20. TrooRa The Inclusivity Issue Autumn 2023

Bonds That Score Empowering Youth with Challenges to Reach for the Stars

Dream on 3 is a nonprofit organization founded by Brandon Lindsay and his wife, Elizabeth Lindsay, who also serves as the organization’s Executive Director. Dream on 3 serves as a godparent, watching over and inspiring faith and hope in the lives of young kids, giving them the strength to go on, believing that they, too, can achieve their dreams. With the help of a caring and passionately driven team, Dream on 3 can bring smiles to the faces of kids and young adults, ages 5-21, who are living with life- altering conditions, by helping them achieve sports-related dreams, anything from attending a sporting event, to arranging a meeting with a favorite athlete, or even an entire team. The aim/mission of Dream on 3 is to create experiences of joy, hope, and encouragement for children and young adults with life-altering conditions through the world of sports. The opportunity to live out their ultimate sports dreams, even under customized encounters, is priceless. By doing so, not only does the organization put smiles on the faces of these kids and create precious memories, but they also help encourage kids going through different challenges to dream, giving them the strength to fight on. What’s more, by bringing joy into the lives of kids for no cost at all, the initiative also proves that there is still goodness in the world.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY DREAM ON 3, IVAN SAMKOV, DANNY NEE, IYNNELLE RICHARDSON. WRITTEN BY JESSE ADUMA

W e all have many things we would love to do in our lifetime. Goals to accomplish, milestones to reach, a bucket list to carry out, dreams to achieve; these are all major aspects of our lives, and a lot of how we see or regard ourselves—whether successful or not—usually depends on how many of these goals, these dreams, we have achieved. While we all have the ability to achieve our dreams, some of us may need a little help in actualizing them. Due to certain unfavorable elements in the past, some of us find our dreams even more abstract as these life-altering circumstances have been a wet blanket on all hope we once had of achieving said dreams. Fortunately, this is where Dream On 3 takes a huge step in restoring faith in humanity. Dream on 3 is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping little kids with chronic illnesses, developmental & intellectual disabilities, or life- altering conditions by introducing kindness, love, and pure joy into their lives. The organization is able to achieve this by creating memorable personal experiences for the kids through the world of sports.

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