Kayla's Directory is sponsoring skating lessons for children with special needs. Lessons will begin on Wednesday, January 4th from 4:00-5:00 PM at Cairns Arena in South Burlington. Lessons will run for 6 consecutive weeks. Lessons will be organized into small groups. Groups will be based on the needs of every child. We might offer another group starting February 15th depending on the number of children who are interested. Your child will be able to rent skates at the rink or bring their own. They also will have to wear a helmet. Please email skruk@kaylasdirectory.org if interested. … [Read more...]
The man behind the scenes
The Kayla’s Directory website was created a year ago. The website would not have been possible without the help of a generous, humorous, and knowledgeable individual. I like to call him “my confidant”. I spoke to my confidant about trying to create a website that would have a positive impact on individuals with special needs, their families, and our community. I am a mother living in Vermont, raising a daughter with special needs, have no background in business or web design, and REALLY lack technology skills... and I want to create a good website and start a nonprofit! My confidant (who resides outside of Vermont) listened to my idea and was willing to help me take this project on! I was a little fish swimming in a very big pond. Completely different from the typical work and businesses he interacts with on a daily basis. I am sure he was thinking how hard could this be? I think I might have thrown him for a loop or two … [Read more...]
Compassion, Cooking, and Clarina Cravins
Clarina Cravins is the Learning Center Coordinator at Healthy Living who runs cooking classes for children and adults. Kayla has successfully and independently taken cooking classes from Clarina for several years. Clarina has an amazing talent for working with children, especially children with special needs. Her easygoing personality allows children to connect with her while they learn the art of cooking. Over a year ago, I asked Clarina if she would be interested in running a cooking specifically for children who have special needs. She thought this was a great idea and was eager to help out. The 8-week cooking class started in September and was a huge success. Sixteen children with various disabilities participated in a 4-week-long cooking class. It takes a lot of patience to work with children in general. When you throw in children who have diagnoses highlighting their difficulties paying attention, lack the … [Read more...]
“Cocktails for a Cause” a huge success
On October 15th, Kayla’s Directory had its first fundraiser, “Cocktails for a Cause.” This event would not have been possible without the support of incredible friends, family, and an amazing community. I would like to thank our committee members: Nancy Warren, Katherine Marsala, Liz Snyder, Gretchen Beaudin, and Nancy Westbrook for helping to organize, put together, and run the event. I would also like to thank our board members for continued support and networking for the silent auction during this busy time: Nancy Westbrook, Erynne Ross, Laura Bonazinga Bouyea, Kevin Pellon, and Josh Kruk. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Sally and Terry Ryan for finding auction items, running errands, and helping out with Kayla. A very special thanks goes to Grant Robertson (pictured above), a Essex High School Student, who spent HOURS with his camera in order to put together an amazing and touching film for the event. An extra … [Read more...]
Magical!
Project Prima is an incredible dance program that started last year at UVM. The class is held once a month and is for children with special needs. It is truly a magical program! Emily Fixx, a dancer, wrote an amazing blog about the program. I owe much of the credit for our program, Project Prima, to the two founders of Ballet Viridis, who have both recently graduated from UVM. I met them in my early morning ballet class during my second semester of freshman year, when they had only just began talking about their desire to start a ballet club. They asked me if I wanted to come to a sort of “test rehearsal” with a few other girls to see if we would all be interested in starting the club together. From then on we were hooked. We started dancing more and more each week, first in the racquetball courts in the gym, and only occasionally getting to use the big dance studio on campus. After many meetings and a lot of paperwork, we … [Read more...]