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A little inspiration from his younger brother has made Brandon Yep, 15, into a leader who hopes to make people more aware and understanding of disabilities.
Brandon is founder of REACH, or Realize, Excel, Achieve, Courage and Hope, a student club at Fairfield College Preparatory School formed as a big brother-type group intended to foster fun and meaningful relationships between Fairfield Prep students and children with special needs and disabilities at the New Canaan YMCA.
Brandon, a sophomore from New Canaan, started the group about two months ago, inspired by his younger brother, Tim, 14, who has a Disorder of the Corpus Callosum. Seeing him go and excel motivated me, said Brandon. People are kind of oblivious to kids with disabilities. People are just not aware of the hardships they go though. Our goal is to get kids at Prep to see what they go through.
Brandon and seven of his Prep classmates held the groups first outing Sunday at the YMCA as they played with children who have Down syndrome. Brandon considered the outing a major success after seeing how his classmates and the children enjoyed each others company.
It really gave them a chance to have a day of fun, Brandon said. Overall, all of them had a wonderful time. They all had smiles on their face, and they had a fun time giving back. It was a big success.
Brandons mother Helen Yep said shes proud of how her son formed the group and reached out to Marisa McBride, the YMCAs director of special needs programming. He wants this to be something that continues even after he graduates and is gone, Helen Yep said.
Brandon Yep said he would like REACH to have 15 to 25 members by next year. REACH members will be back to work with special needs children again next month, Brandon said.
What do you think of Brandon Yeps efforts to work with kids with disabilities? Let us know by leaving a comment below. You can also visit us on Facebook.
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