Article content“To see the smiles on the faces of the students as they go down the ice is pretty special,” said Stephen MacDougall, co-ordinator of student services with the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education.Article content Jim MacCormack in a hall near the skate rental booth at the Membertou Health and Wellness Centre on Nov. 12 at the official launch of his book Lily’s Pond and the skating program for children with disability, Lily’s Dream, which he started. Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton Post Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton PoArticle contentFROM LILY’S POND TO LILY’S DREAMArticle contentA chance encounter with a little girl is what sparked MacCormack’s flame to start a skating program for students with disabilities.Article contentWhile at Membertou rink for a seniors’ skate, MacCormack met a family there for lessons coming off the ice when he was getting on. He started speaking with her and through their conversation, he asked her if she knew where the lily pond was.Article contentShe said no, but her father piped in that she did – the place where people skate. It was a place where MacCormack used to skate growing up in Whitney Pier and he began thinking of the plot to a children’s book.Article content Written by Jim MacCormack and illustrated by Memorial High School students, Lily’s Pond is the story of a little girl with a disability who dreams of skating and proceeds from the book will support a program that makes dreams like these a reality in Sydney. Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton Post Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton PoArticle contentLily’s Pond: A Skating Story was released independently in 2024 and tells the story of a girl who can’t walk without assistance who dreams of skating on the pond.Article contentArticle contentAt the end of the book, which was illustrated by three Memorial High School students, Lily feels like “the luckiest girl in the world” with a dream that every child with a disability could experience skating like she did.Article contentMacCormack began to think about the dream taking life off the page and started recruiting volunteers, many of whom are regulars at seniors’ skate.Article content Stephen MacDougall, students services, and Susan Kelley, regional executive director for the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education at Membertou Health and Wellness Centre for the launch of Lily’s Dream inclusive skating and the children’s book Lily’s Pond, which raises money for accessible skating equipment. Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton Post Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton PoArticle contentAudrey Tutty and MacCormack are the co-ordinators of the program, which softly launched in 2024, to iron out any kinks.Article contentSeniors’ skate volunteers not only helped raise the thousands of dollars in funding needed to buy the different inclusive skating aides, they push the students around during the weekly school skates.Article content“To have volunteers come in and support our teachers and our principals make good school great schools, because this is another step, another way, to remove barriers, if you will, for students that have disabilities, it’s a pretty special thing,” MacDougall said.Article contentArticle content Students who wouldn’t get the chance to enjoy school skating are given the opportunity to thanks to a group of volunteers involved in Lily’s Dream, which was founded in 2024. Weekly school skating for students with different needs who require accessibility devices for going on the ice started last school year and the volunteers raised money to purches the skating aides. Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton Post Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton PoArticle contentRegional executive director of Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education, Susan Kelley, agreed.Article content“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It not only gets students on the ice who wouldn’t normally be able to get on the ice but it also involves volunteers … most of which are seniors, which is good for them too. The interaction between the students and the volunteers is amazing.”Article contentThis interaction includes getting three Memorial High School students, Samantha Horne, Alex March and Kalleigh Ellis, to illustrate it.Article contentUnsure of who to illustrate Lily’s Pond, MacCormack was unable to find a company that could do it at a cost that was affordable for the community initiative.Article contentMacDougall thought the art teacher at Memorial High School might know some students who could illustrate it and the students did the work.Article content“It was just the perfect fit to connect them with Memorial High School and the visual art teacher, Mr. Finney, to help Jim finish his book,” MacDougall said.Article contentAll proceeds will go to Lily’s Dream Project and books can be purchased by emailing MacCormack at jdmacc114@gmail.comArticle content Founded in 2024, Lily’s Dream is a skating program for children with disabilities that was inspired by founder Jim MacCormack’s chance meeting with a little girl at a skating rink. Officially launched on Nov. 12, Lily’s Dream volunteers have helped raise money to buy different types of accessible skating devices. Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton Post Nicole Sullivan / Cape Breton PoArticle content
Lilys Dream comes to life through skating program for Cape Breton students with disabilities
