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Alec's Playground
| Alec, Sonia and Derek in Italy September 2003. |
Some time has gone by
And life has resumed
To the way that it was before you,
But my heart still awaits
For the piece that is missing
And it doesn't quite know what to do
With the love that was saved
To be given and cherished
Before he was taken away
And the dreams and the life
That we'd planned and we hoped for
Will wait until Heaven one day.
So don't expect me to
Not acknowledge his being
He was here and he always will be
You may think that I'm stalled
In the past and the memories
But I am moving on...
And he's coming with me.
----Anonymous
And life has resumed
To the way that it was before you,
But my heart still awaits
For the piece that is missing
And it doesn't quite know what to do
With the love that was saved
To be given and cherished
Before he was taken away
And the dreams and the life
That we'd planned and we hoped for
Will wait until Heaven one day.
So don't expect me to
Not acknowledge his being
He was here and he always will be
You may think that I'm stalled
In the past and the memories
But I am moving on...
And he's coming with me.
----Anonymous
Alec William Nelson December 21, 2002-April 24, 2004
Welcome to our love letter to our son. This is his story.
Alec was an endlessly happy, inquisitive, loving toddler who was accidentally
backed over by an SUV when he was 16 months old. The horror of losing a
child is just that-horrible-, and our family, friends and community shared in our
grief.
We wanted to honor his life, and help other children, so we asked a local
mission known for their outreach in the surrounding community, ( the Helping
Hands Rescue Mission), what we could do in Alec's memory to honor him, and
also help those less fortunate. They said a lifelong hope of theirs was to have
a playground at the Mission, a site where children would have a safe place to
play.
We agreed to use the generous donations given in memory of Alec to build the
playground. We broke ground at the Mission in October, after clearing out
years of debris, levelling and building up the site. Many of our friends
contributed their time and expertise- Katie Sayers designed the playground,
Scott Drinkwine prepared the site and built the retaining wall. Zio Alfred, Alec's
Godfather, designed and painted the mural of Alec's favorite (actually, only)
movie, Finding Nemo.
After the design of the playground was finished, the suppliers set up, all the
details fine tuned, we looked at each other and thought, this cannot be "it",
there has to be something else we can do for him. To sit at home with nothing
to plan for, nothing "more", was bleak. So, along with Derek and Sonia, we
decided to celebrate his birthday by doing something positive for US Veterans.
We usually go to a Veterans Hospital on Christmas to help our friends, Joan
and Mike Adams, who set up a Christmas dinner for veterans who have not any
other place to go for companionship and a hot meal at the holidays. Last year,
in addition to dinner, these vets received, as a birthday gift from Alec, socks,
hats and gloves. It is empowering for Alec's siblings to see the good done in
their brothers name.
That too, was finite. So we came up with the idea of having a race for Alec in
April, around his angel day, that would be a celebration of his life. We are avid
runners, and exercise has been a great release for us as we try to deal with
our new, unwanted lives without Alec.
The idea for race was a 4 Mile run/walk that would take place on the local
streets of Dix Hills. It originally started as a small idea-friends and family doing
the run, and quicjky took on a life of its own.
We had a major sponsor in Citibank, and will had a children's fun run that
started at 9 am, followed by the run at 9:30. It took place on 4/23/05, and we
had vehicles on site that demo'd rear mounted safety sensors, as well as a
post race drawing for many fantastic raffle prizes, that were donated by local
merchants. It was a huge, unqualified success. The outpouring of support
from the community was amazing. We will plan on making it a yearly event.
With the funds raised from the race we started a not-for-profit charity, the
Alec WIlliam Nelson Charitable Corporation, and helped out three worthwhile
causes. (More info on them on the following pages).
We have also been active with Kids and Cars, a grass roots organization
dedicated to making cars safer for their littlest passengers. We visited
Washington DC, met with our Representatives in Congress, and have been
active locally to try and change the ways cars are made.
We have been busy. We are asked, "Why now? What do we
hope to accomplish?" It is true-our son is gone. But if we can do
anything to keep another set of parents from living their lives the
way we live now, our efforts are worth it. Alec's death will not
be in vain.
co
.
