My name is Alaina Webster and I am excited to say that this semester I am joining the Think Alive team as the new Alumni Relations Intern!
Over the next three months I will be reaching out to previous Think Alive grant recipients and their families with the goals of reconnecting, hearing their stories, and using these findings to improve Think Alive as a foundation.
Best of all, I’ll be sharing our recipients’ stories of achievement and perseverance with you.
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Think Alive is a philanthropic organization that has been inspired by the many charitable groups and visionaries who have fought for the rights of those with disabilities. Last month PBS released a documentary called Lives Worth Living that chronicles the beginning of the the disability movement, as well as footage and interviews with many of the leaders and important figures of the movement. It’s definitely an eye opening documentary, and we would recommend it to any Lively Thinker! To read more about it, click here: Lives Worth Living
This week we received our 100th individual donation to Think Alive. Its pretty invigorating to see our hard work really starting to pay off, and hitting this goal while this organization is so young feels incredible. However, while this milestone gives us the oppurtunity to pat ourselves on the back, it’s really most significant because it reminds us that we don’t want to end here. Our sights are set on achievements far higher than this, and we are ever persistent in pursuit.
Thanks to all of you who have helped us get this far, and we hope to see you again in the future as we continue to Think Alive.
our newest Achievement Grant recipient William Duffy. William is a 12 year old boy afflicted with Down Syndrome who is just starting to deal with some of the social issues that come with with this, such as being isolated from many of his classmates in “Special Education” classes. However, he has not let this stop him from being “extremely social”, and has even found a new passion: Dancing. Music plays a very large part in Will’s life, and his mom even explained to us that:
“his musical tastes range from the B-52’s to Lady Gaga and everything in between.Both music and dancing are a part of his core being! Dancing is such a motivator for William that we have even used “dance parties” as a reward for doing a great job with his speech therapies at UMASS COMDIS! He has no inhibitions in his movements and it is a joy to see him doing something he loves to do! “
We are very happy to announce that we have been able to give William an Achievement Grant that will allow him to take part in a 6 week Hip hop dance class at Whole Children, a local organization in Hadley, MA. (Tim Enfield, the founder of Think Alive, happens to be on the Board of Directors at Whole Children, which you can read about here: Whole Children). We are excited for William to have this opportunity, and are excited to see him grow— on the dance-floor and off!
Think Alive and our founder, Tim Enfield, have recently been featured on the blog Spark Action! The article was written based off of an interview Tim had with blogger Eddy Ameen, and it not only shows what Think Alive is all about, but it also manages to give us a little window into Tim’s life, as well as the process that he undertook to get Think Alive off the ground. For example: Did you know that Tim can tie his shoelaces with one hand? Or that a donation box at a movie theatre inspired him to start working in philanthropy? Think Alive has been a long process, and Tim has been taking initiatives since the beginning. We are so proud to be able to be a part of Tim’s dream, and this article shows why! You can read the article here: Spark Action , and if you are interested in receiving our newsletter, click here: Newsletter
And as always, remember to Think Alive!
