Rewind: Top 15 Turnstone Stories of 2023
80 years. 960 months. 4,174 weeks. 29,220 days. 701,280 hours.
2023 has been a celebration of the 8-decades' worth of possibilities created and a reflection on a few transformative stories from members of our Turnstone Family. These possibilities and transformations are made possible due to the unwavering dedication to Turnstone's mission from people like YOU and the rest of our community.
Join us as we take a look back at our top 15 favorite moments of 2023 that gave us the momentum needed to start our next 80 years of empowering people with disabilities to achieve their highest potential.
Casino Night Returns
After a three-year hiatus, Casino Night came back with a vengeance! We had over 600 attendees and raised over $50,000 to support Turnstone's mission. THANK YOU to everyone who volunteered, attended, or bought tickets! Casino Night will be back in 2024 on Friday, February 16th.
New Website Launch
Back in April, we worked with Reusser to launch our newly designed website that offers a more user-friendly experience for the disability communities. Improved navigation and enhanced accessibility features are just two assets that better support universal access to information about Turnstone's services and resources on our website.
As a leader in services for people with disabilities, digital accessibility was a critical priority for us. We wanted to ensure our community feels supported by Turnstone from their first interaction with us no matter where that takes place - online or offline.
Mackenzie Haag's Signing Day
Turnstone was proud to host Flyer Athlete, Kenzie Haag, as she put pen to paper and committed to playing wheelchair basketball for the University of Arizona (UA) Wildcats! UA boasts the largest and most inclusive collegiate adaptive sports program in the world.
“Kenzie has been a Turnstone Flyer athlete for 10 years playing wheelchair basketball, and we've seen her grow and develop tremendously,” said Michelle Kimpel, Turnstone Director of Sports & Recreation. “She is a leader on and off the court; supports, challenges, and encourages her teammates, and has devoted time over the years to make such progress in the game. Turnstone is proud of Kenzie and that we have been a part of her journey. It is exciting to see her journey continue at The University of Arizona.”
A Million Dollar Match
Following years of dedicated effort and extensive support
from Turnstone staff, board members, and community leaders, Indiana legislators earmarked a total of $2 million in the state budget for Turnstone’s operations in fiscal years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. This historic budget allocation highlights the immense support, particularly from northeast Indiana’s delegation of state senators and representatives, in Turnstone’s efforts to provide quality and comprehensive services for children and adults with disabilities.
This gift has allowed Turnstone to leverage a $1-for-$1 match up to $1 Million in the fundraising efforts for our mission throughout the next two years. You can help us meet our match here!
USA Boccia National Championships
Turnstone hosted the USA Boccia National Championships. Boccia is the world's most inclusive sport with athletes utilizing their arms, feet, or head. This year was the largest National Championships with 106 athletes. Turnstone had one athlete, KC Sowers, who competed using his feet. KC finished 2nd in the BC1 Division and 2nd in team play.
The KELC's Special Readers
The Kimbrough Early Learning Center (KELC) had several special readers over the past year, which is not only fun for them, but helps set a strong foundation for their education and social skills.
One particular very special reader came in July - a local author and friend of the Turnstone family, Lois Smith, came to the KELC and read her book, 'Once Upon a Robin', to all three classrooms.
Thank you to all those who came and read to our classrooms!
Social Skills Summer Camp
This past summer, eight kids aged 10-12 participated in the first-ever Social Skills Summer Camp hosted by Turnstone's Speech-Language Pathologists. The kids and therapists spent six weeks together, engaging in conversation about advocating for themselves, helping those around them, and getting to know one another.
They also took advantage of The Plassman Athletic Center and spent time in the gym playing games and practicing good sportsmanship. A Turnstone therapist was so proud when the kids began greeting each other independently and asking their new friends to sit next to them.
The Social Skills Summer Camp will take place again in Summer 2024 and our therapists hope to expand to allow a wider ranges of ages to attend.
Our Partnership with the Crann Centre
The Crann Centre (Cork, Ireland) and Turnstone (Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA) received funding from the Lily Foundation to support the first phase of its collaborative effort to create a curriculum that educates young students and families impacted by disability about the importance of self-advocacy in educational settings. This project will bring together people with disabilities, curriculum experts, educators, and stakeholders from two countries to collaborate on the development of a first-of-its-kind curriculum that empowers students and their families to reimagine and realize their educational and career ambitions by taking a whole-person approach as embodied by the Aspen Institute 2Gen framework.
Adaptive Baseball Knocks it Out of the Park
The 2023 Up to Bat Camp in partnership with The World Baseball Academy and the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne was a giant success! A record 38 participants were able to hone their baseball skills and love for the game with dedicated volunteers from The University of Saint Francis' baseball team leading the way. Many, many smiles took place throughout the camp.
Reader's Choice Awards
Turnstone was thrilled to continue our excellent representation in the annual Reader's Choice Awards nominations with a record ten nominations this year, which resulted in SEVEN top-three finishes for 2023!
Reader's Choice Awards are nominated and voted on by community members. This means this honor is only possible because the people we serve and other members of the Turnstone Family truly back our mission and work. Thank you to all who voted!
- - Best Rehabilitation Center - 1st Place (5 years running)
- Best Pediatric Therapy Center - 1st Place (3 years running)
- Best Mental Health Provider, Eliana Mason - 1st Place
- Best Speech Therapy Practice - 2nd Place
- Best Nonprofit Organization - 2nd Place
- Best Child Care - 2nd Place
- Best Physical Therapist, Tim McCullough - 2nd Place
- Best Exercise Facility - Nominee
- Best Mental Health Practice - Nominee
- Best Physical Therapy Practice - Nominee
Side-By-Side Bike Donation
The difference that equipment donations make on Turnstone programs and services is significant - many clients have been able to ride this side-by-side bike that came with an impactful history:
"We received a phone call from John Carlson describing a side-by-side bike his family wanted to donate to Turnstone. John, who lives in Fort Wayne, brought the bike in with his brother from Minnesota. While filling out the in-kind donation form, the brothers were unsure of what value to put on the bike. They called their sister, Joy who also lives in Minnesota, and put her on speaker phone so she could share the story behind the bike.
Joy had a son, Kevin Ash, who was enlisted in the National Guard and completed multiple deployments. Due to an injury after his return, he had a TBI and his family wanted to find something to help him continue enjoying his life. Between mom and extended family, they found a side by side and the VA was able to purchase it for Kevin. In 2017, Kevin passed away and the bike was given to his grandparents. The grandparents are now moving to Fort Wayne and ready for the bike to find a new home.
We were able to tell Joy that Turnstone provides services to youth, adults, and veterans and the lives of many will be impacted because of this donation. This was such a moving story and to see their expressions (one uncle had tears in his eyes and truthfully, I was fighting them back myself) and hear the joy in their voices was amazing. Joy and the grandparents will be visiting Turnstone at some point to see their donation in action."
You can read more about Kevin's story here - his brain was donated to research."
80th Birthday Celebrations
Turnstone is privileged to be entering our 80th year of service to our community, and we have people like you to thank for that. For 8 decades, Turnstone has been able to ensure that vital therapeutic and recreational programs and services are available to all people with disabilities, regardless of their ability to pay.
The Turnstone Family sure knows how to celebrate a milestone birthday! We held our 23rd Annual Board of Directors Gala on our birthday, October 5th, 2023. We had over 300 people join us in the spirit of celebration and raise over $300,000 to support our mission.
Parkinson's Support Group
We've seen the newly formed Parkinson's Support Group meet a great need in our community. On the second Tuesday of each month, anywhere from 15-70 people have been creating a safe space at Turnstone to talk about the realities of living with Parkinson's Disease. Turnstone hosts different health experts and provides resources on Parkinson-related topics.
Meet Kirsten
Turnstone was honored to share Kirsten's story as the Mission Moment for our annual Board of Directors' Gala. Though Kirsten has only been a client at Turnstone for a short amount of time, she has already accomplished several goals, discovered new possibilities for her future, and taken steps toward independence.
Adult Day Services' Holiday Party
Our Adult Day Service clients celebrated the holidays in style with lunch, dancing, and live music! Thanks to Jeff Myers from Audience Unlimited for the live music and staff who made this party possible! Thank you to the AWS Foundation, too, for their support in making this party happen through their Pay-It-Forward Day initiative!
3rd Place finish at Nationals (Tier 4) for Turnstone's sled hockey team. Turnstone went 18-13-1 this season while finishing runner-up at both State & League Championships. The 2024 Toyota USA Hockey Sled National Championship incorporated every level of sled hockey. Over 1,080 players across 60 teams from around the country competed for national championship honors in nine different tiers, including six adult and three youth classifications. TOURNAMENT STATS (Team totals after 4 Games) Elliott Mohre 12 Points: 8 Goals & 4 Assists Cai Davis 10 Points: 5 Goals & 5 Assists John Pfeiffer 4 Points: 4 Assists Kevin Hughes 4 Points: 4 Assists Allie Parker 3 Points: 1 Goal & 2 Assists Peter Mitchell 2 Points: 2 Assists Tanner Pfeiffer 1 Point: & 1 Assist Jordy Petrosky 1 Point: & 1 Assist Tom Hunter 3 Games Aaron Wolf 2 Games Noel Klein 31 Total Saves & 1 Shutout in 4 games Coaches: Rick Wynn & Randy Mohre
