Each year, the students in our Raising the Barre program create and complete a community outreach project. We are thrilled that, this year, our students have decided to host a THON dance party to fundraise for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation! Read below for a message from Raising the Barre to learn how to support.
Hello, Dancers and Parents!
Raising the Barre, BDSOPA’s community service group, is hosting a miniTHON event in support of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation (CPARF). The CPARF is the leading nonprofit organization in the world focusing on research and innovation for cerebral palsy and they work to improve the quality of every-day-life for people living with the disability.
Cerebral palsy is a lifelong physical disability caused by abnormal brain development that results in impaired movement. It is the most common physical disability globally: 1 in every 323 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy in the US, and one baby is born with the disorder every hour.
Recently, dance has been proposed as a therapeutic intervention for people with cerebral palsy and as members of the dance community, we understand the importance of dance being accessible to everyone. As people with cerebral palsy age, the opportunity for therapeutic intervention decreases as their mobility, strength, balance, etc. also decreases. As such, for patients with cerebral palsy, dance provides an environment that addresses both physical and social limitations.
Cerebral Palsy is severely underfunded and, with an average lifetime cost of over $1.2 million per person, the CPARF needs all the support it can get. It is important to us to not only raise awareness for Cerebral Palsy but also bring genuine change to people living with this disability. However, we can’t do this without your support! We have created a GoFundMe to make it easy to donate to this great cause. With your donation, we can help the CPARF fund more vital research, equipment, and early intervention to improve accessibility and inclusion for people with cerebral palsy.
On Saturday, June 10th, we will host our miniTHON event as a final celebration of this year's fundraising efforts, a fun afternoon of dance, activities (wear green in support of Cerebral Palsy awareness!), and gratitude for our BDSOPA community! To RSVP, please make a donation to our GoFundMe or email us at betsydaily@comcast.net. We'll send more details in the weeks to come and keep everyone updated on our efforts as we near our THON.