Skaters and volunteer staff

By Eric Saulnier
Somerville Fire Department

This past weekend, Lyric’s Champs Skating Club finished our second successful season of ice skating lessons. Lyric’s Champs provides one-on-one ice-skating instruction in a sensory friendly environment to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as well as other developmental disabilities.

For the second year in a row, we were able to provide a five-week program completely free of charge due to the support of some wonderful people in our community. This season, our program grew from ten skaters to twenty skaters, which means that our volunteer staff doubled in size as well.

David Harrington of The Ryan Harrington Foundation with Eric and Linda Saulnier of Lyric’s Champs.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank our volunteer coaches who took the time out of their day each weekend for five weeks to help these wonderful kids get on their feet. I would also like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Harrington of The Ryan Harrington Foundation for providing each skater with his or her own Lyric’s Champs Skating Club hockey jersey. Another thank you goes out to the Higgins family of The Brian Higgins Foundation who all served as on-ice coaches (yes all of them)! A big thank you to The Somerville Fire Department Local 76 union for their generous donation that allowed us to provide pizzas, snacks, and drinks for the skaters after each session. Finally, a special thank you to Brian O’Donovan and the great folks at Somerville Youth Hockey for donating the ice which allowed us to keep this program free of charge.

They say it takes a village to raise a child and it certainly takes a village to make something like this come together as well. When I come calling for help, it never ceases to amaze me, the outpouring of love and support we receive from the good people of our community. It truly makes me proud of our wonderful city and the people who make Somerville what it is.

If anyone is interested in supporting any of these amazing non-profits that do so much for our community, please visit their websites. www.ryanharringtonfoundation.org, www.brianhigginsfoundation.org , www.somervilleyouthhockey.org. Thank you once again from my family, to all of you and yours!