World T.E.A.M. Sports

World T.E.A.M. (The Exceptional Athlete Matters) Sports creates inclusive sports TEAMS; using the powerful platform of sports to bring together the disabled and able-bodied communities. WTS has created inclusive sports teams all over the world, including a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro; a bike ride the length of Vietnam bringing veterans from both sides of the Vietnam War together; the Face of America cycling journeys; and programs that teach life skills and character training skills to inner-city youths.
The principal aspirations and objectives for the organization are to increase and promote inclusive sports opportunities for all people, especially reaching out to disabled people. Organize and host innovative and challenging sporting events that encourage all individuals, especially those with disabilities, to participate in lifetime sports. The organization promotes diversity and increases awareness, acceptance and integration of those with disabilities. ... more »

Anchor Center for the Blind: Helping Children Who See Life Differently

The mission of Anchor Center for Blind Children is to teach life skills to young children with visual impairments and provide services to their families. The Anchor Center strives to foster the full potential of children who are blind or visually impaired from birth through age five, by providing exemplary education, therapy and family support services.
At Anchor Center for Blind Children in Denver, Colorado, learning to live with blindness as a positive experience begins soon after birth. Anchor Center teachers are often called to see a newborn in the hospital who is suspected of having a vision impairment. The center also gets referrals from children's eye doctors, and frequently hears from parents seeking a vision assessment on their little one. Since most early learning occurs when children see something, a vision impairment significantly impacts how children develop and grow. ... more »

National Sports Center for the Disabled

Founded in 1970, the National Sports Center for the Disabled's mission is to positively impact the lives of people with any physical or mental challenge through quality adaptive recreation programs in over 20 sports. The NSCD's impact on lives is direct, immediate and visible. Over 17,000 lessons were provided in 2005 alone.
The National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) began in 1970 as a one-time ski lesson for children with amputations for the Children's Hospital of Denver. Today, the NSCD is one of the largest outdoor therapeutic recreation agencies in the world. ... more »

U.S. Army Sergeant Juan Salas: MySoldier.com

Active U.S. Army Sergeant Juan Salas, a naturalized US citizen originally from Venezuela, began MySoldier.com as a program that puts politics aside and lets U.S. soldiers know that someone back home cares. Sgt Juan Salas, who served for 14 months in Iraq, established the program with the help of his school, Manhattanville College, when he returned. The goal of the program is to show support for troops serving in hardship areas by establishing pen-pal relationships. His mission was to "win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people." "It was long," says Salas. "But the thing that kept me going was getting letters. From kids, boy scouts, students. A letter was like a piece of gold. Something you will keep for the rest of your life." ... more »

Lisa Buksbaum: Soaringwords

The idea for creating Soaringwords -- a healing community to embrace millions of ill children and their families -- came to Lisa Honig Buksbaum one morning when she was walking along the beach during the height of her son's catastrophic illness.

This was a rough time in her life, 10 months earlier her younger brother Gary had died and five weeks later, her dad had a recurrence of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. There were so many things her child and family needed to help them cope. They didn't exist. ... more »

Brooke Ellison

Brooke Mackenzie Ellison was born in 1979, in Stony Brook, NY to Jean Marie and Edward Ellison. She has one older sister, Kysten (b. 1977), and a younger brother, Reed (b. 1981.) As a child Brooke was very active; she took karate lessons, danced, played softball and the cello. In 1990, at the age of 11, walking home from her first day of Junior High, Ellison was hit by a car and paralyzed from the neck down. With a strong support network of friends and family, Ellison nonetheless completed high school and was accepted to Harvard University ... more »