Volunteer Appreciation Week - April 19 - 25, 2021

“Everyone sees the glory moments, but they don’t see what happens behind the scenes.” 

April 19-25 is Volunteer Appreciation Week and The Kyle Pease Foundation wants to take this time to send out a very special thank you to the hundreds of volunteers that make it possible for our athletes to race each year. 

In 2011, The Kyle Pease Foundation was founded.  The Foundation had no employees. Lots of helpers and loyal supporters pushed Brent and Kyle to expect more out of the race community.  Over the last 10 years, hundreds of individuals have helped us not only assist athletes on race day, but help them outside of racing and in our own community.  Without this support, KPF might not be here today. 

As you can imagine, the planning for our races start long before the actual event day.  Marketing, managing registration, assigning equipment, coordinating teams, packing the truck, and then getting everything to the event (sometimes across the country!) is a process.

Once all of this is done, it’s time to line up and start the race.  For every in-chair athlete one or more volunteers are needed to run the race, support our athletes during the race and get them safely across the finish line where the entire KPeasey Nation is cheering them in.. and usually their parents too!  

Everyone sees the glorious moment of an athlete crossing the finish line… but the work is not done.  Our team and volunteers get our athletes out of their race chairs and back to their everyday chair. Then the clean up begins by wiping down the equipment, loading the chairs and other equipment back on the truck, and heading back to the warehouse.  Once at the warehouse, the unloading, maintenance and organizing of chairs is completed.  

This process is long, involved and more work than one person can do.  Our small staff isn’t enough to make all of these moving parts come together for our athletes.  Because of this, KPF leans heavily on our volunteers and the amazing community that is needed most.  

Words on paper or social media will never be enough to properly thank our volunteers that dedicate their time and energy to The Kyle Pease Foundation.  We hope that as they read these words, they hear the gratitude that is forever in our hearts to each of them.  We hope that our families, athletes, staff and supporters make it a point at the next event to say a special THANK YOU to the volunteers they encounter that day.  

Afterall, we are family. Without each and every unit of this organization, we would not be able to show the world what inclusion and The Kyle Pease Foundation are all about.  

Together WE wheel!

Meet Cecil, The Expeditioner

Cecil Williams is an adventurous soul. In 2018, after being involved in a hit-and-run accident that caused his peripheral neuropathy, he turned to adaptive sports as a way to rehabilitate his body and spirit. Through a nonprofit in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Williams quickly transformed into an adventure-seeking adrenaline junkie. 

“I have tried skydiving, hang gliding, adaptive snow skiing, adaptive rock climbing, kayaking, scuba diving, zip lining, adaptive water skiing, tubing, jet skiing - just to name a few things,” offered Williams.

In 2019, friend and KPF crank athlete Cougar Clifford and his mom told Williams about their racing endeavors with the foundation. 

“She gave me a KPF business card, and I had started to follow KPF on social media later on in the year. To be honest, I was just taking a chance by trying something new.” And so, he signed up for the 2019 Invesco QQQ Atlanta Thanksgiving Half-marathon. 

“When I had crossed the finish line inside of the Georgia State University Stadium after the half marathon. I was like, ‘this is it.’ “He had found the catalyst that helped quench his thirst to stay active in sports. 

Williams rides his Catrike outdoors twice a week and pumps iron at the gym three to four times a week, training harder when it gets closer to a KPF race day. 

This past Atlanta Half-marathon was William’s third half marathon. Searching for another marathon – next time, a full -- he is driven and committed to do more. The crank athlete has his sights set on doing a triathlon as he was recently inducted into the KPF Tri Team. 

Beyond racing, Williams stays active in the community volunteering on the Mayor's Council of Disability. 

“I try to stay engaged with my community and look for ways to serve.” 

Article Written by Kevin Enners

Newton's Third Law

It would be the toughest race Team Pease would tackle - The Ironman World Championship in Kona, HI. Before each training run, Brent would lace up his Newton Distance running shoes.  Following a rigorous training plan which involved 20 to 28 miles of running per week, one long aerobic run, one short strength run (usually with hills) and two “brick” bike-run workouts.

Through the rollercoaster of their journey that started all those years ago with The Kyle Pease Foundation, there were Newton running shoes to see them through the finish line – and beyond. 

Boulder, Colorado-based Newton Running Company has been KPF’s partner since 2012. Wendy Lee, the daughter of CEO Jerry Lee, recalls receiving an introductory email from Kyle and Brent. “I was so impressed with them both ... we had no idea how great of a partnership this would turn out to be.”

Co-founded by Jerry Lee in 2007, Newton Running Company’s shoes were designed to promote gait efficiency for people at all levels of the sport. Lee knows a thing or two about going the distance. He is an Ironman athlete and 15-time marathon finisher. He has maintained a regular running routine for decades and “needs his running shoes to keep up with his grandchild” as well as his real estate development business.

Wendy, who manages Newton’s international partners as well as the company’s social responsibility and human resource components, has been a runner for 25 years. Running keeps her physically and mentally healthy.

The company designs their shoes based on how a person runs naturally, putting technology in the forefoot area. “We take pride in the balance of art and science that goes into our product,” added Wendy. Not only are Newton shoes eco-friendly but they are fashion forward, introducing loud and energetic neons in their spring line and more stealth and conservative colors in their fall line. 

Through KPF and Newton’s partnership, both organizations inspire each other to push the boundaries of what is possible. “The road hasn’t been easy for either of us,” said Wendy, “but it is always worth it. Especially when you get to do it with people like Brent and Kyle.”

Mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton’s Third Law states: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” A perfect analogy describing the positive, impactful partnership between Newton Running Company and KPF, both trying to make a lasting difference. 

Blog written by Kevin Enners

Meet Jessica, The Nitty-Gritty

Whether professional or amateur, being an athlete takes grit. Crank athlete Jessica Minton has been a lifelong sports person, whether playing wheelchair basketball at the University of Alabama or cranking out mileage on her handbike equivalent to that of an ultramarathon on The Silver Comet Trail. 

If you were to ask Minton why, she would say it’s because she’s competitive. Like many athletes with disabilities, sports provide endeavors that push you out of your comfort zone – disabled or not – and therefore gives you equal opportunity to beat your inner demons. 

At 11 years old, Jessica lost her leg while battling cancer. Nevertheless, this did not diminish her competitive spirit. With her driving spirit, the young Jessica entered the arena of wheelchair sports. In college at the University of Alabama, Minton zipped up and down Foster Auditorium where she played wheelchair basketball – the same building where, 40 years earlier, Governor George Wallace gave his infamous “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” speech as he attempted to block school integration.  

“The auditorium was broken down. The lights didn’t work the best, there was glass on the floors,” Jessica reflects. “But it was the beginning of a new era at (the University of) Alabama. I wasn’t the best basketball player, but I went. I accrued debt for transferring to an out of state school. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

For a season, Minton even got the opportunity to play wheelchair volleyball, globetrotting to Amsterdam to play in an international tournament. 

“I was on the first national women’s sitting volleyball team. It was introduced in 2004 as a Paralympic sport for women. I was an alternate for Greece. So, it was kind of a trial run for Greece.” 

In 2005, Jessica met her now husband, Bryant. They had a son together, Grant. One month after they brought their son home, Jessica had a stroke. The side effects from the chemotherapy when she was young triggered congestive heart failure, creating a clot in her brain. Her “strong side” was now ineffective, and Minton had to re-learn how to eat, bathe, feed herself, talk, and write again.

“The stroke changed me,” Jessica says. “I became more of an introvert. I already was an introvert, but it just got worse.  I kind of lost my competitive drive.” 

That is until July 4, 2013, as Jessica watched Brent and Kyle Pease run The Peachtree Road Race. The fire in the former wheelchair athlete sparked again. A conversation with Brent led to a new handbike. Grit and all, Minton was back in the saddle cranking through the hilly course of the Holcomb Bridge Hustle a few months later.

 “It was the hardest 5k I’ve ever done! But I loved it!”

Meet Kyleigh, The Artist

Kyleigh Kramlich is a painter. With her augmentative communicator as the canvas and her eyes as the brush, she creates beautiful murals of living things in their natural habitat. Her muses are walkers, runners and animals roaming their territory. 

“It’s relaxing to me,” she explains. “because it lets me put on paper whatever I feel.” 

When eye-gaze technology is inaccessible, she renders her portraits the old-fashioned way. Holding the paint brush in her mouth, Kyleigh moves her head in small swirls, recreating the images in her mind, trying to arouse the emotions that she feels – usually love, a motif that flows through her colorful life. 

“Love is usually the emotion that I want to evoke,” says Kyleigh. “Love for animals, love for all kinds of different people.”

Brushstrokes of blue and black of KPF running blended into the portrait about five years ago when she went to Camp Wheel Away – the camp KPF created to expand their mission of improving lives beyond the finish. A little anxious at first, Kyleigh began to embroider running into her life. The wind streaking through her hair as Brent Pease ran with her in a race chair, Kyleigh discovered the artistry in running.  

Where we stand determines what we see. When Kramlich paints a self-portrait, she shows herself standing, walking, running. She sees herself the way she paints a self-portrait – not defined by her disability but by her capability. 

“Life was much more exciting before COVID,” Kyleigh says. Prior to COVID restrictions, Kyleigh was your typical young adult. She would go to school, volunteer at an animal shelter and, of course, compete in road races. She hung out with friends, went to the mall, and attended social gatherings organized by other nonprofits. 

Now, she logs into online classes and due to the pandemic, Kyleigh stays in her room as she completes assignments. 

“My aide and I have a separate room in a separate building to stay apart from other people, but I can still go to classes with my friends,” she explains. Among the typical Math, English and Social Studies courses, Kyleigh is particularly enthusiastic about learning a foreign language – Spanish. 

When asked if running has helped her overcome other obstacles in life, Kramlich said it boosts her confidence. “I know I can do anything if I put my mind to it.”

Interview written by Kevin Enners