A Wish For Shade

USA SHADE & Fabric Structures recently had the pleasure of helping Make-A-Wish San Diego with a very unique shade project.

Meet 15 year old Miguel: a lover of music, enjoys going to school, and likes when people include him in conversations and describe his surroundings. Miguel lives with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and is legally blind, so most of his sensory stimulation comes from light reflection, sound, and touch.

Miguel doesn’t let things slow him down, but when it came to space for using his gait trainer to strengthen his muscles, his options were limited to parking lots and his doctor’s office for his appointments. His gait trainer is a large device that gives wheelchair bound individuals the ability to stand and work their muscles to help them walk. Miguel’s wish was to have a space for him to be included in family activities and their day to day lives, as well as to use his gait trainer in an open area at home. He needed a place to call his own.

The space proposed for Miguel’s exercise was a treeless location in his backyard which was in direct sunlight and without shade. Too much sunlight can trigger seizures in individuals with Miguel’s condition, so shade was an essential part of the wish. Initially, Make-A-Wish sought to purchase a shade sail online, but because Balfour Beatty has partnered with USA SHADE & Fabric Structures for well over a decade, they suggested including our shade expertise in the making of Miguel’s wish.

Our Vice President of Architectural Sales, Patti Abrecht, brought her 15+ years of expertise on shade materials and application into the planning process. Our high-density polyethylene (HDPE) fabric was exactly what the shade project needed to make Miguel’s outdoor space cool, comfortable, and to heighten the aesthetic of the structure. Collaboration and expertise in each industry generated a perfect solution based on the initial structure idea. Without the generosity of Make-A-Wish San Diego and the expertise of Balfour Beatty, Alvarez and Shaw, Southern California Coatings and Construction, Inc., and Rock Coast Builders, this project would not have been the inspiring and successful wish that Miguel so deserved.

A special thanks to the USA SHADE team in California for volunteering their own time to help with the installation of this project. We are very proud of our employees and partners for making Miguel’s wish a huge success. Thank you to Make-A-Wish San Diego for including us and from USA SHADE, we wish all the best to Miguel and his family!