Built on Fairness
Our Rhythmic Arts Project was born in the spirit of compassion and kindness.
I may have been alone with my thoughts and plans in the inception of TRAP, but soon others were lending their ideas, their expertise, and their own brand of kindness. There was no talk of money save the cost of what materials were necessary to facilitate. I did need to keep a roof over my head, in which a used motorhome sufficed.
I lived illegally on a ranch in the foothills of Carpinteria, California. This humble beginning followed my release from the hospital and rehab where I spent nearly two months recovering from a broken neck. My diagnosis is quadriplegic, and though I began this journey totally paralyzed, I am ambulatory and able to get around today quite well with a cane … and a prayer! Ok, mostly prayer!
To be clear, there was no business plan. I had no idea how I would sustain and develop this idea other than putting one foot in front of the other. It was a new, exciting path in my life that came into fruition one day at a time, one learning curve after the other. There was so much to learn and develop, so many to learn from as I ventured out from the ranch day after day.
Libby Whaley, the head of Recreational Therapy at the hospital, was paramount in the crafting of the program having shaped the drum and percussion ideas into viable and significant modalities in the rehab setting. We worked and innovated in the rehab setting for more than three years having ventured out across the country showing the method to Recreational Conferences and at hospitals and rehabs.
It was at one of these conferences that I met Suzy Getty, a recreational therapist who introduced me to the world of Intellectual and developmentally disabled people. I have never looked back. I was alone in that motorhome on a ranch of mostly Mexican immigrants. There were maybe 100 displaced and “broke as a bag of glass” people like me struggling to get by.
I was surrounded by the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever met. They looked after me every day. They made sure I had food, replaced my propane, and whatever else I was incapable of accomplishing on my own. They built me a small, gated yard outside my motorhome and created a privacy I hadn’t enjoyed before. They were a family, and they included me. I learned so much and I’ll be forever grateful.
Business was a “struggle” … an understatement! The local newspaper donated a laptop computer to me in reward for the volunteer work I was doing in the community and at the hospital. It changed my life.
A whole new world at my fingertips… kind of. I had no idea how to type. I pecked my way along and managed to research “non-profit” and then applied. Everyone I spoke to from Washington DC, to Seattle, Washington were kind and understanding. It took six months, but I obtained my nonprofit status. Now, what to do with it? What’s a grant? Yikes, another can of worms. I kept pecking away until I had written my first grant and received $10,000!
Now I could buy drums and materials, travel much farther away to demonstrate the initial TRAP ideas from San Diego to Seattle and everywhere in between. I had an 88 Toyota hatchback that rocked the highways and carried me from A to Z and back. I ate trail mix and stayed in Motel ‘6s all the way up and down the coast. I didn’t charge anyone as I was simply demonstrating the curriculum and modality in the hopes that they would find use for it in their respected facilities. Some did, others thought I was a disabled hippy with too much time on his hands. Nonetheless, TRAP was born.
The company was born in this amphitheater of charity, empathy, and kindness and it has never changed. I’ve had considerable help along the way including compensation and respect. I’ve given away more than I received in respect to compensation and have always felt good about it.
*I built the company on fairness.
Benevolence has been the cornerstone of our program and has been a guiding principle in our ongoing work. The ability to help where needed, to give freely, when possible, is our pure “Joy.”
The happiness we experience so often in TRAP.
To curb or eliminate this belief would be heart breaking. Let’s not.