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When Shelly Kerchner started kayaking at a Pennsylvania lake, she was "free of metal, free to go where she wants, free of the need for assistance, except when getting into and out of the boat," she writes on her Go Fund Me page.
That's why she launched Open Waters for All, a fund-raising campaign to pay for an adaptive kayak launcher at Quemahoning Lake.
Kerchner, who was told by a doctor she would never be able to use her hands again after a seizure a decade ago, has regained use of her arms and hands, taught herself to stand and even walk a few steps, and discovered the joy of kayaking at Quemahoning Lake.
But a year ago, she underwent rotator cuff surgery and was told to avoid being lifted into or out of a kayak to protect her shoulders.
Not one to sit in her wheelchair on the shore, Kerchner launched Open Waters for All, a fund-raising campaign to pay for the acquisition and installation of an adaptive kayak launcher at Quemahoning Lake.
With carefully designed step-seats, strategically placed grab bars, and rollers, these launchers enable people with limited use of their legs to enter and exit kayaks by themselves.
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
"We are so used to being almost permanently online that we don't really appreciate what we have and do not really know what to do when we're not," Joni Mitchell wrote in her 1970s song "Big Yellow...more
Foundation: Lancaster County Community Foundation
In 2024, Lancaster County, Pa., will celebrate the 100th anniversary of a group of "visionaries" who "came together to shape a better future for Lancaster County," says Sam Bressi, president and CEO...more
Canada is putting its money where its mouth is, with a $2.5 million investment in five projects in India meant to help the country's poor, the Toronto Star reports. "Many of these novel projects...more
If you're looking for a good time while raising money for a good cause, try golf. The Salvation Army in Virginia Beach held its annual " Swings Fore Strings" fundraiser on Saturday, hoping to...more
"Many of us, at some point in time, have been told in our lives that we are unloveable. By our parents, partners, husbands, children, friends, or society," says transgender activist Zainab...more
Foundation: Community Foundation of Southern Indiana
"When you see the kids interacting and them building communitythat's what it is," says Camp Quality Kentuckiana executive director Eddie Bobbitt. "It's bigger than fishing and pie fights." The...more
Foundation: Community Giving Foundation
"There's one simple statement that we see a lotthat is 'be kind,'" said Kara Seesholtz, CEO of the Community Giving Foundation, after students from 15 school districts in central Pennsylvania handed...more
The Alzheimer's Association's Forget-Me-Not program has a new toy in its arsenal: fidget blankets. The Madison Hospital in Alabama has received a $2,500 grant from the Huntsville Hospital...more
Foundation: Hawaii Community Foundation
If you're in your 60s or older and looking for adult day care in Maui, you're in luck. The nonprofit Maui Adult Day Care Centers lost its West Maui Center in the Lahaina fire last August, but...more
If you're looking for a place to get buff and healthy, the YMCA in Corry, Pa., might be just the place for you. That's because two new employees there have joined the staff, the Times of...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Calgary Social Enterprise Offers High-Tech Services by People with Autism
Meticulon, a project of Autism Calgary Association in partnership with the federal government and the Sinneave Family Foundation, operates as a social enterprise that renders high-tech services provided by people with autism, leveraging their natural abilities at requiring attention to detail, repetition, and sequencing.
