Started by a team of physical therapists, the foundation creates life-enhancing experiences for people who have experienced trauma, illness or life-altering disabilities.
The organization believes recovery extends beyond physical healing and focuses on helping individuals regain confidence and enjoy meaningful moments. Through its “Life Enhancements” program, participants can experience activities ranging from simple outings, like going out to eat, to larger adventures, including road trips, fishing excursions and visits to amusement parks. Each experience is tailored to the individual’s interests and abilities.
Organizers say these opportunities promote independence, strengthen social connections and create lasting memories while reminding participants that meaningful experiences are still possible despite the challenges they face.
James Kilgore, vice president of The Way Foundation, joined “Arizona Horizon” to teach us more about the foundation and its goals.
In his own words, Kilgore says that the foundation helps those living with disabilities to, “breathe some life into their existence that they feel is just existing and not really living”.
Kilgore also shared that a lot of what they do for the people they help is to “build them up”. The foundation helps to be a support for the big life events, as well as everyday activities such as going out to dinner or visiting family.
For Kilgore and his business partner, there wasn’t a definitive singular moment that sparked the idea for The Way foundation. But rather it was putting themselves in their patients’ shoes and helping them to achieve their hopes and dreams.
“These are people that were in a place to set themselves up for like the golden years and they found them to be the rusty years. And so for me, that’s the moment, is we can take these people to go and do cool things,” Kilgore said.
On their website, Kilgore says that there are opportunities to volunteer and donate. But, he also shared that there is information on how to nominate someone for their services.
