The Foundation wants to share the following resources for everyone to participate in and enjoy!
In the event that the Esther Lee Foundation dissolves, our assets will be donated to some of these organizations.
Adaptive Adventures ⛷️🎿 🤿
One summer day, a man in a white van approached Esther and Hannah. He was a volunteer with Adaptive Adventures and would tell them about it. Adaptive Adventures makes sports, like water skiing, alpine skiing, kayaking, and scuba diving, accessible for people with disabilities. Through Adaptive Adventures, Esther (and Hannah, to her dismay) learned to ski and scuba dive. Esther was a daredevil. (Hannah was not). Esther loved to ski fast and was the first woman with a disability to ride the electric joystick operated tetra-ski in Utah. Hannah imagines Esther felt truly free and uninhibited by the limitations of her body when skiing.
Arlington Heights Memorial Library 📚 🎞️
Esther and Hannah loved the Arlington Heights Memorial Library and visited often. They would borrow ridiculous amounts of books, movies, and CDs. The librarians never seemed to mind. Esther was part of Writer’s Ink, a monthly writing group at the library, where Esther shared her poetry and sharpened her writing skills. Read a short blurb on the library website about Esther’s involvement with the group. Hannah and Esther attended cooking classes at the library’s Makerspace. They were both foodies. Hannah likes to think that the library’s accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities is in part due to their awareness and interactions with Esther.
Backbones 👩🏾🦽👨🏽🦼
Esther’s friend Reveca Torres started Backbones, a nonprofit that connects people with spinal cord injuries and their families. Esther attended a Chicago Fire soccer game with Backbones and wrote blogs for their website.
Esther and Hannah attended the Chicago Abilities Expo yearly for as long as Hannah can remember. They loved the freebies and to see all the new technology for people with disabilities. Esther connected with friends and acquaintances at the yearly event.
People doubted that Esther would attend college but she did. She went to U of I and lived at Beckwith Hall. Like most college students, this was her first time living independently away from family. Though she did not love that they were segregated from the rest of the student population, she did create lasting friendships and many memories. In fact, Esther met Carmen, Costa, and Jonathan, who are on the team, at Beckwith Hall.
SitGrit 🥊 🧘🏻♀️
Hannah learned about SitGrit through Well-Being Week in Law when a free online kickboxing course was offered. Esther passed before Hannah learned about SitGrit but Hannah is sure Esther would have loved it! SitGrit offers free seated online exercise classes, like dancing, kickboxing, and yoga, to people of all abilities. It is completely volunteer-run.
Esther took adaptive horseback riding lessons at Walk on Farm. She went on Tuesdays and her horse was named Taco so we called it “Taco Tuesdays.” Horseback riding helped alleviate some of her chronic pain. Mary, the director, used to tell us that horseback riding mimics the act of walking, which Esther was unable to do on her own. She also enjoyed the social aspect of talking with Mary and the volunteers and feeding Taco carrots after lessons.
Esther Lee Foundation 