PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Nicole Puzzo holds her daughter Stella on her lap. On the computer in the background is a photo of Stella in the beach buggy, which the Swampscott-based nonprofit Stepping Stones for Stella is hoping to build more of for children with disabilities.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Nicole Puzzo wants children with disabilities to experience the same freedom as her daughter when she’s carted in a buggy.
Stella suffers from Hypertonic and Spastic Dipelgia Cerebral Palsy. The 6-year-old was the inspiration for the beach buggy, which resembles a chair on wheels.
Puzzo said her father, Jack Banda, saw how difficult it was to get Stella and her other daughter, Chloe, on and off the beach and was inspired to help.
Banda had seen adult beach transports in Florida and made a smaller version for Stella in 2013.
“It was amazing,” Puzzo said. “It literally changed everything for us that summer.”
The buggy is water resistant, unlike Stella’s wheelchair. Without it, she wouldn’t have the freedom to go through the water and sand at the beach or experience snow in winter. It can travel over all types of terrain. The device, equipped with balloon wheels and made of PVC pipe material, rubber and stainless steel, was also the inspiration for Puzzo’s Swampscott-based nonprofit, Stepping Stones for Stella.
The charity’s mission is to build the buggies for children with disabilities so they can live without limitations. Puzzo and Melissa Stern, event coordinator for the nonprofit, are organizing the Freedom Run, which they envision as one of their major fundraisers.
Funds from the 5K walk/run will benefit families who have requested the vehicles on the nonprofit’s website. Banda handmade about 120 of the buggies, but the equipment is now made by a manufacturer.
The race is set for June 19 at 9 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, 4 Community Road, Marblehead.
The race is inclusive, with all athletes encouraged to participate, including hand cyclers and those in wheelchairs. Puzzo said cash prizes might be awarded to the top three winners. But she imagines the race will go beyond just crossing the finish line by empowering and educating people about the option for children with disabilities.
“It’s a nice way to incorporate all runners and hopefully raise money for the buggies,” she said.
Stern said about 110 people are signed up for the race, but she is hoping for at least 150. The goal is to raise $10,000. Each buggie costs about $600 and those funds could pay for at least 16 of them. The top raffle prize will be a pair of Boston Red Sox tickets and a tour of Fenway Park.
Puzzo said the goal is to have the Freedom Run annually, along with a beach volleyball tournament that will be held for the first time in Nahant on Sept. 10.
She sees both as the nonprofit’s two signature annual events. For the tournament, Stepping Stones has teamed up with New England Sports Network (NESN).
Registration for the run is $25. A family of four will pay $50.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.
