(above) Pillar Elementary School student Mekhi trials the new power wheelchair funded by The Summit Foundation.
Summit Foundation Supports Special Needs School
Submitted by David Bishop
The Summit Foundation provided a $20,000 grant to Pillar Elementary School in Livingston, which serves students with severe disabilities and medical challenges. The grant supported the purchase of a power wheelchair that will be utilized to assess and train students in need of a power chair.
More than half of Pillar Elementary’s students require a wheelchair and many of these students are best served with a power wheelchair. “A more physically involved student often needs a power chair,” said Pillar Elementary School principal Hetty Kintiroglou. “Power mobility has the ability to increase a young student’s independence and opportunity to access their environment. This new power chair provides our team of therapists with a demonstration chair that can be used to assess students’ abilities and to help them to develop the skills they will need to operate their own chair. We are so grateful to The Summit Foundation for making it possible to get this chair, which will impact our students for years to come.”
Pillar Elementary School is a program of the Pillar Care Continuum. Pillar Care is a nonprofit organization that has been meeting the needs of infants, children and adults with disabilities since 1953. Its Pillar Elementary School and Pillar High School serve a total of more than 140 students. In addition, the agency operates an Early Intervention program that serves infants and toddlers directly in their homes, a Public School Therapies program that provides therapy to students in public schools, three day programs that serve adults with developmental disabilities, and 17 group homes that provide around-the-clock care and support.
The Summit Foundation’s stated purpose is “to assist, encourage and promote the well-being of humankind and primarily the inhabitants of the area comprising the City of Summit and its vicinity, regardless of race, color or creed.” The Summit Foundation has stayed true to its original mission and has continued to respond to the community as its needs have evolved.
