Matthew's letter here.

Happy Birthday Christopher. May we all celebrate your legacy!

Janelle

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I look up the definition of "power" and all the definitions I am finding don't really express the power of our Social Mediathon this past Tuesday. The theme of the first ever Reeve Foundation Social Mediathon was "The Power of We;" all of us coming together to empower the paralysis community to raise funds for our mission of "Today's Care. Tomorrow's Cure.

We raised over $4,000 and counting. But more than this tangible amount was the intangible evidence of everyone who supported us. This, to me, is "power."

So I thank everyone on behalf of the nearly 5.6 million Americans living with paralysis for their support, compassion, and selflessness to spread the message. (8-year-old Chase Ford, pictured, is walking again thanks to the Reeve Foundation's NeuroRecovery Network.)

My favorite quotation that we used in many of our posts was from Dana Reeve, "Giving back is the rent you pay for being on the planet." It is so simple, yet, well, powerful. While we are all on our Facebook and Twitter accounts several times daily, we gave back during the Social Mediathon to disperse our message into cyberspace, to donate, to support our work.

So one more time, I will say, thank you, because each and every one of you is ultimately THE POWER OF WE. YOU are part of this movement.

Janelle

PS: There's still time to donate. We are asking to donate $1 for every year you have been fortunate enough to walk. Whether it was $5 or $500, you are helping us to carry on Christopher and Dana's legacy.


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Give me a 'V!' Give me an 'O!' Give me a 'T!' Give me an 'E!' What does that spell? VOTE!

That's right, this is your last chance to vote for the 2011 Best Mom on Wheels contest. Voting ends Friday at midnight, so get your votes in while you can. The top ten finalists each have special stories, so be sure to read them all, and select your favorite.

Be sure to tell your family and friends, too. Just go to ChristopherReeve.org/BestMom to case your vote today!

Best Mom nominee, Erin Gildner is pictured at right. Watch a video a local news station in her hometown area in Arkansas ran about her!

Janelle


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