After the success of my article detailing my time with the Titans Wheelchair Sports team and my role in the fundraising effort to open Champion's Place, I want to tell you about my personal experience with another organization that has helped shaped my life: FOCUS.

FOCUS was founded in 1983 with the goal of bringing comfort, hope and fun to kids and families with special needs through parent support groups, grants for equipment, summer camps and more.

We had friends who were involved in FOCUS before we were who raved about these programs: how helpful and fun they were, how many friends they had made and so on. The first experiences I had with FOCUS were through the FOCUS Fashion Show, which has been hosted every year since 2000 at Oglethorpe University. In second grade, I was simply there to cheer on a friend of mine: by the next year, I was up there myself.

Thus began my journey with FOCUS. Through the years, they have been instrumental in creating wonderful memories for me and my family through camps, trips to the aquarium and Six Flags. They have also been pivotal in connecting us all with people who we could not imagine our lives without. Friends, parents, and therapists: all these bonds were made possible by FOCUS.

The best part, for me at least, is that FOCUS grew with me. Like I said, I became a regular at their events around the time I turned seven, and more than 10 years later, we are still as involved as ever with this wonderful organization and the people who help make it possible.

I am writing this article as a thank you to all of the employees and volunteers I've had the honor of meeting or working with over the years, and I am sure I could not have written this article before I had had experience volunteering: being in your shoes, however superficially.

Lucy, Annie, Sarah, Joy, Patty, Jill, Elizabeth, and Brian - you all have welcomed me no questions asked, with open arms. I will be forever grateful. I never fully comprehended what it takes to do what you do until I had this opportunity. This is for you, and all the others I've been blessed to know over the last decade plus.

The job(s) you do are not glamorous or high paying. They often require the completion of tedious tasks, long hours, and an entirely selfless use of one's time. No, the job you do is not glamourous. But it is important. And I, for one, am so grateful you choose to do it.

For more information on FOCUS+Fragile Kids and its programs, visit https://focus-ga.org/ .