Press Releases

Please follow these links to learn about Leg Up Farm's Barrier-Free Playground that was constructed earlier this month by members of the community.

• "York County Group Seeks Volunteers To Help Build Playground" - WGAL
• "Commitment to Service is 'Central' to a Central Penn Education" - Central Penn College
• "Playground for Leg Up Farm" - York Dispatch Video
• "Playground for Leg Up Farm" - York Dispatch Photos
• "Group Preparing to Build a Playground That All Kids Can Enjoy" - CBS21
• "11-4 Leg Up Farms" - FOX43
• "Hundreds of Volunteers Pitch in to Build Special Needs Playground" - WGAL
• "Playground for Leg Up Farm" - York Dispatch Photos

Fox43 highlighted Leg Up Farm at the York County Business Expo for creating 28 new jobs over the past year.

Watch the clip...

Leg Up Farm made local headlines after reporter, Dara Rees learned about our new Therapeutic Riding Program.

Visit abc27 to watch the news clip and read the full story.

Learn more about Leg Up Farm's Riding Program by reading Pennsylvania Equestrian's online article.

Leg Up Farm is featured in Central PA Magazine's "Paw-fect Heroes" Article in the May 2011 issue.

Read the full article here.

Leg Up Farm is featured in the most recent issue of Body & Mind Magazine from the Patriot News.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCT. 1, 2010

LET THE VOTING BEGIN: LEG UP FARM A CONTESTANT IN GLOBAL PEPSI CONTEST

YORK, PA -- Starting today, you can vote for a local project to win $250,000 in a global contest sponsored by Pepsi. Leg Up Farm (LUF) successfully submitted an entry for the Doing Good: 101 texting competition that would make possible some exciting new additions to its brand new facility for children with special needs. The entry had to make it past a team of Pepsi judges in order to qualify and now the winners will be chosen by popular vote. To vote for Leg Up Farm, you can text 103318 to Pepsi (73774) or vote online. You can vote daily through October. For more information, visit www.refresheverything.com/legupfarm.

Pepsi’s contest is broken into six categories in which the projects will benefit the planet, neighborhoods, arts and culture, food and shelter, health, and education. LUF’s entry falls in the health category and would allow the novel new therapeutic center to incorporate sensory gardens into its environmentally friendly design. Leg Up Farm is a hands-on program that provides not just speech, physical and occupational therapy for its patients – all together in one central location, which is in itself rare – but art therapy, dance therapy, an indoor horse arena/barn and an interactive town center that makes the center a fun destination for families not just a one-stop shop for therapy appointments.

Known as “Rainbow Gardens,” Leg Up Farm’s sensory gardens would enhance the environment in which therapy services are delivered to children and their families, make the spaces accessible to persons with disabilities and allow people to enjoy and benefit from nature – a core theme of Leg Up Farm’s approach to therapy for children with special needs.

The “Rainbow Gardens” will provide walking paths, a meditation garden, and other visual and sensory stimulation for children. The gardens will be designed and installed with minimal impact to the environment and are designed to provide fresh-air opportunities to the children, increased respect for and education about the environment (including the role of wildlife, insects, vegetation, fresh air and sunshine in sustaining us), an understanding about food production, an assistance dog respite area and space for recreation and exercise.

Leg Up Farm opened in April 2010. Founded by Louie Castriota, the father of four, the farm was inspired by his daughter Brooke, 14, who was born with mitochondrial disease.

“Leg Up Farm believes that every child is special and that everyone involved in a child’s life must work together . . . from family and friends, to doctors and therapists, to teachers, volunteers, and community members. The "Rainbow Gardens" will improve a child's life all while caring for our environment and inspiring a sense of community in the process.”

Leg Up Farm will hold an open house on Saturday, Oct. 16, noon-4 p.m. at its new facility in Mount Wolf, Pa., just north of York. Festivities will include the first-ever viewing of the center’s new indoor horse arena/barn, an opportunity to meet LUF staff and tour the center, and the unveiling of the center’s official live mascot.

For more information on Leg Up Farm, visit www.legupfarm.org. To speak with Castriota, call 717-266-9294.

Interesting sidebars: Louie’s daughter Olivia is a York College exchange student currently at St. John’s University in York, England. She cast her vote this morning from overseas. Out of 160 grants awarded since February 2010, only one from Pennsylvania has secured funding. The contest features 1000 contestants each month, 32 will receive funding. Pepsi has up to $1.3 million in Refresh Grants each month and each time a person votes, they help decide which projects receive funding.

When a goal is so far-reaching, so perfect in its vision that it’s nearly implausible, we call it a dream. We place it on a high shelf where we can gaze upon its beauty and say, “Wouldn’t it be nice if…”

But Louie Castriota Jr., is no dreamer. He’s a goal –oriented guy, the type who schedules meetings at 6am and sleeps just a few hours a night. Castriota had a dream – a big, far-reaching, implausible one. But he never put it on a shelf. He carried that dream with him every single day for 13 years. He carried it until it had four walls big enough to hold other people’s dreams, and a working staff ready to meet other people’s goals.

And he called it Leg Up Farm.

“It’s really, really fulfilling for me after 13 years of work to now have children in the facility,” Castriota says of Leg Up Farm, a nonprofit therapy center in York County for children with disabilities and developmental delays. The project’s first phase, a 16,400-square-foot facility for therapeutic and educational services, opened in early April. It was the result of Castriota’s perseverance, his community’s support and his daughter’s inspiration.

Brooke Castriota, 14, was 1 when she was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, a metabolic disorder that causes both cognitive and motor function delays. The diagnosis moved her parents, who had just begun dreaming about opening a therapeutic riding center for children with disabilities, to significantly widen the scope of their vision.

“Your initial emotions after a diagnosis like that are of fear and sadness, and it’s hard. At that moment you realize the normal things that you were looking forward to may never happen,” says Castriota, who has three other children with his wife, Laurie. “My way of dealing with that fear and sadness was to try to find a way to help her and other children.”

The vision was to bring therapists of all different specialties under one roof to work together with family and community members, teachers, volunteers and physicians to give each child the most comprehensive care possible – and to do it all in an environment that’s both comfortable and stimulating for children.

“You create this child-friendly environment by dropping this medical facility into a farm,” Castriota says. “By doing that, you create an environment that really motivates children to succeed in their therapy goals. And it allows the therapist to have access to all these wonderful attributes of the environment to use in the therapy program.”

Occupational therapist Margaret Myers serves as therapy director at Leg Up Farm. Her young clients’ response to their first therapy sessions there were all the feedback she needed about the new space.

“A lot of the kids we see typically have a difficult time transitioning to a new environment,” Myers says. “But not one of the kids I’ve seen had a difficult time transitioning. And that speaks volumes.”

That new environment is a state-of-the-art building on 18 acres of donated land in York County. The center serves people from birth to age 21 who are facing all kinds of developmental delays and disabilities for a variety of reasons, including autism, ADHD< cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, metabolic disorders, traumatic brain injuries and delays in speech and motor skills. Families may be referred by a primary care physician who diagnoses a particular problem, or they can seek an on-site assessment to address their own concerns. Leg Up Farm accepts insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid, and works with families to make sure nobody is turned away.

“We assess their cognitive, emotional, social and motor needs, and put together a plan for the child that…is not necessarily based on a diagnosis,” Myers explains. “We simply look at the child and see how we can help them become the best person that they can b.”

York resident Karen Klidonas is thankful for that approach. Her son Athan, 5, doesn’t have a formal diagnosis of any particular disorder, but needs occupational therapy for some sensory issues. Klidonas is happy that Leg Up Farm doesn’t get mired in labels or serve only those on the end of the developmental spectrum. Athan has been working with Myers, and they met at Leg Up Farm for the first time in early April. “So far we’ve been thrilled,” Klidonas says of the new facility. “I think Lou’s vision was to have a place for parents to call home as well, and that certainly is what it is.”

Krista Cunningham of York is one parent who already is calling Leg Up Farm home. Cunningham’s daughter Leah, 5, has Down syndrome, and the family has had her in various therapies since she was an infant. Knowing such a kid-friendly therapy center was coming to their hometown was almost more than they could hope for, Cunningham says.

“We all had gone to fundraisers and had supported Lou in his efforts over the years. It was something we knew was a possibility, but we didn’t want to get our hopes up,” she says. “We all sort of regard Lou as our hero. And seeing the dream come true gives us so much hope, so much more to look forward to because there’s so much more to help your kids grow.”

And there’s much more on the way, too. Construction of the second phase of the project, an equine center for riding therapy, is scheduled for an August completion, thanks to a $1 million state redevelopment grant. The third and final construction phase would include an interactive community center featuring a greenhouse, therapy pool and auditorium and an outdoor garden for fresh-air play and sensory therapy.

Eventually there will be music therapy, art therapy, and a host of other programs to help kids of all different abilities reach their full potential. It’s just what Castriota envisioned Leg Up Farm to be. A place where other people’s dreams come true and other people’s goals are realized.

“The first time we went, I took pictures with my phone,” Cunningham says, “and e-mailed them to everyone we know, all the people who have dreamed with us, to say “We’re here! It’s open. The dream came true.”

Robyn Passante, freelance writer and mother of two from Carlisle

Leg Up Farm welcomes new board of directors members Kathy Parks King, Travis L. Miller and James T. Morton.

Kathy Parks King was an elementary education teacher within the Southern and South Eastern school districts, has been actively involved with York Symphony Orchestra, Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, Focus on Our Future, Victim Assistance Center and Parents Anonymous. She is a former board member of the York YWCA, past chairwoman of York Day Nursery and currently serves as president of the board of directors for York County SPCA.

Miller is a sales, marketing and digital media executive with Comcast.

Morton is a founder and senior partner at Principia Partners. He and his wife, Christina, opened Children First Learning Center in 1998 in York Township.

York Daily Record

Whether now is the time to raise millions for the second portion of a one-of-a-kind therapeutic center remains to be seen, but work continues on Leg Up Farm as it prepares to open in May.

A Felton-area consulting company has begun a feasibility study to determine when -- and whether -- to launch a $10.4 million capital campaign to pay for the entire project.

That money would pay for remaining construction and outstanding loans on Leg Up, which is in the 4800 block of North Sherman Street Extended in East Manchester Township.

The main portion of the therapeutic center is nearing completion and will open to employ more than 40 staffers who will serve more than 1,000 special needs children in the 20,250-square-foot facility. The center will serve a wide range of individuals -- infants to adults up to age 21 and their families.

Construction of the second phase of the project, an equine center for riding therapy, begins in April thanks to a $1 million state redevelopment grant.

The third and final construction phase would include an interactive community center featuring a greenhouse, therapy pool and auditorium and an outdoor garden for fresh-air play and sensory therapy.

The center's founder and president, Lou Castriota Jr., says he hopes to launch the capital campaign to ensure completion of the entire project and to pay off loans.

Funding: So far, Castriota's family, friends and other supporters have raised $2.7 million, including the state grant, since forming the non-for-profit in 1997. Castriota also secured a $5.6 million loan split between USDA Rural Development and York Traditions Bank to begin construction on a hilltop lot that also was donated.

Now, Sharon Dorn of Clear Creek Consulting LLC of York County is conducting the capital campaign planning and feasibility study. She has started interviewing about three dozen prospective donors to determine whether they can pledge contributions during the next five years.

Their answers will enable Dorn to run the figures to see if pledges would add up to the $10.4 million needed for completion of the project. If not, she said she'll assess how much can be raised and in what time frame.

"In essence, this is the first phase of the capital campaign," Dorn said last week. "In most cases you go forward, but (data) could come back a few different ways."

She says those interviewed so far support Leg Up despite economic hard times. Part of the support stems from Castriota's passion for the project. The center offers parents and their children the bulk of services needed under one roof.

Getting ready: Castriota is putting in place the finishing touches on the administrative center that houses physical therapy equipment, multipurpose rooms, a play therapy area and offices for the May opening.

The indoor riding area and barn are part of the second phase that should be complete in July, with therapeutic horseback riding available by fall, Castriota said.

He and wife Laurie Castriota initially wanted to build an equine therapy center that would combine their love of horses with their love of children. At the time, the couple wanted to give back to the community and help children with special needs.

Six months after their initial discussions in 1997, their then-infant daughter Brooke, now 14, was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, which is similar to cerebral palsy. The equine therapy center morphed into the one-stop healing center where children could obtain physical, psychological and social therapies under one roof.

It also will provide education and advocacy for special-needs individuals and their families.

"I am just so thrilled walking around the building knowing that in a very short time, this dream is going to be a reality and children will be running through the halls of Leg Up Farm," Castriota said. "It's as much or more than I could have ever imagined."