Kenzie's Helping Hands

Jessica Wimsatt from WEHT interviewed me yesterday about my e-NABLE and Lucky Fin Project endeavors. The story aired last night and was afterwards posted to their website, Facebook, and Twitter. The Facebook post alone has 4.5k views already! I’m so thankful for the awareness!! Check out the article here:  Mount Vernon soccer star making an impact for those with limb differences

This week, I got the privilege of coaching the most amazing kiddos in the world at  NubAbility ! We learned some soccer and some shoe tying, but most importantly, we learned how to overcome obstacles the world sets on us and the ones we set on ourselves. It was so moving to witness these campers’ confidence swell over the course of the week. I was so proud to show these kids their differences don’t have to be disabling– that they are perfectly capable to play sports at any level of competition they desire. NubAbility hosted 179 limb different campers last week and all of them were phenomenal! 

Guess what? Kenzie’s Helping Hands is officially registered as an e-NABLE community chapter!! This is such an exciting privilege! Every amputee deserves the option of a prosthetic, and I’m so proud to say Kenzie’s Helping Hands can make this deserved opportunity a reality.

Coming home from a Lucky Fin Weekend, I met up with Nolan in Anderson, Indiana. Nolan is a super cool kid who raises money with an annual 3v3 soccer tournament in Connersville, Indiana for  Limbitless Solutions . This organization is located at University of Central Florida and partnered with  e-NABLE . He saw my  interview with 44 News  awhile back whereupon he decided to get in touch with me. When I finally met him on Sunday he surprised me with a tournament T-shirt AND a check for my e-NABLE endeavors with the money he raised from the “Speed Kick” event he held at his tournament! I’m so thankful for Nolan’s generous support! Please check him out  here .

Friday night in Troy, Michigan, I got to meet Blakelee! Her family has bought a countless amount of Lucky Fin T-shirts from us this school year! Blakelee and I got to compare our “lucky fins,” and we discovered we are “lucky fin twins.” I love this little one with all my heart, and it was so great to meet her! I hope these pictures speak for themselves 

Just one year ago I attended my first Lucky Fin Project Weekend. This event is an opportunity for families who have someone with a hand or upper limb difference to get together to share, network, and celebrate with others like them. To be honest, my family had only discovered the Lucky Fin Project organization about a month before their annual Weekend last year. We were really unsure of what to expect, but the experience ended up changing our lives. It was so incredible to meet so many awesome people from all different places who do the most awesome things. So much has happened since then! I owe everything I do to this event. This year was no different. Around 500 people attended the Weekend this year, which holds the record for the highest attendance yet! As I mentioned in my post “Me too,” it’s the most amazing feeling to know you’re not alone and there are people in the world just like yourself. It also made me so proud to know my class raised $5,000 for Lucky Fin this year!

I’m so lucky that writer, Corey Woolsey, reached out to me about my newly printed e-NABLE Phoenix V2 trial hand. He interviewed me last week and got me a cool spot to debut in our local paper this week. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to spread awareness! Just in the past few days, I’ve had many people reach out to me and ask how they could help. These things really mean the world to me! Here is a link to the article:  Paul uses technology for a cause

I’ve had the awesome opportunity to discuss my projects with both Apex and QualEx Engineering firms in Mount Vernon. I loved interacting with the engineering professionals, as they all gave me really great ideas for the future. They were very appreciative of my work and I’m very thankful to have been able to share it with them!