Kim Taylor is a single mom to Max, who has Down syndrome and turns 3 next month; she blogs at Entirely True Adventures of Maxwell Bean. They live on the Jersey Shore. Their home is OK, if soggy, and in that way they're lucky. But Hurricane Sandy destroyed their car, a Kia Optima, which is a serious loss for them. Kim's in nursing school and works, and also uses her car to transport Max to school, doctor appointments and daily therapy. "We evacuated and moved the car higher but during the storm the water rushed through the houses and cars of my area, approximately three feet deep," she told me. "We had no idea the water would get that high."
If you have a kid with special needs, you know how important therapy sessions are. Little Max has missed his daily speech/occupational/physical therapies because Kim can't get him to them. She also needs to get Max to weekly medical appointments for which, she says, "we'll be negotiating borrowed rides."
I've put together a fundraiser to help Kim out. She didn't ask for it; in fact, she said if there's anyone I knew more in need to help them first. Like many of you, I've donated to some non-profits—American Red Cross Disaster Relief, the Disaster Relief Fund of The Arc | For People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Save The Children's Hurricane Sandy Children in Emergency Fund. These groups are helping people in far more dire straits than Kim is in. But as a special needs mom, my heart goes out to her.
Raising money to give Kim a jump-start on buying another car seems like something totally do-able, if we all get together and give.
Will you join me in helping out Kim and her Max?
Click here to go to the fundraiser page; I've kicked it off with a donation. The site doesn't charge a fee and so all of your contributions, minus a small PayPal fee, will go to Kim.
No donation is too small—$3, $5, $10, $20, it'll all add up. So please, pitch in. For this kid's sake.
If you have a child or family member with special needs affected by Sandy, or know of one, see this list of resources.
