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Cartwheel For A Cause
by Lizette Romero
February 16 |
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Clear some space.
Extend your arms straight above your head and reach for the sky.
Point one foot in front of you, turning the other foot slightly outward.
Then, look down at where you will place your hands next.
Reach with the same hand as your pointed foot, kicking your legs powerfully into the air.
Feel your legs leave the ground and pass over your body.
Land on the opposite foot followed by your other leg.
This is a cartwheel.
It’s a rhythmic skill, an acrobatic maneuver and one of the first basic moves in gymnastics. Children as young as four-years-old possess the ability to perform a cartwheel, moving their limbs like spokes in a bicycle wheel. But what if this small but easy act could literally turn someone’s world upside down? What if cartwheels could do more than just make one dizzy? Turns out, they have the ability to save lives, make wishes come true and much more.
For five-year-old Hope who battles congenital heart disease, cartwheels will make her sixth birthday wish come true. In conjunction with Make-A-Wish Foundation of Idaho, two of Idaho'sThe Little Gym’s locations in Boise and Meridian, will host a Cartwheel-A-Thon for Hope on February 19. Despite her recent low energy from doctor visits, Hope still wishes to celebrate her sixth birthday in a high-energy “Make-A-Wish” fashion complete with a shopping spree to all her favorite stores followed by a celebration with friends, family and of course, cake.
A Cartwheel-A-Thon allows kids to raise awareness and fundraise for others by doing something fun and sweet. It works by each participant performing continuous cartwheels for pledges. Each pledge can be a restricted dollar amount per cartwheel or just a general lump sum.
In addition, Cartwheel-A-Thons don’t have to be restricted to merely kids. If the world record holder for 'most cartwheels completed in a hour' entered a 60 minute cartwheel-a-thon at $1.00 per cartwheel, he’d raise $1,293 alone! Yes – that’s the record for most cartwheels in an hour, which was performed not by a young cheerleader, but by a 40-year-old man named Don Claps on the Regis & Kelly show on September 2006.
To this day, Claps still holds the unbeatable record. In fact, he’s spun his cartwheeling skill into a complete cause, cartwheeling the streets of Colorado for donations benefiting The Children’s Hospital. Claps also raised money for the hospital by completing 6.2 miles of cartwheels during the BolderBoulder, an annual Memorial Day 10k race.
Cartwheels have a way of making one feel young again, and Claps’ wife jokes that he’s in the midst of a mid-life crisis. But maybe this simple childhood acrobatic act of reaching for the sky, putting your bum in the air and watching your hair go crazy is just plain fun? And if it’s capable of bringing change into the world and making a child’s wish come true then why not - why not cartwheel for a cause?
Do you have an inspirational story that you would like to share with the YourCause.com team? Write us at info@yourcause.com.
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