A Belated Father's Day Story

It's never too late for a good story so here it is:

In San Antonio, Texas there is one of the world's greatest places, but don't take my word for it.  In 2018, this place was given that recognition by Time Magazine.  The place is called, Morgan's Wonderland, and it's one of the most unique amusement parks in the world.  It is for children and adults with disabilities, who get in for free. Since it opened in 2010, they have had over one million visitors from all over the world.

How does something like this happen? Where does a great idea come from? Gordon Hartman, was a philanthropist and a former home builder. In 2005, he started the Gordon Hartman Foundation to benefit kids and adults with special needs. His daughter, Morgan, was born with a rare disease that left her with cognitive and physical ailments. In 2006, he watched his daughter try to play with some kids at a hotel pool, but they walked away.  From the pain of watching that, he built an amusement park in her name.

It took him four years and 35 million dollars to build the park. Former basketball great, David Robinson, and actress, Eva Longoria, helped open the park and Toyota became a sponsor in 2012.  There are wheel chair accessible fields of all kinds, waterproof wheelchairs in the splash park, and many other accessible features designed for kids and adults with disabilities, such as a day camp and a medical facility to provide medical assistance of all kinds.

Many, many years ago, a man took his two small children to the park.  He used to sit and watch his kids play and think, why can't there be a place that kids and adults can both have fun? That man was Walt Disney and that's where Disneyland and Disney World came from. Gordon Hartman's daughter, Morgan, is thirty years old now. Because of her dad she will have friends to play with the rest of her life and a lot of other people will have a whole lot of fun.