Empowered Journeys: New Program Offers Life-Affirming Travel Opportunities  

With a generous grant from The Sunshine Foundation, we have been delighted and honored to offer a new program providing quality-of-life transportation support to people living with ALS in our community, allowing for opportunities for memorable experiences that would not otherwise be possible. One of many heartwarming stories has been that of the Poulsen family and their recent travel to Copenhagen.

As a husband and father, Dan and his family have been trying to prioritize trips together since he was diagnosed last year. However, many constraints made difficult the ability of travel for them, until the help of this new grant program. Denmark was always on their wish list as Dan is of Danish descent, and meaningfully they together retraced the steps of Dan’s grandparents from a travel journal when they were there in 1987. Dan’s wife Stacey shared, “While our pace was slower than before ALS was a part of our lives, one of Dan’s notable accomplishments was climbing the 400 steps that lead up to and around the spire of Our Saviour’s Church.

We were slow and steady, but we did it together and got to experience a beautiful bird’s eye view of the city.” She added, “This trip would not have happened without the help from ALS United GNY — it not only offset the expense of our flight, but it inspired us to take action, and as a result, we were able to make wonderful memories together as a family. Thank you so much to all who made this possible for us.”