Meet Makrina

Your gift today can give someone the freedom to move, connect, and belong.

My name is Makrina, and I am writing to you as a registered psychologist, university instructor, homeowner, advocate, and proud member of the Easter Seals Alberta community.

That’s who I am now; however, that is not where my story began.

My journey with Easter Seals Alberta started when I was a child with cerebral palsy. My mom first learned about Camp Horizon through a physiotherapist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. She tells the story of how physically sick she felt dropping me off for my first week of camp. She believed, as many parents do, that no one could care for her child the way she could.

When she picked me up at the end of that week, she said I had come home as a different child.

I came home excited, confident, and happy, already planning my return for next summer. In fact, after that first year, I made sure to complete my own camp applications and submit them on time because there was no way I was going to miss camp.

As a child, I knew I had cerebral palsy, but I had never met another person with a disability. Camp Horizon changed that. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people who understood what it meant to navigate the world differently. I found friendship, belonging, and a community that showed me I was not alone.

Over the years, Easter Seals Alberta gave me opportunities I never could have imagined. I kayaked, skied, hiked, rode horses, played wheelchair basketball, rappelled down buildings through Drop Zone, participated in the 24-hour relay, and completed leadership programs. I learned that disability was not something to overcome alone; it was something that could be navigated with the support of a community.

As I write this letter today, I am sitting in a condo that I purchased. I am someone who completed a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Counselling degree, thanks in part to the generosity of an Easter Seals Scholarship. I often joke that my education was sponsored by Easter Seals Alberta, but there is some truth to that. The support I received helped make my educational journey possible.

Today, I work as a registered psychologist and teach in the same master’s program from which I graduated. Every day, I have the privilege of supporting individuals living with disabilities, injuries, trauma, chronic pain, and life transitions.

I often refer to the additional costs associated with disability as the “disability tax.” Disability does not end at age 18, and the need for support does not disappear as we grow older. Throughout our lives, we continue to need community, advocacy, opportunity, and connection.

That is why organizations like Easter Seals Alberta matter so much.

Your generosity does not simply fund a camp experience, a scholarship, or an adaptive activity. It creates confidence. It creates independence. It creates belonging. It creates opportunities for people to discover that they are capable of more than they ever imagined. Most importantly, it creates community.

If there is one thing I hope you take away from my story, it is this: your generosity changes more than circumstances. It changes trajectories. It changed mine.

Thank you for believing that people with disabilities deserve opportunities, independence, community, and joy. Thank you for investing in possibilities. And thank you for helping create countless stories like mine.

Your generosity doesn’t change one moment in someone’s life – it changes the direction of their life.

Invest in possibility. The return lasts a lifetime!

With heartfelt gratitude,

Registered Psychologist

Proud Easter Seals Alberta Participant, Camper, Scholarship Recipient, and Supporter