DEER LAKE, N.L. — Life is about to become a lot easier for Kaitlyn Halfyard and her family.
Just before Christmas, Keys for Kaitlyn, a fundraising initiative to purchase a wheelchair-accessible van for the nine-year-old girl Deer Lake girl and her family, met its goal.
Kaitlyn has cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
With $76,000 raised the family is purchasing a 2018 Toyota Sienna with a side-loading ramp from Oxford Mobility in Ontario.
“It’s unbelievable that we could raise this amount of money in the amount of time that we did it, but it doesn’t surprise me one bit with the community we have here.” Karla Halfyard
Karla Halfyard, Kaitlyn’s mom, said the van has never been used and is ready to go with everything the family needs.
“That meant no downtime for us to wait to get one ordered,” she said adding they expect to have it before the end of the month.
Karla said they don’t yet have a final cost on the van, but she’s sure it will be covered by the money that’s been raised — $71,000 from fundraisers and a $5,000 grant from the province.
“It’s unbelievable that we could raise this amount of money in the amount of time that we did it, but it doesn’t surprise me one bit with the community we have here.”
She said the people of Deer Lake have proven they’re great supporters of the community.
“They pull together time and time again,” said Karla.
It all started with a bake sale that raised about $4,000 and ended in October with $10,000 raised through a take-out supper, online auctions and grand-in-your-hand fundraisers.
With Kaitlyn growing it’s getting harder to get her around, especially in the winter.
“Getting her to and from the vehicle is always the hardest. And just lifting her because she’s such a solid weight now that you’re pulling on her arms, you’re pulling on her legs, you’re twisting her in and out.”
The new van, with its side-loading ramp will make that easier, and should last the family for some time.
Karla and her husband, Craig Halfyard, recently purchased and renovated a home with a garage allowing them to drive the van inside to manoeuver Kaitlyn in and out
Access to the rear seats will allow them to easily accommodate their other two children, Sarah, seven, and Natalie, almost three, as well.
Karla isn’t sure if Kaitlyn is fully aware of what’s happening.
“But she loves going for drives, so it’ll be interesting to see how she reacts when we push her wheelchair into the van for the first time,” she said.
“We’re very anxious to get it.”
Kaitlyn has touched a lot of people since fundraising began, many of whom have been following the progress on the Keys for Kaitlyn Facebook page.
Karla said it's their plan to continue the Facebook page and use it as a means to share Kaitlyn’s daily life — her routine, the obstacles she faces, her abilities and her achievements.
Kaitlyn’s joy for school is one of her achievements they’ve seen develop over the past year and a half.
She said the teachers and assistants at Elwood Elementary have done a lot of work with her.
“And we’re blown away when we go up to the school and see some of the things that she can do.”
Twitter: WS_DianeCrocker