Frank Hull is a dancer. His body is prone to spasms, so he uses a power wheelchair to perform as well as to go about his daily routine. By manipulating the joystick, he can move forwards and backwards and pivot on an axis. The chair is sturdy—heavy-duty enough to plow through snow—and it rolls pretty fast when he lays on the controls.
Developing a dance technique using his utilitarian device has been Hull’s passion for more than 15 years. As he puts it, his craft involves developing “ways of relating to the chair with my body artistically—in essence, creating a movement vocabulary that can be turned into dance.”
So a few years ago, when Hull heard that a Florida-based choreographer named Merry Lynn Morris had invented a power chair with dancers in mind, he had to see it for himself.
“I never thought there would be a chair designed for dance,” says Hull, who’s based in Toronto, Canada. “’Course, I had to get to Florida. Didn’t matter how.”
“Getting out of an abusive relationship isn’t easy—but actually packing up and moving out is even more daunting.
These owners of a California moving company have volunteered to complete the move for them, free of charge.
When they first started their business, Meathead Movers in 1997, the high school athletes were simply looking for a way to earn some extra cash.
As their business grew, the Steeds started getting occasional, frantic phone calls from women with little or no money who wanted to quickly move out before their abusers returned home.
The sympathetic movers always declined any compensation and rushed to the address to load their belongings.
One day, in 2000, a situation turned volatile when the abuser came home in the middle of the move. It was then that the company decided it had to ensure that the women and the moving crew were both safe, so they partnered with a local women’s shelter.
“What was good about that is, they could be vetting the requests for help, supporting the women with counseling, and making sure when we went in, the proper restraining orders were in place, or police were on hand if necessary,” Meathead’s CEO Aaron Steed told Good News Network.
Since those days in 2000, the company has expanded into Santa Barabara, Ventura, Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties. Whenever they open a new office, within the first week, they head to a local women’s shelter and knock on their doors.
“It’s the special service we like to offer,” Aaron said on a phone call. “These moves became very personal to us, made all the employees so proud, and became part of our mission statement.” He also said the same services are offered to any victim of domestic violence–male or female.
Yesterday, the company launched a new campaign that asks other businesses to “get creative” and help victims of domestic violence. Called #MoveToEndDV, the Meathead Movers hope to inspire others to rethink how they can work with shelters, or help women as they try to rebuild their lives and move into their first home or apartment.
“Some of our ideas are for businesses to offer free security systems, a dog kennel service, or for an auto-mechanic to provide oil changes,” Aaron said. “All those little things would help defer costs of starting over.”
“We’re so excited about it,” said Aaron. “It brings so much more purpose and passion to our lives and if we can be an example for others, that is so much better.”
Read the full piece here and California folks please share, this is an amazing resource!
Two athletes have provided one of the most inspirational moments of the Rio Olympics so far when they tripped over each other in the women’s 5,000 metres – then helped one another to carry on.
American Abbey D’Agostino and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand were 3,000m into the race today when D’Agostino appeared to clip Hamblin’s heel, sending both tumbling to the ground.
But instead of appearing frustrated that their dreams of glory were apparently over, both women put on a display of the Olympic spirit that will live on long after the Games are over.
D’Agnostino, 24, immediately got up to help her rival – then, as it became clear that she had a right ankle injury, Hamblin tried to help her continue.
Both athletes attempted to start chasing after the pack that had left them. But D’Agostino could not keep going as her knee had apparently twisted awkwardly in the fall.
She told Hamblin to go on as she collapsed on to all fours on the track. But the camera then came back to D’Agostino and she was back on her feet and running again.
Hamblin said: ‘When i went down, I was like “Whats happening, why am I on the ground?” And suddenly there’s this hand on my shoulder like “Get up, get up, we have to finish this.”
‘I’m so grateful for Abbey for doing that for me. I mean, that girl is the Olympic spirit right there.
‘I’m so impressed and inspiring that she did that. I’ve never met her before. Like, I’ve never met this girl before. And isn’t that just so amazing?’
Both Hamblin and D’Agostino were subsequently promoted to the 5000m final on Friday. [x]
So this happened yesterday and it really made my day. The girl I drew was like hundred times more beautiful than my drawing, she got those dope tattoos and piercing that i don’t have time to include in the drawing.
Once Haney is notified that the kids found Waldo, the large cut-out is moved to a different spot, and the kids look for it again. Haney has even created a Facebook group for the kids to post their finds! The best part? Haney and his daughter are already working on cut-out “Minions” for his next project!
