March 28, 2024
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Memorial gift to aid people using wheelchairs

MACHIAS – The wheelchair-using clients of Sunrise Opportunities are back on the road again, thanks to the generosity of a Machias businesswoman and a family that lost its son to muscular dystrophy.

Sandra Bryand, the owner of two Main Street businesses, and Greg and Terry Henderson, the parents of Oliver Henderson, have made a gift of Oliver’s van to the Washington County program that serves people with disabilities.

Bryand purchased the 1993 Ford conversion van, which is equipped with a wheelchair lift, from the Hendersons and donated it to Sunrise Opportunities.

“Terry and Greg actually donated some of the value,” Bryand said Friday. “I paid $9,000 for it, but it is worth $15,000, even without the wheelchair lift.”

Oliver Henderson was 21 years old when he died on July 7 of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Terry Henderson said her son was very involved in access issues for people with disabilities, and she knows he would feel that Sunrise Opportunities was an appropriate recipient of his van.

“Well, what else would you do with my van?” she imagines her son saying.

Henderson said the family has donated all of Oliver’s equipment to programs for people with disabilities, including the Pine Tree Camp, but providing the van to Sunrise wouldn’t have been possible without Bryand’s contribution.

“Sandi is such a generous, caring person, and she understands the importance of supporting people,” Henderson said.

Sharon Dean, executive director of Sunrise Opportunities, said the program – which serves 110 people from Milbridge to Eastport – has been without a wheelchair van for two years.

“Moby Dick, our big white van, just kept getting older and older and less functional,” Dean said. “We finally had to take it off the road, and we’ve been saving up for another one.”

Sunrise Opportunities offers day programs for children and adults with disabilities in Machias and Calais and residential programs in Machias, Calais, Eastport and Milbridge. They also operate a Dennysville residence for senior citizens, which has a transportation component and part-time staff to help organize activities for the residents, she said.

Dean said Sunrise Opportunities began in 1957 as a volunteer effort by Machias, Lubec and Eastport parents of children with developmental disabilities. Maine had no special education laws at the time, and the parents wanted to provide activities for their children, she said.

“There were a lot of kids that weren’t going to school, and the parents got together and started having baked bean suppers and other fund-raisers,” she said. “Now, we serve 110 people with a wide range of disabilities, and we cover the whole county.”

One of the Sunrise residents who is excited about the new van is Sherry Howes, a 38-year-old woman with cerebral palsy. She lives in the Sunrise Apartments in Machias.

Howes is a board member and past chair of “Speaking Up for Us,” a statewide self-advocacy group for people with disabilities.

Howes said her work with the advocacy group includes trips to Augusta and state conferences in Bethel. The new van will allow her to make those trips with her electric wheelchair, which gives her much more independence, she said.

“Before we got the van, I had to go by car or one of the other agency vans, so I had to use my manual chair,” Howes said. “But we’ll also use the van for other things, like shopping.”

Henderson, the director of the Accessibility Awareness Coalition of Washington County, said people in rural areas are dependent on transportation, and that is especially true for people in wheelchairs.

Her son was a champion for access, not just for himself, but for other people, she said.

“Oliver graduated sixth in his high school class and had a 3.5 average in college,” his mother said. “He just expected to live a full life.”

Bryand said she is happy she has the opportunity to help Sunrise and participate in a gift in Oliver’s memory. She and her sister just settled her father’s estate. Bryand’s father, Edward Bryand, invented the honeycomb roll paper machine. Her inheritance is helping her do things she’s always wanted to do, she said.

“It’s always been my goal to create helpful opportunities for other people,” Bryand said. “Now that I have money, it’s easier.”


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