Help peter raise money

One of my earliest childhood memories is going to Charlton Hospital with my mom for speech classes. My first language wasn’t English, or even French like my dad’s, it was my own mix of gibberish and more gibberish. Thankfully, after going through this speech therapy program, plus others in my schools up until 8th grade, things improved. Now, I take a mic host events, saying all sorts of words—and I get about 90% of them right! It’s mostly names that get me now.

However, my speech and ability to say words weren’t the only things I struggled with growing up—and still do today. My biggest challenge is spelling. When I say I'm the world’s worst speller, I’m not joking! I was diagnosed with Phonemic Awareness, which is a form of dyslexia that affects how I hear syllables, making it harder for me to speak, read, and spell. So sadly, I’ve never been able to say the alphabet backward—most people with dyslexia can’t.

Because of this, growing up, I was no stranger to being in special learning programs, whether it was a small class or one-on-one. Programs such as speech therapy, the Wilson Reading Program, IEPs, Title 1, you name it—I’ve been in them all. These programs—and mostly the teachers—helped me immensely! They taught me different ways to learn how to read, spell, and speak. When something didn’t work, they never gave up. They adapted the lesson until it clicked. They taught me tricks, like using context clues (which now I’m a whiz at!), and they gave me tools like spell-checking machines (this was before you could just use Siri or chat gpt), and so much more. Most of all, they gave me the support and hope that I could do it. It might take more time and effort, but it would happen.

Truth be told, I love writing and like to think I’m not too bad at it. My day job involves a lot of writing, from posting on social media platforms to writing blogs. Those tricks, along with Siri, Google, and lots of proofreading, help a lot!

That’s why I’m sitting on the board for Why Not A Pear, and that’s why I’m running to raise money for them! Why Not A Pear raises money for programs for children who learn differently, for the same programs that helped me. So they can give their students the tools, lessons, support, and confidence they need to live their lives. While being involved with the Pear, I’ve had some great opportunities to help and give back, making it better for kids who need help learning now!

I hope that if you can donate, you will—so we can help future generations learn, grow, and be confident in who they are, no matter what disability they have. Just because you have a disability doesn’t (always) mean you can’t do it—it just means it takes more time and practice to get there.

Thank you for your support. You may know I’ve run the Falmouth Road Race before, and I’m looking forward to running it again this year! Thank you in advance for donating and supporting my run every year!!