Cristie’s cause: Fundraisers aim to buy wheelchair-accessible van for 20-year-old woman with cerebral palsy
Fundraising. Dona Rusu sits with her daughter Cristie at their Kitchener home. Cristie, 20, has cerebral palsy. Mathew McCarthy/Record staff Source: Record staff
June 10, 2011
Like most 20-year-olds, Cristie Rusu covets her own ride so she can go shopping, to the theatre and to the park.
But unlike most young women, Cristie has cerebral palsy, which presents mental and physical challenges and that means even a trip to the grocery store isn’t feasible without a wheelchair-accessible van.
“I want to get out more,” Cristie says, sitting in her living room on a Friday afternoon, her dark brown hair accentuated by a bright-pink peasant top. Her face brightens into a wide smile and she jerks forward in her chair when her mom, Dona Rusu, says Cristie would like to work with dogs after she’s done school.
Cristie’s emotive brown eyes light up when she talks about taking Keria, a family friend’s dog, out to play in the park.
Today, going to the park is a spectator’s sport, according to Rusu, who explains that Cristie will sit in the van and watch but can’t participate herself because her chair is so large she can’t take it with her. Instead, her mom lifts her into the passenger side of their non-wheelchair-accessible van and Cristie watches Keria play from there.
They spend most weekends this way: Cristie absorbing the scenery or DVDs on a portable player while Rusu dashes in and out of stores to ensure Cristie isn’t left in the van very long.
“It gives me something to do,” says Cristie, despite the fact she hasn’t even seen the inside of a store in ages. And like most 20-year-olds, going shopping is the first thing she’ll do with a wheelchair-accessible van.
Cristie also says she would like to “go to a grocery store so I can pick out my own food.”
“I want to go bowling,” adds Cristie. “I don’t like the movie theatre but I like live theatre.”
“Having a wheelchair-accessible van would open up everyth-” starts Rusu.
“The world,” Cristie interrupts.
The urgency in finding a van for Cristie has accelerated because she’s going to age-out of the public school system this year. Cristie will continue at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School until the end of December, but she needs a van to enter the next stage of her life.
So Cristie’s aunts, Denise Wagner and Deborah Henhoeffer, came up with a plan: Cristie’s Cause, a series of fundraising events that include a garage sale and a spaghetti dinner. All proceeds will go toward a van for Cristie.
Cristie’s Cause aims to raise $40,000.
“We’re needing that plus for a used van,” says Wagner, as even used vans top their goal after taxes.
As of June 6, 2011, cristiescause.ca states it has raised $16,334 to date, through corporate, private and group donations. The actual total is closer to $26,000, thanks to a pledge by Rusu and Henhoeffer’s employer, Melloul-Blamey Construction Inc., to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000.
er mFor Rusu, a single mom, the Cristie’s Cause experience has made her feel less alone. She says, “They say it takes a community to raise a child. Well, it takes more than a community to raise a disabled child.”
acsanady@therecord.com
Cristie’s Cause Garage Sale
Saturday
Opens at 7 a.m.
New and used items for sale, free coffee for early birds and refreshments for sale
457 Westvale Dr., Waterloo
Cristie’s Cause Spaghetti Dinner
Thursday, June 16, 2011
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Dinner, a silent auction, a pie auction, MC’d by Neil Aitchison, food from Ennio’s Pasta, Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church hall, Waterloo.
Tickets are $15 and advance purchase only.
To donate or purchase tickets, email cristiescause@gmail.com or visit www.cristiescause.com for more information.
