Extreme Kids and Crew is holding their sixth annual fundraiser on May 15 at 501 Union Street in Gowanus. Doors open at 7.
Extreme Kids and Crew is a nonprofit that provides a welcoming and supportive space for children with disabilities. They have a play space at PS 15 in Red Hook where a ball pit and sensory gym equipment are located.
Each year, the Felix Awards highlights an artist whose work incorporates, explores and transcends disability. This year the Felix Award honoree is the accomplished Jerron Herman, the principal dancer at the Heidi Latsky Dance Company.
Herman has cerebral palsy hemiplegia, and regardless of naysayers, he has realized his dream of being a professional dancer and choreographer at a company that strives to integrate people with disabilities.
According to Extreme Kids & Crew Development & Communications Director, Leigh Reid, Herman first came to the Awards four years ago when he presented an award for Heidi Latsky.
Click here to see Jerron dance.
“We have been following his career a bit and then we started to see him popping up elsewhere in New York City,” Reid said. “For example, having his own solo show, and we also saw he was in the Tommy Hilfiger ad Great Big Story.”
“Society can limit you, but you can work on what you want to work on, and you can do what you want to do,” Reid said. “That really spoke to us. Luckily, he was very willing to accept the award.”
A prominent feature of the Felix Awards is that the ball pit and sensory gym will be at the event space. Adults will get a chance to try the ball pit.
“Last year that we brought over the majority of the equipment and realized how much fun that was for everybody, so we will be doing that again,” Reid said. “We will bring the giant pillows, the swings and the ball pit.”
Extreme Kids works with Movers, not Shakers! to bring the ball pit and sensory gym from their usual location at P.S. 15 to the Felix Awards. Movers, not Shakers! is located in Gowanus.
There will be a specialty cocktail provided by the Van Brunt Distillery.
A DJ will be providing music. A photo booth near the ball pit will be provided by MVS Studios.
“It is pretty much what our spaces are known for – that we have this really fun ball pit,” Claribel Rivas, Communications Coordinator, said. “Something special about the Felix Awards is that it is pretty much for adults, so the adults will get to have fun and see what it is like to play with the sensory gym items we have like the swings and ball pit.”
Attendees will get to experience what the kids experience at the play space and know what their money is benefiting.
“Our main goal is to diminish feelings of isolation in parents and caregivers and increase feelings of friendship and confidence-building in children,” Reid said. “While we don’t do therapy in the conventional textbook sense, it is incredibly supportive of any child or family’s development to have a place where they can go and be happy and welcomed.”
Extreme Kids & Crew runs an afterschool program at P.S. 15 Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 5 with at least 10 kids in that program.
The kids involved in Extreme Kids afterschool usually stay throughout one whole year, and they are eligible if they have one of a range of special needs.
“If they have an individualized education program plan then they can sign up, which is the Department of Education’s designation that they have a special need whether it is English as a Second Language or a disability,” Reid said.
On Saturdays and Sundays, they programs start at 10:30 am and go until 4 pm.
“The space is utilized pretty constantly,” Reid said. “The afterschool is solely for kids who go to school at P.S. 15 and live in the neighborhood. On the weekends, it is a mix, anyone from anywhere in the city is welcome to come.”
According to Rivas, open play, which takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. on the weekends, is their most popular program and gets the most attendees.
Kids and parents will often come in and out throughout the afternoon. The first hour might bring in 10 families and then two families might leave and five more might come in.
The dinner will include a silent auction. Prizes from the silent auction include Rangers tickets, VIP tickets to see Late Night with Stephen Colbert, a Montauk getaway with a private beach and a voucher for 10 classes at SOULCYCLE.
According to Reid, the only part of Extreme Kids that isn’t totally free is summer camp. Extreme Kids has not turned anyone interested away for a lack of money, which is a reason the Felix Awards is a great time and is so important.
The camp in Red Hook for elementary school kids has lots of outdoor activities with music involved when they are inside.
“The Red Hook camp goes for six weeks,” Rivas said. “In the Red Hook camp there are field trips, they go to museums, they go to the Red Hook Library and the Community Farm.
About 20 percent of the annual budget comes from the spring campaign, and the money from the auction goes directly to help provide programming.
Each ticket to the Felix Awards goes towards funding Extreme Kids programming. The range of ticket options is $25 to $500 and tickets can be purchased at their website, extremekidsandcrew.org.
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