Paving the Way to Independence - OPIE and you!

Pleasant Lawn and OPIE (Our Prayers in Evidence) are proud to offer a way to help Pave the Way to Further Independence for Owen.

Pleasant Lawn Elementary, completed in 1917, was a staple of the Mt. Pleasant and surrounding community for over 75 years. Sadly, in 1994, due somewhat to non-compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, Pleasant Lawn educated their last child. 7

In 2005, the Proughs, with their 8 children bought the old school house.

Their seventh child, Owen (OPIE) was born with Spastic Quadriplegia, Cerebal Palsy. This condition has sentenced him to a life in a wheelchair. In essence, Owen is a normal five year old boy......his legs and to a lesser extent, his arms, just don’t work correctly.

After three years of living in the house, a lift (identical to that pictured to the right) was installed to take Owen from the 2nd to the 3rd floor.

Now, Owen needs your help in gaining further independence. We are building a pathway from the bus stop to the front door. We are going to pave that path with personalized, engraved bricks donated by friends, family, and the surrounding community.

The excess money (beyond the cost of the brick) will be used to purchase and install a lift to take OPIE from the ground level to either the basement or 2nd floor. Once completed, Owen will have access to the entire school house - just as his siblings already do.

Please help us in this endeavor. I know that OPIE would appreciate it.

Two sizes are available. 4 X 8 for $60 and 8 X 8 for $120.

Roughly, it will take over 240 bricks to finish.

A lofty goal, no doubt. However, when you take into consideration the goals and achievements that Owen has already surpassed in his five years of life, the goal seems small.

Thank you,

Chris, Susanne, and all of the Prough children.