USQRA Quad Rugby Tournament is Big Eye Opener for Local Team.

On Friday February 5th The North Texas Cowboys played their first real quad rugby game against Possibilities Crown, a team from Southern California.  They lost the game by 16 points…  But at the end of the game no one was hanging their head.  They were ecstatic, they played beyond their expectations and they played hard as a team.  There were a total of 7 teams from all around the country that came to play.  Crown went on to take first place in the tournament and the Cowboys continued to lose the rest of their six games. Read the rest of this entry »

Texas Thunder Quad Rugby Tournament, February 5-7th Great Results!

We would like to thank all of our volunteers  and sponsors, The Texas Stampede, RISE, C & R Medical,  Lift-Aids, the Hilton Garden Inn, and the City of Irving for helping put on an excellent tournament.  Seven quad rugby teams from across the country came to the city of Irving to compete in this three day event.  The competition was stiff with no teams going undefeated.

CLICK HERE for more photos of the tournament.

Check out the tournament results below…

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RISE Adventures Golf Program is a Dream Come True!

When Kevin Wright was born, his parents never dreamed that he would ever play golf. As a small child growing up, he never had the opportunity to become involved in any sports due to his disabilities, which include visual impairment and cerebral palsy. Now, thanks to RISE Adventures, Kevin is learning to play golf and other recreational sports activities.

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Charity Fundraising Rugby Match is a Huge Success!

On Friday December 18, the Dallas Harlequins played  Team RISE Adventures in a charity fund raising Quad rugby event. This year we gathered to help support two charities over the holidays. The event brought in tons of toys for Toys for Tots and some money for Triggers Toys. Both teams brought out numerous fans to support their team and these wonderful charities. Once again Team Rise dominated the scoreboard 56 – 46!  ON Magazine did a photo shoot with RISE and it will soon be profiled in their magazine.

This event wouldn’t have be possible without these great sponsors!  C & R Medical ,  Lift Aids, and  ON magazine

CLICK HERE to see more photos of the event.

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Numerous levels of EVENT Sponsorships are available for Corporations and Collaborative Partners!

Support the RISE mission. Benefits to corporations that participate in corporate sponsorship opportunities are plentiful. The company will gain brand recognition, additional advertising opportunities, and have the option of having the company logo appear on advertising materials. The company also has the benefit of being perceived as an organization that gives back to the community. Likewise, customers of the organization will benefit from the knowledge that they have contributed to a good cause or helped support a local event by supporting the company sponsoring the event or team.

Info Available
Summer Bash Sponsor Brochure

Water sports sponsor brochure

Lone Star Paralyzed Veterans of America Donates Disability Bus to RISE

Our great friends at the LSPVA donated their bus to RISE Adventures this week. Chris Goad heads the Texas Thunder Event Committee and was desperately looking for accessible transportation with a lift. His task was to be able to transport quad rugby teams flying in from numerous other states to and from the airport and the tournament. He reached a lot of dead ends but was finally blessed. He sought to borrow the PVA bus for the weekend. They really didn’t use the vehicle as much as they would have liked so made a donation to RISE so we could transport groups to and from our programs. From everyone at TEAM RISE, thanks to all of you at the Lone Star Paralyzed Veterans Association for supporting RISE and our very important mission. Special thanks goes to Glendon Bentley and Eric Payton, you guys are the best, THANK YOU!

Letter from the CEO

RISE is looking forward to taking the next step in providing a wide variety of therapeutic recreational programs in 2010. The organization turns three years old on March 22^nd. Our growth has been phenomenal with over 7,500 persons attending our programs including participants, volunteers, staff, and sponsors. Our numerous collaborative partners and volunteers have allowed us to work with a small operating budget where over 80% of funds are allocated to programs. Volunteers have contributed over 30,000 hours since inception.

I would like to announce our Corporate Title Sponsors have resigned for next year. Lift-Aids and C & R Medical have supported us for nearly three years. They are intimately involved in our programs, have permitted us to offer all programs free of charge, and have been instrumental in allowing us to build a solid infrastructure. Our goal is to add additional major corporate sponsors in the coming months as interest in supporting RISE continues to exceed expectations.

With growth come changes……

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Lift-Aids and C & R Medical Remain the RISE Corporate Title Sponsor’s for 2010

I am very proud to announce that our two title sponsor have resigned for 2010. For two years these sponsors have been intimately involved in our programs, supported our infrastructure, and provided funding so allow RISE to not charge a fee for any of our programs. Please call these sponsors and support our mission by purchasing your urological needs from C & R Medical and your mobility vehicle needs from Lift-Aids. They are both first class companies that provide excellent service and in turn take their profits and support the RISE mission.

CLICK HERE to see the C & R Medical ad.

CLICK HERE to see the Lift-Aids ad.

Hunting Success!

My brother and I got the opportunity to go on the US Army Corps of Engineers annual challenged hunters hunt over the past weekend down in South east Texas. We met up with 19 other hunters from all parts of the state to take part in this event around  Somerville   Lake .  Seems they have too many deer around the camping areas and need to thin out the population because campers are trying to feed these wild animals.  When we arrived Friday, just after noon, I could tell right away this was going to be a good hunt. Russell Meir, with the Corps of Engineers, had everything down like a well oiled machine as he met us at the welcome tent and explained the details of the hunt.  After the orientation, some went to the shooting range while many of us met at a local church where the Somerville Rotary club graciously prepared some hot stew and chili with all the fixins.  …just the ticket for a cold night (and I must say that was some really good sweet tea!).  With our bellies full we made the short drive to our hotel in Brenham for some quick TV and an early night.  We put in a 4 am wake up call but the anticipation of the sunrise and the mornings hunt had both of us up before the call came in and we were on the road shortly after 5.  With Friday’s blistery wind and light snowfall, all the clouds had been blown away so I knew it was going to be cold. The temperature gauge in my truck confirmed it to be a balmy 22 degrees.  Ideal hunting conditions to keep the deer moving but considerably cold for someone not prepared.

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Kayaying in the Cold 11/21/09

It was a cloudy morning on Saturday, November 21, 2009. A few of us were planning to go hand cycling and kayaking. Since it rained the night before the hand cycling trails were completely under water so we went kayaking that day. It was a good thing we decided to go kayaking it was over cast but it was not to cold or hot it was perfect weather. We enjoyed ourselves exploring new areas that we haven’t been before while we were kayaking. I encourage everyone to go out and experience Kayaking.

Russell J. Amaya

To see more photos CLICK HERE.

RISE is proud to support Dr. Ann Marie Warren, Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR), to promote studies that may impact you. Do you have a spinal cord injury?

RISE is proud to support Dr. Ann Marie Warren, Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (BIR), to promote studies that may impact you. Do you have a spinal cord injury? Do these symptoms bother you: poor sleep, low energy, little interest in usual activities, depressed mood, feelings of worthlessness or pain? The Project to Improve Symptoms and Mood after Spinal Cord Injury (PRISM) is the first federally funded clinical trial of an antidepressant for people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).  If you have a SCI, are 18-64 years old, have several of these symptoms, are not taking venlafaxine XR and live within 100 miles of Seattle, WA, Birmingham, AL, Chicago, IL, Ann Arbor, MI or Dallas, TX you may qualify for this trial.

Please contact Ann Marie Warren, Ph.D. at 214-820-9315.

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Hand Cycling continues to add new participants and equipment, Saturday, November 14th!

What a beautiful morning for a nice ride through a beautiful park. Ava brought her kitty cat for a nice ride on her exotic bike. We have added three new hand cycles to the program this month and are purchasing two more high level bikes to keep up with the ever growing demand. This program is for all levels of physical disabilities including but not limited to high level quadriplegics. Starting Saturday, December 5^th the program time changes from 9-12 to our new time 12-3 pm. Please contact Ty Johnson for more information or to participate, bear-tech@msn.com.

CLICK HERE for more photos from the event.

November 2009 issue of the National Golf Course Owners Association Business Magazine features an in-depth article on the need for golf course owners to accommodate golfers with disabilities.

Article covers modified instruction, adaptive equipment, single rider golf carts, ADA compliance and access issues.  This is a national publication.  Awareness is increasing at the golf course ownership and management level.  So, keep up your RISE golf participation!  Our visibility at golf courses and driving ranges serves as a reminder that the disabled are golfers just like anybody else.  Read digital edition of full article here.

Fitness Center for People with Disabilities Now Open

With an ALL NEW Board of Directors leading the way, the Neuro Fitness Foundation opened the doors to an all new facility on September 24, 2009 and the enthusiasm at the facility has been incredible.  The Neuro Fitness Foundation, lovingly referred to as “NFF” is the only such facility in the country that devotes 100 % of its being to provide a specially equipped work out facility for people with disabilities. Managed by an all volunteer staff of dedicated friends and family members of the membership, NFF is totally dependent on pledges from the membership to keep the facility in operation.   Regardless of ones inability to pledge their financial support, no-one will be turned away.  CLICK HERE to view the Fox4 News Coverage.   CLICK HERE to visit their website.

The NEW center is located at 1361 W. Euless Blvd., #101, Euless, TX  76040

817/571-1323.  Hours of operation:  M/W/F 10:00am-5:00pm  T/TH 2:00pm-7:00pm

Correspondence and donations can be mailed to:  NFF, PO Box 2720, Grapevine, TX  76099.  Pay Pal and credit cards also accepted.

Are you looking forward to seeing old friends; or making new ones?  Then come on out, you will be glad you did.

TEAM RISE participates in the Neuro Fitness Foundation Golf Fundraiser, November 9th.

To say the least none of us that played are avid golfers. I think you are supposed to play with a foursome but we didn’t know the rules so played, well, attempted to play with 6 golfers to support our great friends at NFF. Our group only attempted 7 holes and was finally requested to call it a day on the 18^th hole since we were holding up the rest of the real golfers from completing their rounds. Even though our skills were lacking, I promise you our group had more fun than the rest in support of a great cause.  CLICK HERE for more photos of the event.

RISE First Annual Gala a Huge Success!

I want to personally thank each and every one of you that attended the November 14^th event held at Dave and Busters. The evening started off with a Social Hour listening to McKenzie Seaux performing live on stage. McKenzie just turned 12 years old and entertained with stories on her song writing skills followed by a great rendition of her music by this very talented young lady. The Matekis followed with an assortment of country and folk music that kept the crowd entertained throughout the evening. These artists believe in the RISE mission and also performed at our sixth annual End of Summer Bash back in September. Mike Peters Video Presentation of this year’s program pictures was a nice backdrop to the live entertainment. The Mexican buffet line was always busy. The pool and shuffle board tables stayed active as the player’s competitive energy and enthusiasm showed. The camaraderie between attendees exemplified the evening.

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RISE Horse Back Riding

Horse Back Riding is provided by White Bridle Horse Therapy. The Las Colinas Equestrian Center hosts these activities on  December 19. Please contact Brook Boleyn at 972.740.0900 or boleyndesign@tx.rr.com to make your reservations now. You can also visit their website at www.whitebridle.org.

Halloween on Main Street, Friday Night, October 30th, Main Street Grapevine

Halloween on Main Street Grapevine was held Friday night October 30th. To support our collaborative partner, Grapevine Parks and Recreation, RISE manned the Face Painting Booth. Unforeseen circumstances came up the day of the event and I lost the majority of our volunteers and experienced face painters that were scheduled. The TEAM RISE Volunteers and Participants that did show up had never painted faces before. Thanks to the tremendous support of Jessica Simbeck, a TWU student that regularly volunteers for quad rugby, Michael Fisher and Avasa Braith, also rugby volunteers, for their call to action and making it work. Beth Jerner with Canine Companions and her trusty side kick puppy Peony, were having a great time splashing paint too. Staci and Clint also showed up and later in the evening and participated.  The highlight was Traci Bryan, a quadriplegic that had not painted since her injury. She was amazing and could not put down the paint brushes. I attempted to close the booth and she continued to accept new kids until I finally had to shut off the lights. Mike Peters and Justin Ferguson got out of their comfort zone and got their faces painted to join in the fun. The booth was active all evening. Thanks to all of you for your continued support in all of the fun things we do in the community each and every week! Check out these fun pictures of the evening.  CLICK HERE for more photos from this event.

Paul Gray

RISE Photography, “Autumn at the Arboretum” 10/24/09

Nobody can say that photography is boring! I had a great time exploring this program for the first time at the Dallas Arboretum this past weekend. What can I say…, it was beautiful weather in the 70’s, sunny, clear skies, free admission into a well known tourist attraction where plant life and sculptures have more meaning than beauty, free lunch, fun entertainment from RISE volunteers, and most of all a new friendship with Michelle! Click Here to check out our photos and get a glimpse of what we experienced. I challenge you all to come try out this program and build your own memories and new friendships.   Lea

RISE Haunted House was a Spooktacuar Event!

RISE Haunted House was held Saturday, October 10th, at the Dallas Scaregrounds. A cold, drizzly, evening didn’t dampen the spirits of the 82 folks that attended this third annual event. It was the first time for many to attend a haunted house in their wheelchair and children that have never been in a haunted house. First Place for the Children’s Division Best Costume went to Zion Rangel dressed as a ninja turtle. First Place for the Adult Division Best Costume went to Spencer Larimore that was just scary period.  Click here for pictures.