SWAMPSCOTT — Stepping Stones for Stella, a non-profit based in Swampscott that makes buggies for children with disabilities, production has been halted since 2021.
Nicole Puzzo, the founder, said their manufacturer shut down because they couldn’t get workers or materials due to COVID-19.
“It’s been kind of frustrating because now that things are kind of up and running and the world is slightly back to normal, we have been trying to find a manufacturer to take on our projects and it’s just been really challenging and the cost of everything has just been so inflated,” Puzzo said.
Cost of the materials used to make the buggies has increased dramatically over the past few years.
“They used to cost about $550 to make and now it’s over $1000 just for one buggy,” Puzzo said. “We’re just honestly not sure how to move forward, which has been really hard because we have so many families sending emails and requests and looking for buggies.”
To try and supplement these requests, she has started a pay it forward program.
“(When) a child has outgrown a buggy and they reach out to me, I’m able to find another family locally that may have requested one,” Puzzo said.
Before the pandemic started, ideas of a beach walker were in the works and if they are able to find another manufacturer that is something she wants to move forward with.
“So we hope to get back up and running and be able to offer a beach walker to families as well as the beach buggies, and that would be the ultimate goal.
Stepping Stones for Stella is not Puzzo’s only initiative that has been affected by the pandemic. In March 2022, she, along with Joanne DiCamillo, launched befree, LLC, a clothing company for people living with limited mobility that make “zipOns” pants.
Like Stepping Stones for Stella, the inspiration for befree came from Puzzo’s 13-year-old daughter Stella who has cerebral palsy.
“At the age of 5, Stella underwent hip surgery and was in double leg casts for a three month recovery. Her mom, Nikki, soon realized there was no clothing on the market to accommodate her casts and decided to make her own. The results for Stella were transformative. And when she wore them to her post-op appointment, her doctors were so impressed they encouraged Nikki to make them for others. Knowing first-hand the impact they had on Stella’s recovery, Nikki took their advice,” befree’s website said.
The initial start of the company was supposed to happen three years ago, but the pandemic stopped that from happening.
“We were right about to go into a production run with our final design, which had taken us a couple of years to finalize … and COVID hit and everything shut down,” Puzzo said.
Since March, everything has been going really well for befree, she said.
“We are going into our second or third production run now, we’re expanding our product line,” Puzzo said. “So we do have a fair amount of products coming up within the next year or so and we’re just trying to get our name out there.”
Puzzo said she hopes to see the world become more inclusive and have more products for those with disabilities.
“That’s what it’s all about for me, I always have Stella in the forefront of my mind when I think of how to make her life more accessible and happier and give her any opportunity like anybody else, so that’s kind of where my ideas come from so I hope the world continues to move in that direction,” Puzzo said.
