CABOT — When Alissa Coyle’s son, Donavon, was born 24 weeks into her pregnancy, he was four months premature and weighed only 1 1/2 pounds. After seven surgeries, he was left with brain damage.
Donavon is now 5. Coyle had been driving him to Little Rock for preschool before taking him to preschool at the Lonoke Exceptional Development Center in Cabot. He recently transitioned into kindergarten in the Cabot School District.
“It’s nice that we don’t have to go all the way to Little Rock anymore, and therapy is extremely important. That’s how they learn to do things,” Coyle said to a crowd that was gathered Tuesday night at the Cabot National Guard Armory to raise funds for the Lonoke Exceptional Development Center in Cabot. “He just started kindergarten in [the Cabot School District], and it was a smooth transition between school and Lonoke Exceptional.”
The Lonoke Exceptional Development Center is designed to offer educational opportunities in its preschool program that allow children with developmental disabilities to learn skills at their own rate.
The center also has an outreach program with services to help children grow through partnerships with families, professionals and the community.
The adult program teaches life skills to its clients with the goal of them living independently. The program contracts with local manufacturing facilities and has a fully operational greenhouse to provide production work for the clients, allowing them to earn paychecks.
The center is a nonprofit organization that services Lonoke, Prairie, Pulaski, Jefferson and White counties.
Because the center’s budget is based on donations and fundraising, the center hosted the Fine Arts for Exceptional Hearts fundraiser on Tuesday night. About 150 people attended, but at press time, the center had not determined the amount of money raised.
The program for the evening included dinner and performances by some of Cabot’s talented artists. A silent auction included donations from local businesses, as well as art pieces.
Priscilla’s School of Dance took the audience around the world with a variety of performances. The Cabot Community Theatre performed a version of The Wizard of Oz. The New Creation Dance Co. closed out the evening with several lyrical-ballet and modern-dance performances.
New Creation Dance Co. is a faith-based nonprofit professional dance company that began rehearsing for performances in late 2011.
“We are a dance ministry that uses the art of dance to glorify God,” artistic director Greta Smith said.
Gina Quattlebaum, a public relations representative at the center, said plans are being made to make Fine Arts for Exceptional Hearts an annual event.
“Special thanks to the Cabot community for showing their support,” Quattlebaum said, “especially Angie Basinger and Audry Stanisor of the Cabot Chamber of Commerce and Spc. Robbie McDonald of the National Guard Armory. Without their help, I would not have been able to pull off such a great event.”
For more information on the Lonoke Exceptional Development Center, visit lonokeexceptional.com.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.