Blythedale Receives Grant from Reeve Foundation

VALHALLA, N.Y. - March 14, 2013 - PRLog -- Blythedale Children’s Hospital is proud to announce that it has received a $5,000 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.  The award was one of 76 grants totaling almost $427,000 awarded by the Reeve Foundation to nonprofit organizations nationwide. The Reeve Foundation provide opportunities, access, and improved quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, their families, and caregivers. Created by the late Dana Reeve, the program has awarded 2,131 grants totaling over $16 million since 1999.

Blythedale Children’s Hospital will use the grant to purchase a SMART Table for the Hospital’s Early Childhood Center, which serves preschoolers with special medical needs. This high-tech, collaborative learning center features a large LCD display and encourages interaction with more than 1,500 downloadable activities and applications. Designed to accommodate children in a wheelchair or who may require other medical equipment, the SMART Table is ideal for those with limited motor skills or impaired mobility.

"We are very grateful to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for funding this important piece of equipment,” said Blythedale President and CEO Larry Levine. "We are committed to restoring function, improving mobility and fostering independence in our children with spinal cord injury or illness. This gift will greatly help us in our efforts to accomplish those important goals.”

"The Reeve Foundation’s Quality of Life Grants Program has always been a cornerstone of one of our core beliefs, the power of we. By supporting organizations, like Blythedale, that align with the same beliefs as ours, we are better able to help our community members live more independently,” said Peter T. Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. "We are pleased to reward a number of tremendous organizations for their efforts.”

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Quality of Life grants program was conceived by the late Dana Reeve to address the myriad needs of children and adults with paralysis and other mobility impairments and their families. Grants support critical life-enhancing and life-changing initiatives that improve physical and emotional health and increase independence. Funded projects offer a diversity of services and approaches: improving access; providing education and job training; sponsoring organized sporting activities; and much more. Quality of Life grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Award #1U59DD000838).

About the Reeve Foundation
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. We meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s standards for charity accountability and hold the BBB’s Charity Seal. The Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) is a program of the Reeve Foundation, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Award No. 1U59DD000838. For more information, please visit our website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-539-7309.