The Lollipop Kids Foundation is pleased to announce our 2nd Annual Charity Gala, Thursday October 6, 2011 from 6-10pm. This year the Gala will be held at the Carnegie Institution for Science at 1530 P Street NW in Washington, DC.
The Gala’s theme is “Celebrate Hope.” The Lollipop Kids Foundation believes that even when disabilities have no cure, hope sustains, motivates and enriches outcomes. Hope allows each one of us the ability to resist hoplessness and “giving up” – to keep going in the midst of what may seem insurmountable circumstances.
Hope is a choice, and once it is chosen, it allows the family, parent and child with disabilities to truly live, regardless of the diagnosis or the odds. The Lollipop Kids Foundation wants to inspire families to live life to the fullest.
Works of original art handcrafted by children with disabilities will be the centerpiece of the Gala, many of them featuring the Lollipop Kids Foundation’s guiding principles of “Love, Faith, Hope.” Funds raised from their sale will benefit our therapeutic swim and respite care programs for children with disabilities.
We are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker for the event will be Ms. Wheelchair 2005, Juliette Rizzo of Maryland. Ms. Rizzo has covered and coordinated national news stories as a journalist, carried the Olympic torch, and realized many of her other personal dreams and goals. Juliette empowers Americans with disabilities though her Ms. Wheelchair platform, “Power through Participation: Illuminating Opportunities for People with Disabilities.” She believes that community participation is more than having a physical presence; it is also about finding your identity through your involvement and personal contribution to community life.
http://www.mswheelchairamerica.org/mwa-winners.html#05
http://www.judyhoit.com/pageanthistory/rizzo.htm
At last year’s inaugural Lollipop Kids Foundation Charity Gala, we were proud to host over 150 attendees. This was an incredible turnout – at the time of the event, the Foundation had been in existence for less than a full year!