Sunday, November 28, 2010

Pumpkin Pie 5k

Thanksgiving morning, Mikayla, MV Junior Board members and friends participated in the Nazareth YMCA's 4th annual Pumpkin Pie 5k.





Mikayla is being pushed by her good friend, Ronnie.






They made it.......kudos, Ronnie and Mikayla!


Proceeds from this event allow the YMCA to provide services that many cannot obtain or afford elsewhere.

Halloween In Disney World

Junior board members whom presented at the ARC National Convention in Lake Buena Vista, Florida found time to enjoy Halloween in Disney!



They say everyone has a look - alike...............






Bo Peep, a.k.a. Mikayla, finds herself a bit sleepy after all the fanfare.


Monday, November 22, 2010

Painted Pigs to be Auctioned


Mikayla's Voice junior board member and friend to Mikayla, Logan, has taken on a fund raising project of his own.



Logan is leading a Sunday school class at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in painting piggy banks to benefit Mikayla's Voice. Logan plans on placing the painted ceramic pigs in local stores for collection of donations, but ultimately to be auctioned off before Christmas Day! A great gift-giving, fundraising idea all rolled into one.

Way to go, Logan!


*Picture from the archives of The Express-Times where you can found more pictures of the activity.

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Arc's National Convention

Some very exciting stuff is happening with Mikayla's Voice! The word is getting out that we are working hard to get the message out about children with disabilities; using Mikayla's voice to share her experience as a disabled child hoping that her experience will help disabled children around the world.

This fall we presented ourselves at the EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA SPECIAL EDUCATION ADMINISTRATOR'S CONFERENCE in Hershey, PA and most recently MV presented at The Arc's National Convention in Lake Buena Vista, Florida! Mikayla, Kim, and one of the book's authors and junior board member, Logan Houptley presented.



Below is what the Arc had to say about the dynamic trio:

Mikayla Resh, Student, Nazareth Area High School. is the inspira­tion for the book Our Friend Mikayla, written and illustrated by her third-grade classmates. Despite the severity of Mikayla's disabilities, her family has always strived to give her as normal a life as possible including her inclusion in regular education. Her friends' story of acceptance, understanding and friendship should be read by everyone regardless of age and has inspired Mikayla's family to start a 50l(c)(3) nonprofit organization. An acronym for the Voice Of Inclusion for Children Everywhere, "Mikayla's Voice" helps kids of all abilities share the message of inclusion. While Mikayla has never spoken a word, her friends and family have given her a "voice."




Kimberly Resh, Founder, Mikayla's Voice, never imagined Mikayla, who was born with a brain injury, would someday be a freshman in her local high school. Despite profound disabilities, Mikayla has been fully included in regular education since kindergarten. Kim­berly advocates for other students with special needs and has made numerous presentations on her daughter's inclusion to encourage other families, schools and communities to give inclusion a chance. Most significant was Kimberly's vision and coordination for the book, Our Friend Mikayla, written and illustrated by Mikayla's third-grade classmates. She is seeking funding so a copy of the
book may be available in every public elementary school library across the U.S. and has founded "Mikayla's Voice," a nonprofit organization to inspire kids of all abilities to share the message of inclusion.





Logan Houptley has been Mikayla's friend since the third-grade when their class worked together to write and illustrate Our Friend Mikayla, a book about having a friend with a disability. Since then, Logan has continued to promote the book and advocate for the in­clusion of children with disabilities. He is a founding member and currently serves as a junior executive board member for Mikayla's Voice, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that inspires kids of all abilities to share the message of inclusion. An exemplary student and school leader, Logan is a member the National Junior Honor Society, as well as his high school's student council and soccer team. A participant in the 2009 National Youth Leader Conference, Logan embodies the qualities of a great leader and friend.

Moving forward, MV is working to secure a grant in order to publish a second edition of "Our Friend Mikaylya." Please contact us if you are interested in helping us with this project, or would like to work with our board in another capacity.

Thanks for following here on Facebook and Twitter.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Annual Halloween Parade


Mikayla and her friends are fans of "Toy Story." Yesterday Mikayla, her sister and one of Mikayla's Voice junior board members dressed up as characters from the movie, and together they walked in our local Halloween parade.




Little Bo Peep a.k.a. Mikayla



Jessie a.k.a Lauren, Bo Peep and Barbie a.k.a Hannah



Costume Designer, Kim a.k.a. Mom with Bo Peep



Jessie and Barbie

Saturday, October 9, 2010

South Mall Community Days

Today South Mall on Lehigh Street, Allentown, PA hosted "Community Days," which Mikayla's Voice was a happy participant. It was an opportunity for area non-profit organizations to share information about their group, and offer fundraising items, such as our Inclusion Bands and Inclusion T-shirts.




It is always great fun to talk to children and their parents about inclusion and to see children be creative in how they color ladybugs to showing their individuality.







Today we met a special fourth grader whom shared with us how she is spending time with special needs student during her lunch period.





Kim is working on Mikayla's Halloween costume, which you'll be able to see in a future post following the town's Halloween parade next week!



Trust us it will certainly be a "Treat!"

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Authors Reunion

On Friday, September 24th, the authors of Our Friend Mikayla had the opportunity to get together to discuss the impact their book has had on inclusion in schools throughout the country. The students who are freshmen in high school were in third grade when they penned the book, and in fourth grade when it was published and released for sale.

Then..............


Now..............






The authors were excited to see one another and to reminisce about their time together in elementary school. Now in high school many of them are not in the same classes and do not see much of each other.



Posing with their third grade teacher whom will always be dear to them.

A Puzzled Winner

After Mikayla visited Penn-Bernville Elementary School on September 7th, a contest was held to see how students would depict inclusion. Penn-Bernville students drew an amazing number of awesome pictures to show what inclusion meant to them. After studying and judging countless pieces of artwork, Joshua, a fifth grader has been chosen the contest's winner.


Mikayla's Voice board members are proud of how Joshua and his school mates "stick out their necks" for inclusion.

The winning piece of artwork has been made into a puzzle; to go along with the theme of the contest "Piecing Inclusion Together."


Congratulations, Joshua!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Piecing Inclusion Together

The students at Penn-Bernville Elementary School are enthused to ask questions about Mikayla and Inclusion.



There were opportunities to see up close how to work Mikayla's communication switch.




Students listened intently to instructions about a contest involving the creation of a unique puzzle to depict the concept of inclusion.



Check future posts to find out who won the contest!


*Photos taken Tuesday, September 7th

Friday, September 10, 2010

Penn-Bernville Elemenatary......No Place for Hate School

Mikayla and friends accepted an invitation to speak with students at Penn-Bernville Elementary School on Tuesday, September 7th.



Penn-Bernville Elementary School is a K-6 school located in Bernville, PA 19506



It was exciting to share the book Our Friend Mikayla with the student body as they looked at the illustrations together on an overhead screen.





We had a great time! In future posts we will share with you a project the students are working on to "piece" inclusion together at Penn-Bervnille Elementary.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

D is for Diversity!



Mikayla is holding one of her favorite ladybugs created last evening at Coca Cola Park. However, the young lady who created this piece of artwork was gone before we could ask for her name. We are trying to locate this creative child whom came up with a wonderful acronym for "Diversity," which she used as a border on the picture.

If you are reading this post, or if you are the parent of the piece's creator reading this post, please email Mikayla's mom, Kim, so she could discuss with you featuring the piece on a larger piece of artwork being created from all the ladybugs colored at the Iron Pigs' game on Friday, September 3, 2010.

What an awesome job! Kim's email address is kim@mikaylasvoice.org

Community Nights at Coca Cola Park

Thank you Iron Pigs for a warm welcome, which allowed Mikayla's Voice to generate awareness about inclusion with fans young and old last evening.

 
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There was so much activity and excitement at our table that it would take pages to post all the pictures of the children whom stopped by our table to visit with Mikayla and to color posters of lady bugs. (Double click on the collage for a larger view and hopefully find your picture posted.)



Each lady bug was colored differently showing just how our differences make us shine!

Our bulletin board was filled to capacity TWICE, and now they are being put together to create a paper quilt.

Fabulous job, Iron Pigs' Fans! Thank you for your support.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

We Have A Winner!


We are excited to share the news that one of the glow in the dark RED ladybugs has been found.

During the Readington Balloon Festival, 7 year old, Victoria of Woodbridge, NJ bought a package of ladybugs hoping she'd be a lucky winner, and sure enough she found a lucky ladybug in her pack. Victoria's mom shared with us that after wearing the bands all day, Victoria took them off to go to bed and put the pile of ladybugs on her mom's nightstand. Later when Victoria's mom turned off the light she noticed the ladybug glowing in the dark on her nightstand.

Victoria is thrilled to have won 4 tickets to Dorney Park in Allentown, PA and we are thrilled for her. Congratulations, Victoria!

****There is still one ladybug to be found, so keep on buying the Incluzion Bandz and you might be a lucky winner too!*****

Thursday, August 5, 2010

28th Readington Balloon Festival





The weekend of July 23 was fun and exciting, as well as, profitable for Mikayla's Voice. As a vendor at the 28th Readington Balloon Festival Mikayla's Voice was able to share the message of inclusion with hundreds of people. The sale of Incluzion Bands at the Festival may have produced the first prize winning glow in the dark lady bug (details to follow in a later post). Additionally, those working the weekend were able to mingle and meet some very interesting people!





Michael Glen was nice enough to pose for a picture with the Junior Board members of Mikayla's Voice. At 31 years of age Michael became the first paraplegic hot air balloon pilot in the world. He grew up an athlete with a thirst for challenge. Two months after his 21st birthday, Michael was involved in a single car rollover that left him paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury. Nearly 10 years later, despite all the physical and mental challenges,he accomplished his lifelong dream of becoming a balloon pilot. He is the first wheel chair hot air balloon pilot. You can read more about Michael Glen by visiting his site Rolling Pilot







Also among those entertaining the crowds at the Readington Balloon Festival was none other than Hannah Montana's Emily Osment. How lucky were Mikayla and younger sister, Lauren to get backstage passes to visit with Emily?






From dawn to dusk, each day was was filled with fun and shared by young and old alike!