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EASTER SEALS New Castle Corporate Commons 61 Corporate Circle New Castle, DE 19720-2405 302.324-4444 phone 302.324.4441 fax For Immediate Release Date: November 2, 2009 Contact: Verna Hensley or Natalie Scott Phone: 302.324.4444 TRAGEDY GIVES WAY TO HOPE LOCAL ROTARY DONATES ABENCH TO CONTINUE LEGACY New Castle, DE – A bench can be simply a place to sit or it can be a legacy of someone who brought joy to the lives of the people she touched. By donating a bench with a plaque that reads “In Loving Memory of Natalie Landis Kirkwood” to Easter Seals’ Camp Fairlee Manor, the Middletown-Odessa Rotary Club District 7630 made sure that Natalie’s gift of spreading love would live on. Easter Seals has received almost $5,000 in honor of Natalie, which shows that even after her recent death; she is still an inspiration to all who support Easter Seals “Natalie never met a stranger. She loved people,” her mother Charlotte says. “She woke up cheerful and went to bed cheerful, too.” When Natalie was born with spina bifida, a congenital disability that involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord, the doctors told her parents she would live no longer than three days. Thirty-eight and a half years later she not only beat the odds, but set the bar. Natalie’s father, William, has been a member of the Middletown-Odessa Rotary Club District 7630 for over 40 years. Rotary and Easter Seals share a rich history dating back to the founder of Easter Seals, Edgar Allen who was a Rotarian. Rotary Clubs bring together leaders to provide service and help build goodwill in the world; which is what District 7630 brings to Camp Fairlee. Last year local Rotary Clubs donated nearly $36,000 to Easter Seals Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In her more than 38 years of life, Natalie’s favorite thing was traveling with her parents and three sisters. She would relax on the beaches of Bermuda, let her imagination run wild in Disney World and sail the seas on a cruise, but her favorite yearly vacation was going to Easter Seals’ Camp Fairlee Manor. “Camp Fairlee was the highlight of her summer,” Charlotte says. “She looked forward to it every year.” This summer would have been Natalie’s eighteenth year at Camp Fairlee. It is not only her passing, but her life that has truly moved several individuals to donate to Easter Seals in her name to ensure that other campers can be daring on the high ropes course, romp around in the pool, or just relax with friends and s’mores around a campfire. Through the more than $5,000 donations, her legacy will live on. (More)
