rEcess at Redeemer Church has grown into a relational community where children with disabilities and their families are consistently seen, supported, and welcomed.

Marie Bruck first heard about 99 Balloons through a GroupMe message from a former volunteer.

Last November, our team traveled to Uganda to spend time with one of our global partners, Ekisa Ministries-listening, learning, and dreaming about what the future could hold. Ekisa has built a beautiful, community-centered model of care for children with disabilities. Together, we began asking a new question: What comes next?

Founded by Hazel Mooney, a local high school junior, the Teen Impact Group was created to serve teens who are looking for a place to connect but find themselves in the in-between—feeling too old for rEcess but not old enough for bEfriend.

Gage was reflecting on his friendship with Colin when he got another call. It was a FaceTime from Colin—the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

At Watermark Fort Worth, respite is more than temporary relief or a restorative pause. It’s an investment in well-being, built on compassion, connection, and the belief that everyone deserves support.

Remember Dana from our last email? She noticed a need—her friend Corey spent every church service in a side room with her youngest daughter, who has a disability, away from the rest of her family—and stepped into that need, offering to care for Klementine one-on-one during worship.

Sometimes, God weaves lives together long before we realize it. That’s certainly true for Dana Goodall and Corey Addison, who launched a new rEcess site at Family Church Siloam Springs last April.

At 99 Balloons, our focus goes beyond creating space for people to gather. Through programs like bEfriend, we delve deeper into relationships and what it means to be fully known. In this model of ministry, we initiate one-on-one pairings between people with and without disabilities that grow into lasting, life-changing, authentic friendships.

At Grace Church of the Nazarene in Nashville, Brad Lee, a retired Army chaplain and licensed marriage and family therapist, launched a rEcess site to tangibly love families experiencing disability—something he knows the importance of firsthand through his journey with his son, Kaydan.

During spring break, we had the incredible opportunity to return to Nicaragua with a new team of dedicated UAMS students and a speech therapist. Our partner organization had expressed a deep need for this kind of specialized support, and it was a privilege to meet that need in such a meaningful way.