2022

Jett Foundation — Soaring at Camp Promise

Camp Promise-East celebrated their 10th anniversary with a sky-high celebration! What started over a decade ago with only a handful of campers is now their largest camp each summer, serving more than 50 campers with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular disorders. This year included some veteran campers, and many new faces as well, who wrapped up “a summer full of on-the-ground magic” by soaring above camp at sunrise in a fully accessible hot air balloon – a first for most of the kids! Campers were reminded of what makes Camp Promise special: fun, freedom, independence, and magic.

Lighthouse Louisiana — Camp Lighthouse Excursions

Lighthouse Louisiana’s mission is to empower people with vision impairment through services, employment, advocacy, and special experiences. This year’s Dralla grant funded 5 local summer excursions for 14 vision-impaired youth during the week-long Camp Lighthouse, “so that these kids could feel like kids” while engaging in activities that otherwise may not be made available to them. Highlights of the field trips for the kids were: an unforgettable day at the beach, a day on the ropes course, and their own day at the swim park/pool!

Paradox Sports — Adaptive Ice Climbing at Ouray, Colorado

For their 14th year, Paradox Sports spent the weekend in Ouray Ice Park, embarking on some of the world's best adaptive ice climbing. Dralla funds helped Paradox create world-class climbing routes for people with physical challenges that included: upper and/or lower limb difference, visual impairment, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and neurological deficits.

From the moment the participants set foot in Ouray, they felt a sense of community. Beginning on Friday, they went out to dinner as a group to discuss how the next two days were going to work. Waking up on Saturday, as a group, they had a ‘delicious breakfast’ and headed into the canyon. Just getting to the ice climbing spot was half the journey – it was tricky, slippery, and breathtakingly gorgeous with vista views. Once to the ice falls, the all-day ice climbing began: a full day of amazing climbing complete with a burrito lunch, followed by a group dinner that night. On Sunday, after a group breakfast, they had another half a day of climbing in the canyon followed by a trip to the hot springs to decompress.

Palms to Pines ParaSports — Adaptive Sports Day at Pathfinder Ranch

Dralla funds were used to provide an ‘unforgettable’ weekend at Pathfinder Ranch in Mountain Center, California. Participants with mobility challenges – and their families – were able to learn and enjoy all aspects of horsemanship, rock wall climbing, archery and paddling throughout the weekend.

Shirley Ryan Ability Lab — Top Golf and Arcade Day

Originally planned as a wilderness adventure day for inner-city kids with physical challenges, at a facility outside of Chicago, Shirley Ryan had to change plans due to unforeseen issues at the wilderness center. They quickly pivoted to an exciting day of adaptive golf at the renowned Top Golf facility as well as a fun-filled arcade experience. Kids were able to participate in adaptive golf, no matter what level of ability, and when they weren’t playing Top Golf with their friends the participants and their families had all-access to a full arcade of amazing games. For many of the participants it was their first time experiencing both, proving to be an unforgettable day for all!

The Orthotics and Prosthetics Activities Foundation’s OPAF FIRST Swing Golf Clinics

OPAF hosted an extremely popular “First Swing” golf clinic in Houston, TX. They had over 242 attendees over 3.5 days and over 35 volunteers including O&P students from nearby Baylor and TIRR Memorial Hermann. This free clinic was open to kids, teens and adults with limb loss and/or limb difference, with professionals on-hand to teach everyone how to successfully hit a golf ball. Participant breakdown included: 74 individuals living without both arms or more, 44 quad limb loss/limb difference, 18 congenital limb difference, 15 bilateral upper limb trauma, and 42 limb loss/limb different individuals attending for the first time. The event was also open to the family of all participants. Said one prosthetist of his Bahamian patient in attendance, “This event was amazing. Nick went from never hitting a golf ball to hitting the ball well – he now wants to take up golf!”

World Baseball Academy — UP TO BAT Family Fun Day

The "Up To Bat" program is a five-week inclusive adaptive baseball camp for children with disabilities AND their families. The final day of the program was a Dralla-funded "Family Fun Day" which was an unforgettable day celebrating these kids with physical challenges in a special and meaningful way. The Family Fun Day took place on a beautiful artificial turf baseball field with an array of on-the-field activities, game play along with a shared meal between the families, participants, staff and volunteers.

Stories were shared that reflected the gratitude of parents that had never been able to have their traditional athlete kids be able to "play a game" on the same field as their child with a disability. “The moments were precious!” The Grant Award also funded specialized adaptive baseballs and hats and tees for everyone.

Coachella Valley Youth Golf Foundation’s Learning to Play Golf with The ParaMobile

Founded in 2008 and part of an international youth development organization, First Tee - Coachella Valley's mission is to impact young people's lives through the game of golf, and the Dralla Foundation funds made it possible for kids with disabilities to use the state-of-the-art Paramobile golf cart. It was truly unforgettable for these children who, because of physical limitations, had been unable to stand up, swing a golf club and hit a ball down a fairway. To be able to get around the course, enjoy the outdoors on a beautiful green grass course and play golf with their friends was a life changing experience for many. The 9-week program had over 16 students use the equipment over multiple sessions, sparking what may be the next generation of paragolfers!

GNOME, Inc. — Happy Camp

An EPIC WaveFest was held at South Shore beach in Little Compton, RI on September 10, 2022! We hosted 23 Athletes and their families for an awesome day of memory making on the waves, on the beach, and around the campfire. We are truly grateful to the Dralla Foundation for making this event extra awesome with their creative input and awesome swag to make everyone feel a little extra special!

Gateway Community Services’ Adaptive ICE Experience

Dralla funding provided an unforgettable day on the ice at Conway Arena in Nashua, NH for the exclusive use of our families who have kids with physical challenges. Northeast Passage of Durham, NH provided adaptive equipment and professional assistance to make sure everyon could participate. Activities included ice skating, sled hockey, games and festival-type fun including special mascots/characters, balloon art and photo booth. Throughout the day participants and their families enjoyed a hot cocoa bar, ice cream and pizza!

Pennsylvania Center for Adapted Sports’ Soaring and Exploring Adventure

“Soaring and Exploring with Dralla” provided the adaptive athletes of Team PCAS and their families a weekend of epic exploring in and around the Rocky Mountains. We traveled to Colorado from Pennsylvania for Junior Nationals (a week-long adaptive sport meet held every year in various locations around the country), and to kick off the week we wanted to give the kids some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to explore the West.

We started the weekend with a sunrise hot air balloon ride, an hour-long soaring adventure where participants were treated to incredible views of the Rocky Mountains and gained a whole new perspective on the area!  We then traveled to Estes Park where the participants enjoyed a trail ride on horseback through the Rocky Mountains.

Many of these children struggle to go on long hikes as they tend to fatigue quickly. On horseback, they were all able to explore Rocky Mountain National Park in ways they never could on foot. Time out was taken for short hikes in the park, followed by an afternoon of fishing – a first for many of our kids. Thanks to Dralla, this was truly a weekend of unforgettable experiences for everyone in attendance!