Nathan Wells and his wife were thrilled nine years ago when they had twin daughters.
But when they found out that their daughter Taylor had Down’s syndrome, “we were devastated,” Wells said.
The family decided, though, that they could handle the diagnosis alone.
“I said ‘I can take care of my own daughter.’ My wife’s background is elementary education, and I said ‘We can do this ourselves.’”
Then someone told the McComb couple about The Children’s Center for Communication and Development in Hattiesburg. The center is a United Way agency funded by the Department of Education, but subsidized by funds from other organizations.
About 8 to 15 percent of the center’s 60 active enrollees come from the United Way of Southwest Mississippi Inc. service area, said Margaret Brinegar, who spoke on the center’s behalf today as the United Way kicked off its three-month 2008 campaign.
The 2008 fundraising goal is $215,000.
The Wellses count themselves fortunate to have been among the many who have received help both from the center and the United Way.
Oftentimes, children are the beneficiaries of the United Way, as Friday’s program showed. Before Brinegar spoke, Jeff Adams of the New Century Learning and Resource Center talked about how his group is helping children in south McComb excel in school.
The neighborhood learning center is part of the 21st Century Community learning program of McComb School District, he said.
Every weekday afternoon, students get off school buses and head to the center, where they receive a snack and help from teachers and tutors with the day’s homework, Adams said.
“We had one young man about two years ago who was in the fifth grade,” Adams said. “He was struggling the first part of the year, making Ds.
“But he would come over every day after school and get with a tutor or a teacher. Within two to three months, he was making As and Bs.
“And there are hundreds of kids within just a four- to five-block area there that we can help just like that.”
And much like the Wellses found help in Hattiesburg, thanks in part to funds from United Way agencies as far away as this one, Brinegar said.
“When we went to look around, we met the lady who would be Taylor’s teacher (Cindy Bivins). I asked her ‘Do you know anything about Down’s syndrome?’” Wells recalled.
Bivins told him about growing up with her brother who had Down’s, raising her son who had Down’s and had grown into a great 18-year-old man — and about teaching at the center for 22 years.
“You can’t buy that kind of experience,” Wells said. “If I had had to write specs as to what we wanted and needed, I couldn’t have done it any better.”
For five years, the Wellses made the trip to Hattiesburg two to three times a week to ensure the best quality of life possible not just for Taylor, but for her sister Brooke — for the entire family.
“She taught Taylor to sit up and to roll over, how to sign for milk and crackers and cookies.
“If we had not had that resource — when she was hungry, we didn’t know. We would have had a really miserable life. Because when she would cry, we wouldn’t know why or what.”
Today, Taylor is mainstreamed in activities with her sister. Together, they are home-schooled, take dance lessons, music lessons and horseback lessons and play soccer and basketball.
“What they did was they allowed her to be part of the community,” Wells said. “Without that, she would just be singled out as different.”
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Organizations served by United Way of Southwest Mississippi Inc. are:
American Red Cross, Amite, Pike and Walthall County 4-H, Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Southwest Mississippi, Boy Scouts of America, Camp Sunshine, The Children’s Center for Communication and Development, Crisis Pregnancy Center, Girl Scouts of Middle Mississippi, The Guardian Sexual Assault Center, The Guardian Shelter for Battered Families (Catholic Services), McComb Interdenominational Care Association Inc., New Century Learning and Resource Center, Pike County Volunteers for Children and Youth, Salvation Army, Santa’s Helpers, St. Andrew’s Mission, Southwest Mississippi Children’s Advocacy Center Inc., Southwest Mississippi Christian Outreach Ministries Inc., Sunshine Shelter for Abused and Neglected Children and Tri-County Arc.
