nonprofit spotlight
Made4Me WRITTEN BY RABEKAH HENDERSON | PHOTOGRAPHED BY JONATHAN FREDIN
contributed photo
FOR JOHNNA ELSTOB and her 12-year-old son Ryan, COVID-19 was especially difficult. Ryan, who has a genetic disorder which causes multiple disabilities, had just received a series of botox treatments that required a rigorous stretching routine for his foot and four visits to physical therapy a week. Aside from these visits to the physical therapist, Ryan was stuck in their Raleigh home most of the time, and he was limited in what he could do. When Ryan’s physical therapist recommended Made4Me, a Triangle nonprofit that creates adaptive design furniture — that is, furniture that fits a child’s specific need — Elstob soon realized the potential of how the nonprofit could help Ryan. She reached out over email, and the nonprofit responded almost immediately. Elstob met with the Made4Me team
over Zoom and brainstormed a piece for Ryan that would help him stretch his foot and have some fun too. They landed on a rocking shark, a rocking-horse-like item that features a shark rather than a horse to sit upon. When Ryan would rock on it, his foot would be placed in a way so that it was stretched with the back-and-forth movement. “With my son, everything we apply to either takes forever, doesn’t happen, or is too expensive. But this process was the easiest thing ever,” said Elstob. Made4Me got its start in John Mainey is the executive director and co-founder of Made4Me, a local nonprofit that builds adaptive design furniture for children. 2016, when Jim McAgy approached his neighbor John Mainey with an idea. McAgy had heard of a nonprofit in New cial needs. He wanted to do the same thing York City called the Adaptive in the Triangle. McAgy had a background in woodDesign Association, which creates adaptive design pieces for working and Mainey had worked in operafamilies with children with spe- tions, so their talents fit well with this goal. The duo soon partnered with three other men and got to work launching Made4Me in March 2017. “Made4Me’s mission is to help improve the lives of people with special needs and those that care for them. We do that by creating custom items for them and providing them at no cost to their families,” said Mainey. More than four years later, they’re certainly living out that mission. In that time, Made4Me has served 60 families with approximateRyan Elstob rocks on his specially made shark, which helps A child's measurements are taken to ensure ly 250 adaptive design pieces. him stretch his feet. custom-fit furniture. 92 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
