On September 11, 2025, Kara McClurken was invited to speak at the CavFutures Foundation’s Champions of the Community event, honoring their grant recipients. Good evening, and thank you for inviting me to say a few words about the impact of the Champions of the...
October 22, 2025 3:30 pm: sensory-friendly storytime (RSVP required) 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm: crafts and stories Bennett’s Village is partnering with students in the Instructional and Assistive Technology Applications course at the University of Virginia School of...
It’s time to share the work we, along with the excellent designers at Journey Group, have been doing over the past six months! As Bennett’s Village grows, we wanted to create a new look that reflects that growth and helps us communicate our mission more fully....
How often have you or someone you cared about struggled to use a bathroom due its small size, heavy door, or lack of accessible features? Maybe it is because you were trying to use the bathroom and you had a young one in your arms (or the stroller wouldn’t fit in the...
My daughter, Darlene is a three year old full time AAC user. She gets so excited every time we go to Pen Park and she sees the communication board! She loves that it has symbols/words that match her device- there are no other public places where she has this...
https://www.cartermyersautomotive.com/UVA-moving-lives-forward.htm Carter Myers Automotive is a proud sponsor of UVA, UVA Athletics, and the people who Move Lives Forward in our Community! On December 3rd, 2022 CMA partnered up with UVA Athletics to help in joining...
Rosser Wayland, Bennett’s Instructional Assistant at Johnson Elementary School, imagined a Lego world where all could play. To mark the anniversary of Bennett’s passing, Bennett’s mom Kara took Lego Ben and his playground to the future home of...
We can hardly believe it has been three years since we lost sweet Bennett. Our darling boy loved to play–in honor of the anniversary of Bennett’s passing, we invite you to take a walk outside sometime in the next week, at Pen Park if you can, or anywhere if you...
We asked two fans of Bennett’s Village to write about why they think it is important to build a place where ALL can play. Here are their responses: Molly Carter (Bottle Tree Consulting): When I look back on my childhood, it’s funny, thinking about the things I felt...
May 23rd. Since 2013 I have struggled with this day on the calendar. Diagnosis Day. It was the day everything changed. Every SMA family (or any other family that receives a serious medical diagnosis) remembers the moment that forever changed the trajectory of their...
