Dawn Byholm is on a mission to make Grand Marais an easier place for people with physical disabilities to get around. Fortunately, she has found others who share her sentiments, and they’re doing something about it.
For months now, a group of people including Byholm, ISD 166 parent Jeff Kern, school board member Mary Sanders, grant writer Cindy Pendergraft and Superintendent Beth Schwarz has been working on ways to raise enough money to install handicap-accessible doors at the Cook County High School “eagle door” and at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts (ACA) main entrance.
A grant of $3,000 from Arrowhead Electric Cooperative’s Operation Roundup has already brought them almost a third of the $10,000 that will be needed. The committee has now organized a talent show to bring them even closer to their goal.
The noncompetitive event, to be held 7:00 p.m. Saturday, January 23, 2010 at the ACA, will bring together talents of many kinds – both performing and financial. Performers of all ages and levels of experience are welcome, but the audience is just as important, since admission donations will help pay for the new doors.
During intermission, CCHS culinary arts students will provide “delicious treats” in the lobby, Sanders said in an email to Boreal Access subscribers, where additional musical entertainment will enhance the evening.
“Your talents can help open doors,” Sanders wrote. “Your contributions will assist both students and adults who now depend on others to help them through the current doors. … We know that Cook County has lots of talent to be enjoyed.
Who knows what new talent might be discovered!”
Byholm hopes this is the first of many improvements the community will make so that people with disabilities can have better access to places able-bodied people reach without even thinking about it. “We’re trying to promote handicap awareness in our community,” Byholm said. “I used to go with my mom in her wheelchair, and I discovered there’s not a lot of places she could get into. …It’s the little things that people don’t think about.”
To share your performing talents on January 23, call Mary Sanders at (218) 370-1303 or email her at msanders@boreal.org by noon on Thursday, January 21.
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