On Thursday, July 19, Wendell Foster, a local agency serving people with disabilities, hosted a lunch to honor local first responders in Owensboro and Daviess County. Over 100 police officers, firefighters, EMTs and members of the sheriff’s department attended a cookout at Wendell Foster’s Sensory Park.
A committee worked on the planning of this event and Tessa Wilkerson headed it up as a student intern for Western Kentucky University. Tessa received services from Wendell Foster starting at age 3 because of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2, a form of Muscular Dystrophy (MD). Her experience with Wendell Foster is the reason she wanted to intern at their campus.
The goal of the lunch was to create a fun environment and foster interaction between emergency personnel and residents. Wendell Foster CEO, Eric Scharf, hoped, “Wendell Foster residents would feel more comfortable if they were able to build a relationship with the local first responders.” John Gleason, Wendell Foster’s Community Outreach Specialist, stated, “It was touching to see both communities sitting at one table as they ate and interacted with one another.”
