Row New York is proud to announce that it has received a $10,000 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The award was one of 69 grants totaling almost $425,000 awarded by the Reeve Foundation to nonprofit organizations nationwide that aid in providing more opportunities, access, and daily quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, their families, and caregivers. Created by the late Dana Reeve, the program has awarded 2,055 grants totaling over $15.6 million since 1999.
Row New York will use the grant to fund our adaptive rowing programming, which empowers people living with disabilities. Rowing is uniquely suited to people with disabilities. As stated in an article in Palaestra, a forum for physical education and recreation for people with disabilities,
“Adaptive rowing, for people who spend their waking hours in wheelchairs or on crutches, provides a respite, a chance to leave that chair or discard those crutches, a chance to think and feel – even look – like any able-bodied rower…. Adaptive rowing can help satisfy the quest for personal independence, physical self-sufficiency, mental self-dignity, and total freedom on the river.”
Row New York is pleased to be a Quality of Life grant recipient. The adaptive athletes we serve gain an incredible amount of confidence and increased sense of their own potential for achievement. Our coaches see it every day on the athletes’ faces. Those feelings of empowerment can continue thanks to The Reeve Foundation. We are truly grateful.
“The Reeve Foundation believes that each of the nearly six million Americans living with paralysis deserves access to the best programs and services available. The Quality of Life Grants Program supports other nonprofit organizations that not only believe in that same independence, but achieve great success in carrying out their programs’ missions,” said Peter T. Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. “We are honored to recognize these organizations which empower those affected by paralysis.”
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Quality of Life grants program was conceived by the late Dana Reeve to address the myriad needs of children and adults with paralysis and other mobility impairments and their families. Grants support critical life-enhancing and life-changing initiatives that improve physical and emotional health and increase independence. Funded projects offer a diversity of services and approaches: improving access; providing education and job training; sponsoring organized sporting activities; and much more. Quality of Life grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Row New York thanks once again our partners at The Reeve Foundation for their support of our organization, its mission, and our adaptive athletes.
Photo credit: NYC DOE District 75 teachers at our recent adaptive culminating event.
