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“Wow!” cries Madison “Madi” Ambos, 7, when I call with the news.
The Sun Christmas Fund for Variety Village has raised a record-smashing, gob-smacking $75,508. So much for a COVID letdown.
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No small part of this success is thanks to Madi’s efforts as fund “chairkid” and chief cheerleader.
Sun readers have followed her progress past the pitfalls of cerebral palsy through four annual Yuletime drives, since she was three and seemed destined for a wheelchair.
Now, thanks to Variety Village and surgery in St. Louis, she gets by quite well on her own two feet.
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Wee Kyra Menzie’s $10 donation has helped propel the Christmas Fund past $50,000, a memorable record tally in a forgettable year.
You may remember Kyra, now 8, the little swimmer who longed to join the “big girls” on the Variety Village synchro team.
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They wanted “someone who has a big personality and can rock it,” a coach said.
Well, Kyra rocked it.
She had folks smiling through tears.
Smiles and tears are Kyra trademarks, as they are for most kids with disabilities.