Little Feet & Hands and The Benjamin Fund

Most premature babies need some kind of early intervention therapy, including physical, occupational, speech or vision therapy. Knowing that Benjamin would qualify for physical therapy once he came home from the hospital, we did as much research about outpatient providers as we could in the months right after he was born. One therapist’s name came up time and again: Pam Brown-White, founder of Little Feet & Hands. She was the best, and she did in-home therapy! Not very many pediatric therapists are willing to do that since insurance companies don’t reimburse for travel time. We weren’t surprised to hear that the waiting list for Pam’s services was long.

So we begged! And Pam agreed to make room in her schedule for Benjamin. So began our friendship and Pam’s special relationship with Benj. The two times per week that Pam came to our house for therapy were two of the best hours of our week. She was making amazing progress with Benjamin, and she became a dear friend to us and to Iris, Benjamin’s nanny. And that we didn’t have to travel to see her relieved a tremendous burden. No waking Benjamin up from his nap for his appointment. No packing his bag, getting him into the car, or parking at Georgetown Hospital, as we did for every other appointment we had each week. Instead, we could let Benjamin nap right up until (and even into) his sessions, and I could fold laundry while I watched the sessions! It was wonderful, and it was a relief.

Unfortunately, many DC-area families of children with special needs don’t have health insurance with adequate physical therapy coverage. And very few are able to secure in-home services. It is with those babies and their families in mind that we decided to give the nearly $20,000 in The Benjamin Fund to Little Feet & Hands. With this gift, Pam will be able to provide hundreds of sessions to babies whose parents have no way to pay for them otherwise.

It brings us great peace to know that The Benjamin Fund will be used to help other special needs children. We will update www.PeterBenjaminWeiss.com with news about how Little Feet & Hands is using the Fund, stories about the babies Pam is able to serve, and a wishlist of office supplies for her office and volunteer opportunities.

Benjamin made the world a better place for the two of us, and through the Fund we know he will do that for so many others. Thank you again for your gift, your love for Benjamin and your friendship toward us.