A Parent’s Perspective: Night at the Races and Highmark Walk

This month we are highlighting the Night at the Races (NATR) and the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community (HMW). Learn more about these wonderful fundraisers from a parent’s perspective. Both events support the Student Activity Fund, which is a passion of DePaul’s Parent Group. Morgan Basinger (Parent Liaison at DePaul) and Kelley Politi actively participate in our Parent Group. Morgan and Kelley share how DePaul has impacted their families, influenced their enthusiasm for the Parent Group, and the importance of events like Night at the Races and the Highmark Walk.

Save the Date

Night at the Races

• April 13, 2024, 4:00 pm
• Calvary Episcopal Church, 315 Shady Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
• Ticket price is $30

Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community

• June 22, 2024
• North Shore
• Registration is FREE; choose to have your donations go to DePaul!

Name of Student(s):

Morgan Basinger: Jaxyn Basinger & Knox Basinger (attended the SAILL preschool for 3 semesters)

Kelley Politi: Mateo Politi

Ages/Diagnosis of Student(s):

Morgan Basinger: Jaxyn is 7 and in first grade at DePaul. She has profound hearing loss in her right ear and has a cochlear implant and has profound hearing loss in her left ear and wears a hearing aid. She has hearing loss secondary to CHARGE Syndrome. Knox is 5 and had a severe speech delay and now in his neighborhood Pre-K.

Kelley Politi: 3 years old, profound hearing loss

What does DePaul mean to you and your family?

Morgan Basinger: DePaul means many things to us. DePaul means giving my children a voice. DePaul means teaching my children how to communicate with the world around them through listening and spoken language! DePaul means reassurance that our kids are going to be ok in the world! When I first walked in the doors at DePaul, I felt it. I felt “IT”; that “IT” is sometimes hard to explain. I could feel the warmth, the sense of community, the can-do attitude, and the LOVE. Maybe that’s what the “IT” is, LOVE; love for the children, love for the job, love for the ability to make a massive difference in the world one child at a time! There are not enough words to express the gratitude and LOVE we have for DePaul and the staff that make DePaul who they are! They are heroes, everyday heroes, that often get overlooked because it’s just WHO they are, and they don’t expect anything in return.  The work that DePaul does every day is inspiring. If you haven’t visited, YOU NEED TO! Call and ask for a tour, you will feel the “IT” as soon as you step foot through those doors and you will understand what I mean. There is nowhere else like it, and I still can’t believe my kids have had the opportunity to attend. I will forever be grateful! DePaul is and will continue to be a blessing to our family for our entire lives!

Kelley Politi: DePaul has been so instrumental in our son’s listening and speaking journey. He’s been involved with DePaul since he was a baby and attended a virtual music group. DePaul has been here every step of the way, not just for Mateo, but for us as parents.

How has DePaul given you hope?

Morgan Basinger: DePaul has given my kids their voice. They have allowed them the opportunity to grow and develop all while supporting their communication. When you have a very small child or baby with hearing loss, it’s hard to know what the future will hold for them, and it is SCARY.  Coming to DePaul has alleviated that worry for us. We get to see kids succeed every day and move on to their neighborhood schools with their typically developing peers and be ready for it! Knox has already proven that by attending his neighborhood Pre-K, and next year kindergarten and no longer needing speech services! It gives me hope that Jaxyn will be able to do the same very soon!

Kelley Politi: DePaul has given me hope for what type of future my son can have. A future that was so uncertain to me as a new mom with a baby diagnosed with hearing loss. Being able to see Mateo’s older classmates speak so well was so inspiring to me and gave me hope that one day he would be able to as well.

How has your child progressed at DePaul School?

Morgan Basinger: Jaxyn started at DePaul in a baby music group. From that point on, I knew she had to attend DePaul. I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it happen, but I knew it had to be done! Jaxyn was implanted late because of other medical problems and therefore she was already behind in her communication. When Jaxyn started attending Pre-School at the age of 3, she had very little intelligible words. That started changing very quickly and her frustrations due to lack of communication got better as well! Now, she is in first grade and she is READING! READING, you read that right. From not being able to talk at 3, to READING at 6! Her progress has been remarkable!

Knox did not have hearing loss but had a severe speech delay. At 3 years old, you could not understand much of what he said. He started in the pilot program of the SAILL preschool at DePaul and in a year and a half his speech was unimaginably different! His articulation and language are amazing! So amazing that he got to graduate from SAILL and go to his neighborhood Pre-K! Next year he will move to Kindergarten and drop his IEP!  All because of the intense services he received at DePaul! 

Kelley Politi: Mateo is not the same little boy who showed up at his first day of toddler group at 18 months old. He was shy and barely speaking with a speech delay. He is now outgoing and speaking so well and so much!

What was one big milestone your child hit that you maybe didn’t think was possible?

Morgan Basinger: I have never put a limit on what Jaxyn could do, but I always knew it would take her longer and require more work than most kids. When she began reading last year in Kindergarten, I was BLOWN away. I have tears in my eyes and chills all over thinking about it right now! Reading in Kindergarten! As for Knox, he gets to go through grade school with no IEP and speech services because of all the progress he made early on with DePaul!

Kelley Politi: At the time of diagnosis, I had no idea what was possible. I was grappling with the fact that my son might never be able to hear me say I love you or tell me he loved me. Now he tells me every day how much he loves me with a huge smile on his face. Something that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to hear!

Why are you so passionate about being in the Parent Group and organizing fundraisers for the Student Activity Fund?

Morgan Basinger: DePaul has changed the world for my children, especially Jaxyn. I want other people to know about DePaul and know what life changing possibilities it has for others too! I want other new parents, like I once was, to know what DePaul does and how they can help children like Jaxyn find their voice! I want to help the Student Activity Fund because it allows our teachers and administration to give our children what they need to succeed when they need it! That could range from things like a backpack or shoes to snacks and lunch. It could also look like a fun field trip in an environment that children with hearing loss don’t usually excel in. Take bowling for instance, there is background music and noise from the activity itself and our children get to go participate in this social event and experience it altogether. It builds their confidence to do things like this on their own and with their typically developing peers!

Kelley Politi: I am so thankful for DePaul and how amazing the staff is to every single student. I love being able to give back to the school in any way I can. The students receive such a well-rounded education at DePaul and they’re always doing fun activities. These activities are made possible by the Student Activity Fund.

Tell us about the upcoming Night At the Races:

Morgan Basinger: A Night at the Races is a fundraising event for the Student Activities Fund. You purchase admission and a horse for the event. Your horse gets assigned a race number and a horse number. Just like at the track, you’ll have the opportunity to place bets on the horses you think will come out on top. We provide you with a program listing all the horses in each race. You can place your bets with our designated betting staff at the event. Once all the bets are in, it’s time to run the race! Using pre-recorded horse races, we’ll project the race onto a screen in the venue. You’ll see the horses thundering down the track in stunning detail, as if you were right there at the racetrack. After the race concludes, we’ll announce the winners. If you’ve backed a winning horse, you’ll collect your winnings based on the odds and the amount you wagered. We’ll repeat this process for each race of the evening, keeping the excitement going all night long. The last race of the night, each horse will be auctioned off to the HIGHEST BIDDER and the winner of that race will win BIG! In addition to the races, we have a reverse raffle, Chinese auction, 50/50 raffle, and pull tab tickets.  There is food and plenty of refreshments to enjoy while you cheer on your favorite horses. Overall, Night at the Races is all about raising funds for our children and building community spirit in a fun and exciting way!

Kelley Politi: The NATR event is going to be a night of horse races, opportunities to win amazing prizes, and great food; all benefiting the Student Fund. It’s a great opportunity to have a fun night out while raising money for the kids!

Why do you want to be involved in the NATR?

Morgan Basinger: It is going to be a fun and exciting evening raising money for our students and celebrating that with all the people who care about DePaul! I want to help make it a success!

Kelley Politi: I was honored to be asked to help organize this event and jumped at the chance to be able to raise money to help support the kids at DePaul.

Why is it important for the NATR to be a success?

Morgan Basinger: It is important for the NATR to be a success because our kids depend on it.  Our Student Activity Fund depends on the Parent Group to hold fundraisers to ensure it has funds. Due to the pandemic in recent years, the Parent Group was unable to hold in-person events to provide funding to the account. The Student Activities Fund is CRITICALLY LOW, and we need this to be a success to ensure our children have the resources they need to enhance their education at DePaul and we are going to make sure they have it!

Kelley Politi: Our students and teachers depend on this fund to help with classroom needs and educational field trips. Due to the pandemic this is the first NATR that has been hosted since 2019 so our funds are very low and we could use a successful event to build the funds back up.

Tell us about the Highmark Walk:

Morgan Basinger: The Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community is an annual fundraising walk that benefits local health and human service agencies. The goal of the walk is to help participating organizations, like DePaul, raise money for their individual missions.

Why do you want to be involved in the HMW?

Morgan Basinger: I like to be involved in the Highmark walk because it is an opportunity to spread awareness about what DePaul does, as well as be together as a community and support our mission! It is so much fun to come together and walk as a team and show our support! It gives our students the opportunity to encourage people around them to support them by donating to DePaul and getting out to walk with us!

Why is it important for the HMW to be a success?

Morgan Basinger: It is important for the HMW to be a success because it raises awareness of our school and our mission.  It gives us the opportunity to get donors for our organization and for people to see our kids out in the world being successful!

What does the Student Activity Fund provide for our students and staff that our general operating budget does not?

Morgan Basinger: The Student Activity Fund is a discretionary fund that provides our teachers with classroom materials and equipment, field trips, and parent education programs. It also allows us to treat the whole child, not just their education. It gives us the opportunity to provide them with things that can help them succeed, like a backpack or shoes, snacks or lunch, things that help optimize them as people to learn. Our enrollment has almost doubled this year and we have children from all walks of life and backgrounds.  We want ALL of them to succeed and sometimes that means giving them some assistance to even the playing field so they can LEARN and be successful!

Kelley Politi: I’m not sure of the ins and outs of the finances but I know this Student Activity Fund helps our kids get to go on educational field trips that are not essential but very appreciated by the students!

Questions? Contact us!

As you can see, Morgan, Kelley, and their families have been deeply impacted by DePaul School for Hearing and Speech. If you have any questions about DePaul, Night at the Races, or the Highmark Walk, please contact us. It is our hope that these two upcoming fundraisers are extremely successful so that we can continue to support our students and staff!

If you’d like to make an online donation to DePaul, please click here. Our students speak miracles and that wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of people like YOU!