Every little bit counts!

On September 12th, during our Fall Open House, Exxcel hosted the 2nd Annual Helping Handstand Fundraiser to help fund a life-saving heart surgery for Yulia Nosenko, a 9-year-old girl, who spent the summer of 2008 at Exxcel. Yulia has a form of heart disease that requires surgery to patch a hole that has developed in her heart.

Yulia lives in a region of Russia devastated by a nuclear disaster. Her poverty-stricken family cannot afford the surgery, resulting in medical bills in excess of $100,000. Yulia was hosted in the U.S. by the family of Kasey King, an Exxcel gymnast and coach.

One-by-one, participants held handstands to make the longest group handstand possible. This year, we collectively held handstands for 11 minutes total! As a result, the contributions from parents, students and coaches, with a match by Exxcel totaled $1284.00, which went directly to the Helping Handstands Fundraiser!

The motto, every little bit counts, became clearer to all of us here at Exxcel, due to the kindness and generosity of Ilya, a student here at Exxcel. Ilya immediately had questions about Yulia's situation. When he was told that every donation, no matter how small, makes a difference, he thought about donating his own money.

The following week Ilya came back with the money he saved, $1.27 which he generously gave to the Helping Handstands Fundraiser. When asked why he donated his own money to a young girl he didn't know, Ilya responded, "Because she is sick and her heart is ripped." "It would be awesome if everybody gave money." Ilya said, "I think everybody should give money because it's nice and it's going to help her."

It's because of the compassion and generosity of people like Ilya that Exxcel was able to donate over one thousand dollars to the Helping Handstands Fundraiser. Thanks to everyone for your support!