The Scottish Rite hosted the 15th annual WalkRite for RiteCare on Saturday, June 17th at Chalco Hills Recreation Area. More than 110 RiteCare kids and their families, Scottish Rite Masons, UNO Nebraska Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) and Clinicians from the UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute.

The Walk kicked off with some remarks from Hope Kircher. Hope was a RiteCare kid about fifteen years ago. She was born with Apraxia of Speech, a motor planning speech disorder that affects coordination of the tongue and lips. She knew what she wanted to say, but just had a bit of trouble getting her mouth muscles to cooperate. “We could understand what she was saying, but not everybody else couldn” her mother, Patty, said back in 2008. Today, Hope is a poised young woman, graduating from Millard North High School. She thanked the RiteCare Clinic and the Scottish Rite Masons for helping her find her voice.

With her greeting and words of welcome from RiteCare Clinician Korey Stading, families walked a loop around Wehrspann Lake, returning to freshly grilled hamburgers and hotdogs served by the Culinary Masters, and games hosted by the UNO NSSLHA students. Overcast skies kept the morning cool, and a light sprinkling of rain did not stop anyone from enjoying themselves.

Scottish Rite Foundation of Omaha Board Chairman Don Leu, 32° KCCH said, “So many families tell us how their lives have changed when their children can speak, can express themselves clearly. The fact that so many families came here today to support us makes all the work we do to raise money for speech therapy worth the effort!”

WalkRite for RiteCare was started in 2009 by Ben Harvey, 33° as a family-friendly picnic for our RiteCare families, and has raised around $100,000 over the past 15 years, all of which supports speech therapy services for Nebraska childrenn. This year’s WalkRite for RiteCare raised about $5,600 for speech therapy services.