Medical, schooling and child care costs are all worries for families of children with functional needs, doubly so with the added stressor of the holidays. Fortunately, there are many organizations in and around the Castle Country Area that aim to ease this burden through service and donations. One such organization is Kids on the Move.
Rachelle Rutherford, CEO of KOTM called into the KOAL newsroom to discuss the organization and how it aims to assist families in need.
Opening our conversation, Rutherford spoke on what Kids on the Move aims to accomplish,” Kids on the Move is based in Orem, Utah, and we provide support, resources, and therapy for children with functional needs and their families.” she continued, “We’ve been around for 40 years, and we were started by two moms. We serve any type of disability that a child might have, it could be any kind of delay. It could be a child that was in the NICU that was a preemie baby. Maybe they’re having challenges with allergies, or they had a feeding tube and they need to learn how to properly drink and eat. And it could be from delays in crawling, walking, talking, or possibly even missing a limb or a very significant disability that they’re born with.”
As with any charitable organization, Kids on the Move offers a variety of programs. Rutherford explained one of her personal favorites,” one of the programs that we have that is solely off donations, and that is our respite program. And that happens on a Friday or Saturday night. That’s supported all by donations and volunteers in our community. And we have over 3,000 volunteers that come every single year to help Kids on the Move. And these volunteers will come and spend one-on-one time with the child, and their parents can take a much-needed break where they can just rest and rejuvenate and have just some time, whether it’s to go on a date or have some downtime.”
Rutherford then shifted her focus to the holiday season, explaining,” We provide Christmas for a lot of families here at Kids on the Move. And typically, we try to support about 25 to 30 families. Again, that’s a small percentage of the 3,000 families that we support … We have wonderful sponsors that sponsor a family from anywhere from $500 to $2,500 to provide Christmas for our families. And the one thing that’s unique about Kids on the Move is these sponsors purchase the gifts. They purchase the gifts. They wrap the gifts. And they bring the gifts to our families. And that’s a very special and unique experience for a sponsor to have that interaction with the family and create this really special Christmas or Thanksgiving for these families.”
For those who may want to get involved with Kids on the Move, there are several ways to do so. To provide a one-time donation, you can visit kotm.org/give/. You can also donate directly to the KOTM Christmas Sponsorship or provide donations of gift cards for food or gas by emailing volunteer@kotm.org. To learn more about KOTM and the programs they offer, you can visit kotm.org.