I knew creating Kayla’s Directory would be an endeavor and less than six months in, it has been even more demanding, challenging, sometimes frustrating, yet always exciting and very rewarding than I ever imagined. It has been more than a full time job for someone who already is employed and has a family, including a child with special needs. Building, maintaining and growing Kayla’s Directory appropriately requires not only more time than I alone can commit but also an assortment of skills and experience that I do not always have. Consequently, I rely on a number of other people to assist me and I cannot thank them enough. Friends, family, associates and sometimes people who were complete strangers have helped me with such things as editing, networking and marketing to say nothing of navigating legal and technical issues. Today I would like to bring attention to one of the latest additions to this team of volunteers – Madi Litchfield.
You might know Madi as number 30 and the goalie on the UVM Women’s hockey team. While she is the last line of defense on that team, with the team at Kayla’s directory, she is an offensive powerhouse. Madi has agreed to manage the social media aspects of Kayla’s Directory which includes such platforms as Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and others. Although I am aware of many of these platforms and recognize their importance as communication and marketing vehicles for Kayla’s Directory, for most part I am at best a passive participant. Madi brings both the knowledge and experience of today’s youth to the team to better exploit these opportunities and I have already seen her impact on Kayla’s Directory’s web-site statistics.
More importantly than the skills and experience Madi brings to the team, she also brings a fantastic attitude and an clear understanding of the challenges faced by children with special needs. She has known Kayla through Team Impact and the UVM Women’s Hockey team for two years and has been fantastic at encouraging Kayla and making sure that she has felt part of the team. Kayla is very close to several of her UVM teammates but has always felt that Madi was special.
And indeed, Madi is. Her involvement and compassion for individuals with specials needs goes far beyond Team Impact. Madi has been involved in numerous activities involving Special Olympics of Vermont. She was part of the program called, Healthy Ambassadors, which keeps Special Olympic Athletes in shape and builds healthy eating habits. She also is part of Special Olympics and the University of Vermont Advisory Committee (SOVT) to bring together difference areas of campus that work with SOVT in their efforts to build off each other and not duplicate services efforts.
Kayla often says, “I just want to be part of a team”. I think this is a reflection of both her desire to connect with others in the community in meaningful, normal manners and of her very positive experience with the UVM Women’s Hockey team. I cannot express how grateful and happy I am to have the team at Kayla’s Directory now include a member of the team that Kayla is so attached to in Madi. Like on the ice, Madi brings the work ethic, skills, and desire to be the best to Kayla’s Directory. Perhaps most importantly, she brings the patience and understanding that she has always shown with Kayla to discussions and meetings with me, a woman who is not known to be the particularly technically and social-network aware!
There are many people who help me with Kayla’s Directory and I could easily write a blog about each and every one of them. As I mentioned above, they have helped me in numerous ways to launch Kayla’s Directory and position it to have a greater and greater positive impact on our community and for families and their children with special needs as time goes on. I want to thank them all for the tireless and volunteered effort they have provided thus far and look forward to continuing working with them as Kayla’s Directory continues to grow.