Cerebral Palsy Strong

My name is Katy (Fetters) Gaastra, I am a disability community organizer and I call upon all those who are #cpstrong.

Cerebral Palsy Strong exists as a collective of young adults with a physical disability who've found that we need greater social & emotional support to navigate through life, careers, and relationships amid the challenges that come along with CP. In a world that emphasizes a return to "normalcy", we realize there is no overcoming lifelong disability. And so, we must learn to live and grow up with CP despite this expectation. Our growing community—online and offline—allows space for us to narrate this dynamic experience. 

Disability has been with us our whole lives, but we've been online since 2009. First as TeenCP— an early blog that connected us all far and wide. And later, in 2017 we evolved this effort into CPstrong as a platform to share stories on social media from individuals with CP. Our hashtag, #cpstrong continues to fuel our collective online identity, disabled representation, and creates a network of support for our peers as we've entered adulthood. 

In 2019, we organized our very first CP Social, a live gathering for the purpose of community-building and socializing. In order to have the capacity to host future events, it is our objective to develop a long-lasting organization for people with CP, by people with CP with funds raised here. Katy will lead all administrative and operating duties as founder, which includes being reasonably compensated for her time and reimbursed for recurring expenses that keep CPstrong active.

While our funding priorities may evolve, our vision remains clear: to foster community and belonging as we build a network of support for our peers. It is our promise to use this platform to carry out this vision however we can, where ever people with CP are. More to come as we work to clarify our goals in 2020 2022*.

Our Fundraising Priorities
1) Our Annual CP Social in 2020 2022
2) Quarterly Mini-Meetups
3) #cpstrong Merchandise Production Expansion
4) Online Presence Maintenance
5) Administrative Fee

View our proposed annual budget here.

As a member or one-time sponsor, your belief in our cause means so much to so many. I hope you'll join us any way you can!
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*As you might've noticed, we took a long pause during the pandemic. It feels okay to be honest here — raising funds during the pandemic didn't feel like a priority; but now, exactly two years later and equipped with grant funds from Arc'Teryx, we're ready to revisit our goals and move forward with our plans to host our next CP Social and expand our reach through mini-meetups and merch production.