Rooster Booster Breakfast to host ‘Yes You Can!’ presentation
In honor of March’s designation as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, Wendell Foster Center, an area non-profit agency that serves clients with disabilities, is sponsoring the March 7 Rooster Booster Breakfast.
This is the fourth March that Wendell Foster has sponsored the monthly event held by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce.
“We are so thankful for the opportunity to sponsor the March Rooster Booster Breakfast to help raise awareness for those with disabilities,” said Kara Howard, Wendell Foster’s Vice President of Development and Community Engagement.
This year, Wendell Foster has asked Russell Hoyt to speak at the event.
Russell Hoyt is the brother of Rick Hoyt and the son of Dick Hoyt. Together, Rick and Dick competed, as a team, in more than 1,000 endurance events across the world. Rick, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after a difficult birth, told his dad that he wanted to experience running, so Dick made that happen for his son.
The pair entered their first running event, a charity race to benefit a local lacrosse player who had become paralyzed, in 1977. Dick, who wasn’t trained in endurance running, pushed Rick in a wheelchair for the entire race, and the pair ultimately finished in second to last place, but the experience moved Rick. Rick told his father that he didn’t feel handicapped when he was running.
From then on, the pair were known as Team Hoyt, and they went on to compete as a team in marathons, including more than 30 Boston Marathons, and six Ironman Triathlons.
Russell helped manage Team Hoyt for Rick and Dick. He was vital in the behind-the-scenes planning of Team Hoyt’s Trek Across America in 1991. Dick and Rick ran and biked across America under Russell’s navigation. Russell also booked all of the hotel stays and managed the media for the duo as they journeyed across America.
At present, Russell is the president and CEO of the Hoyt Foundation established in 1989. The foundation’s goal is to build individual character, self-confidence and self-esteem of the country’s young people with disabilities through the inclusion in all facets of day-to-day life, especially sports. Russell has a background in early childhood education and was a past autism specialist for the state of Massachusetts.
“Russell will be bringing his ‘Yes You Can!’ presentation to the Rooster Booster Breakfast,” Howard said.
The message of “Yes You Can!” centers around individuals with disabilities being included in all aspects of society.
“I am thrilled to be invited by Wendell Foster and the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce to travel to Kentucky to share the story of Team Hoyt,” Russell said in a press release provided by Wendell Foster. “This story describes how parents believed in their son with a disability and said ‘Yes You Can!’ to his many requests to be included in society. By including Rick in the sport of running, the Hoyt family changed the world. Our family has created the Hoyt Foundation as a way to give back by helping others be supported in their desire to be included.”
Candance Castlen Brake, president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, expressed her excitement looking forward to Russell’s speech at the Rooster Booster Breakfast.
“We are thrilled to welcome Team Hoyt to Greater Owensboro. Our community is blessed to have a game changer like Wendell Foster as one of our leading nonprofits. The Hoyt Family’s story is so inspiring. Being able to hear from them — and to connect our community to their life experiences — will make us better people and better in the workplace,” said Brake in Wendell Foster’s press release.
“The ‘Yes You Can!’ presentation tells the story of an empowered father making a difference in his son’s life, and holds a powerful message for anyone listening,” said Howard.
The Rooster Booster Breakfast will be held at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, March 7, at the Owensboro Convention Center. The cost of the event is $15 for Chamber Members with reservations, $20 for members with no reservations and $25 for non-members. Those interested in attending can register on the Chamber’s website, chamber.owensboro.com, or by calling the office at 270-926-1860 before noon on Wednesday, March 6.
By Michelle Ruxer Messenger-Inquirer