Suzette Cook
Three-year-old Savannah Reed decided she was ready to ride down the snow slide all by herself after making the first trip down with her father Brian Reed of Gainesville.
Behind her came Lachristy London, 13, of Bronson who held both arms up in the air as she whizzed down the snow-cover slide provided by Gainesville Ice at Kirby Family Farms on Saturday.
“I thought it was fun,” said London, who grabbed her sled and headed to line up and do it again.
At the third annual Snow Day at Kirby Family Farms, hundreds of kids and adults enjoyed not only playing in the snow but going on pony rides, watching dancers from the Gainesville Dance Academy perform, taking the train through the woods and more.
Daryl Kirby, owner of the Kirby Family Farm, donated volunteers who operated the rides and train all day.
These were Kimberly Morales’ passions in life and the event sponsored by the Kimberly Morales Memorial Foundation and local businesses is how Kimberly’s mother Sherry Morales copes with losing her then 9-year-old daughter in an ATV accident on Jan. 23, 2019.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling,” Sherry said at the event that hundreds of kids and families attend each year as a celebration and way to raise funds to support scholarships and donations that the foundation makes each year in Kimberly’s honor.
“My daughter impacted so many lives,” she said. “That’s why the foundation is so successful.”
Sherry listed the ways the foundation helps out area sports teams, dance schools, and church efforts.
There are senior scholarships, dance scholarships to two dance schools, banners in every ballpark, vacation Bible school, a boys school in Peru, and other individual and group sports causes.
Gainesville Dance Academy owner and teacher Sarah Ingley put on a show with Irish dancing.
“Kimberly was our student,” Ingley said. “She danced with me for years and Irish dance was her favorite.”
Kimberly’s family opted to donate her organs and one recipient was at the event.
“A special thanks for Kimberly’s heart recipient’s family for coming,” Sherry commented the day after the event in a thank you message to everyone who attended and helped out with the event.
“Elysa is a beautiful young girl who is doing an awesome job at taking care of ‘their’ heart,” Sherry said. “Meeting her and knowing that a part of Kimberly is still here is an amazing feeling. Thank you.”
