Any time an 81-year-old takes a nasty fall, visions of broken hips dance in your head. While Ken Pridgeon managed to dodge that bullet during a recent tumble, his right hand didn’t fare so well. And that is a scary thing for a lifelong painter … Continue readingPainter’s mission in life is to honor fallen soldiers
Several times a month I walk the campus of Lee College in search of students to interview. That’s the fun part. The not-so-fun part is finding a place to park. On this particular morning I opted for the auxiliary lot down the street. Good call, as … Continue readingForeign exchange student from Brazil growing up fast
“I really enjoy seeing our Opportunity Center clients succeed in life and accomplish things they never thought they could. “I saw a little girl today who mentioned that she just wrote her name, which was a big achievement for her. It’s something other people take … Continue readingStudents learn skills to help them land jobs
“One of my client’s goals was to work at Golden Corral. So I arranged an interview with the manager, and the two of us went over there. “He was so nervous, I think he drank like 14 Dr Peppers waiting on the manager because it … Continue readingClient takes job interview into his own hands
“We’re focused on helping mentally and physically challenged people become as independent as possible in their lives and in their community. “We start at age 16 for school kids, and we even have a 78-year-old man in the program. Whatever age, being able to see … Continue reading‘I like being able to positively impact people’s lives’
“Owen was diagnosed about two years ago with a mild form of autism, and he was speech delayed. When I moved in with my son to help, the only thing Owen was saying at that time was ‘no.’ He was talking very little. Very little … Continue readingAutistic grandson is making huge strides
“One of the challenges we see at times is alignment of pediatricians with the parents’ sense of urgency that something may be wrong with their young child. There is so much research that indicates that when mom says something is wrong with that baby, 70 … Continue readingEarly childhood intervention can work wonders
“I have an older child, so I noticed there was a difference in the progress between the two of them. Ryan talked at an earlier age, but Liam wasn’t talking at all. I started to wonder and research about when I should expect him to … Continue readingSon’s speech improvements ‘a huge deal’
“My 10th grade year in high school, a classmate was in football practice when he ran into a guy with his head down. He broke his neck. So he’s paralyzed from the neck down. “At the time, I didn’t think the family pushed him hard … Continue readingHigh school incident motivates her to help others
“My left knee blew out about two years ago. It got to the point where the pain felt like someone was driving a knife under my kneecap. I bulled my way through it for a while, but I finally realized it was just wearing me … Continue readingPhysical therapy helping her become active again