Each year, members from Fred Astaire Dance Studios converge in Orlando,
FL to compete in a variety of dance heats with amateurs and professional
from every corner of the nation. Last year, thanks to Pahjmon Lipsey
and Jack Rothweiler, the last set of dances that took place on Saturday
night was used to raise money for Variety’s national mobility
program.
Variety of Orlando received a letter from Andrea Cushman, a young
mother of four girls. Two of them, twins named Abigail and Emily,
have severe cases of cerebral palsy. Abigail and Emily are just
two of about thirty children who attend Winter Springs Elementary
School, Seminole County’s only elementary school that caters
to physically impaired children. Despite funding from the county,
Winter Springs Elementary school was unable to collect the total
amount needed to put in an automatic door opener that would allow
the children to come in and out of the school’s front door
unassisted.
Variety of Orlando paid for that opener with the money they received
from the Fred Astaire dance competition that took place in October
2005. On Saturday, October 28, 2006, Abigail, Emily, their grandparents,
sisters and mother brought a thank you letter from all the children
at Winter Springs Elementary to this year’s dance competition
at the Hilton Hotel Walt Disney World.
President of Fred Astaire Dance Studios Jack Rothweiler, Variety
of Orlando President Bob Winters and Donna Draves, Variety of Orlando
founder, met with the Cushman girls and were presented with the
card to thank them for the automatic door. Variety of Orlando, as
well as Variety of the U.S., is very grateful to Jack Rothweiler,
Pahjmon Lipsey and all their students and dancers from Fred Astaire
Dance Studios who helped make this wish a reality for Emily and
Abigail.
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