Get the Keys to a Van!
Donation protected
Thank you for visiting our story and the consideration of helping us live a life that will allow us to thrive. Any money raised will solely be used for the purchase of an accesible vehicle that will allow freedom.
My name is Kristen. Welcome to my village. It is filled with some amazing friends, but without adequate transportation it is too small. Congenital Myopathy Muscular Dystrophy has a way of constricting your life, especially when you have to wait as long as 90 minutes for a ride on public transportation in my community.
I want more for my two sons, 15-year-old Michael and 13-year-old Tommy, who also suffer from Muscular Dystrophy. I want more for myself. I want to get my college degree. I want to work. I want to travel out of my city. I want to spend more time volunteering at our inner city church, coordinating, planning and leading small groups for parents and women. I want to give back to my community by continuing to organize meals and care for those in need. Think of me as a hero in the making.
I just need a cape in the form of reliable transportation. I want the freedom to drive my sons to school, take them to visit out-of-town family members including my parents and brother, to come and go freely, not constrained by a bus route. We want to participate in life, fully, completely.
We can’t do that without a van. When the boys’ father moved out, we lost the only able-bodied person in our immediate family. Muscular Dystrophy is a progressive disease and as the boys and I journey through life, it is getting harder to physically move. The boys and I need a form of transportation that will grow and change with us. Even the bus is too much on the harder days, managing the stairs and up from seats are near impossible for the boys, but we make the best of the difficult situation we are in. Though our village is our strength, people are busy with their own lives, we are seeking self reliance.
Everyone has struggles, ours are mostly physical. It is a barrier that can be broken down. I want to smash through it with a van.
My name is Kristen. Welcome to my village. It is filled with some amazing friends, but without adequate transportation it is too small. Congenital Myopathy Muscular Dystrophy has a way of constricting your life, especially when you have to wait as long as 90 minutes for a ride on public transportation in my community.
I want more for my two sons, 15-year-old Michael and 13-year-old Tommy, who also suffer from Muscular Dystrophy. I want more for myself. I want to get my college degree. I want to work. I want to travel out of my city. I want to spend more time volunteering at our inner city church, coordinating, planning and leading small groups for parents and women. I want to give back to my community by continuing to organize meals and care for those in need. Think of me as a hero in the making.
I just need a cape in the form of reliable transportation. I want the freedom to drive my sons to school, take them to visit out-of-town family members including my parents and brother, to come and go freely, not constrained by a bus route. We want to participate in life, fully, completely.
We can’t do that without a van. When the boys’ father moved out, we lost the only able-bodied person in our immediate family. Muscular Dystrophy is a progressive disease and as the boys and I journey through life, it is getting harder to physically move. The boys and I need a form of transportation that will grow and change with us. Even the bus is too much on the harder days, managing the stairs and up from seats are near impossible for the boys, but we make the best of the difficult situation we are in. Though our village is our strength, people are busy with their own lives, we are seeking self reliance.
Everyone has struggles, ours are mostly physical. It is a barrier that can be broken down. I want to smash through it with a van.
Organizer
Kristen Keys
Organizer
Grand Rapids, MI