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Suzie was born 13 weeks premature, suffering several strokes during birth, which resulted in her experiencing a form of cerebral palsy. A few months later, Angela and Greg Tipton adopted her. Now eleven years old, Suzie Tipton has spent her life in a wheelchair and needs special equipment to help her do everyday things that most of us take for granted. Over time, Suzie learned that as special-needs children grow, they require new equipment. This equipment is expensive and difficult to obtain. Suzie came up with a solution: families whose children outgrow their special-needs equipment could donate it to a "loan closet,” which could then turn the items over to another special-needs child or adult for whom the equipment might fit perfectly. Suzie created just such a place, calling it “Suzie’s Closet.”
Suzie launched her project upon receiving a grant from the Mission Health Care Foundation in Asheville, North Carolina. Suzie’s Closet serves as a depository for such items as walkers, crutches, special eating utensils, and much more. The donated pieces are repaired and cleaned for new users. When these special-needs users outgrow the equipment, they return it to Suzie’s Closet for others to utilize. Since 2004, Suzie’s Closet has made over 75 equipment loans, and acquired enough donated equipment to fill 2,000 square feet. Additionally, Suzie won two $1,000 grants from Clay Aiken and the Buble/Aiken foundation, respectively, to build two wheelchair ramps for special-needs families in her community. In response to the grant from Clay Aiken, The Care Partners Foundation provided another $1,000 donation to Suzie’s enterprise. Suzie’s non-profit business now offers items such as Pediasure, diapers, feeding supplies, and Nebulizers, as well as special-needs resource information.
Suzie Tipton exemplifies Alexandra Scott’s continuing legacy. Suzie never gives up, no matter what hurdles she must overcome. She continues to expand her program and most recently has provided funds to help build wheelchair ramps for several needy families. She plans to start another fund to help provide travel expenses for special-needs families who must commute to their doctors and hospitals. To achieve this, Suzie is designing a calendar for 2006, featuring the people she serves and their stories. All the proceeds will go into a memorial fund for families’ travel expenses, and will be dedicated to the memory of one of the children for whom Suzie’s Closet had provided equipment.
Suzie Tipton is only eleven-years old and confined to a motorized wheel chair. She lives in the heart of the Southern Appalachia, where many families must struggle to get by, let alone attain the resources to care for a special-needs child. This region also has a high incidence of genetic anomalies that increases the special-needs population among families with young children. Suzie Tipton brings sensitivity, imagination, and caring beyond her years to help special-needs families. Suzie’s mother says it best about her very special child: “When Suzie was born she wasn't breathing. But since that first breath, she has had an amazing zeal to live. She has taught me so much about not giving up, and to dream a larger dream of helping our communities become ‘communities’ again, places where neighbors share with neighbors."
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