Abilities For Kids Inc., a nonprofit that originated as KindredCare Therapeutics in 2010, came to fruition under founder and current CEO Connie Chan, who sought to fill a need in the community she found was severely lacking.
"We started the program because we were frustrated with the paucity of pediatric services in our area," Chan told the Sun, whose son has cerebral palsy due to premature birth. "We discovered that no one else wanted to do this kind of business because of the huge overhead costs with incredibly low revenue field."
Unable to find a service that would could suit her son's specific needs, Chan decided to start a facility herself. But Abilities For Kids isn't limited to just helping children with cerebral palsy, as the company provides multidisciplinary therapeutic services to anyone under age 18 with special needs or who suffers from any neuromuscular disorder or injury.
The facility, which includes a heated indoor pool, hosts various services to help attendees improve on fine and gross motor developments and increase cardiovascular circulation and flexibility. These services include physical, occupational, play, and aquatic therapy, acupuncture, adaptive swim, and more. Swim lessons are also available all year round.
Each individual is assessed by the Abilities For Kids team in order to choreograph specific services tailored to their needs, Chan said.
"We've found many children with various neuromuscular conditions needing our service." Chan said. "Unfortunately, most of these children are from families with economic difficulties who aren't able to pay for the services needed."
Through donations from the public, Chan hopes to start a scholarship program to benefit these families and help fund utilities and maintenance costs. The funds are needed more than ever this season, Chan said, due to ongoing break-ins and vandalism.
The most recent incident occurred during the first week of December. Chan arrived to work one morning to find one of the front doors pried open. Among the items missing are a camera, a wheelchair, and an iPad.
"We use the iPads to record each child's progress," Chan said. "They get excited when they see how far they've come, they'll look and go, 'Wow!' This isn't the first time one has been stolen, and they're so hard to replace."
Only two days later, after boarding the front door up, one of the facility's windows was broken. Fortunately, nothing was stolen this time. Chan also found graffiti and one of the facility's walls stained black from an apparent bonfire. The surrounding ground was covered with trash and burnt materials.
"That was what broke the camel's back for me," Chan said. "We're exhausted and very low on spirit. We hope that we can gather enough funds to take care of immediate financial needs and then build a scholarship fund, from which children of lower economic families may draw from to receive services."
Immediate needs include repairing the door and window as well as repainting the walls that were damaged. Interested parties may visit the facility's GoFundMe page. Abilities For Kids Inc. is located at 522 E. Main St., Santa Maria. Call (805) 925-1107 or visit abilitiesforkids.org for more information.
Highlights:
• Evergreen Video in Orcutt holds its last day for rentals on Dec. 31. The store announced in November it was going out of business after 30 years. A final sale of all movies and other items starts Jan. 4 at 11 a.m. Call (805) 934-5185 or visit egvideostore.com for more info.
• Episodes of the History Channel's American Pickers will be filmed throughout California in 2019. Mike Wolfe, Frank Fritz, and the team are looking to hear from individuals with private collections of antiques to showcase. Call (855) OLD-RUST or email [email protected] for more info.
Calendar Editor Caleb Wiseblood wrote this week's Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, mail, or email at [email protected].
