99 Balloons

99 Balloons

99 Balloons was born out of profound joy and deep loss as Matt and Ginny Mooney welcomed their son, Eliot, into the world. His 99 days on this earth shaped their understanding of love, worth, and community. Inspired by the support they received during Eliot’s life, they sought a way to live out the lessons God had taught them through the life of their son. The Mooneys recognized the transformative power of surrounding individuals and families with care and connection, especially during critical moments. 99 Balloons was not created as a tribute organization but in hopes of catalyzing a movement to build inclusive communities where people with and without disabilities come together to form meaningful relationships. The first initiative was rEcess- a monthly respite event for families experiencing disability that was hosted by churches. A night completely designed for children with disabilities and their siblings to have fun and begin a life-long journey of being known. The capitalized “E” in rEcess is no mistake. The Mooneys were on the receiving end of much help and assistance from others that enabled them to feel seen & known, so rEcess was a natural starting point- serving families in ways that help them move from isolation into real relationships and community. Years of monthly rEcess respite events quickly grew into something more than anyone had anticipated. rEcess became the backdrop to a new-forming community whereby volunteers were changed and families were known and seen. The learning that took place in these years have guided everything that 99 Balloons has done going forward. We are not providing services. Rather, no matter what we do, we are a community-building organization. Our impact statement was created out of these formative years: When people with and without disability get to know one another, they begin to care about one another. After a few years of rEcess, others started asking if we could help them do rEcess in their community. We thought this seemed like a great idea, but had no idea how to actually help them do it. Our volunteer organization became a staffed organization tasked with equipping churches with the rEcess model in order to help them keep the focus on building relationships. rEcess was made into a replicable model of relationships for others to take, own and contextualize within their community. In so doing, 99 Balloons became a go-to holistic resource for a wide network of churches pursuing disability ministry. The very first rEcess night held the seeds of our forthcoming global work as children from Ukraine were a part of the night. As 99 Balloons grew in their work with churches, we began exploring how we might partner to change the story of disability in the world. Our global education was jump started by friends within the therapy community- TEAMworks. In 2013, volunteers from multiple rEcess sites journeyed to Uganda and piloted our first global trip coming alongside partner organizations to serve those with disabilities. This laid the groundwork for our current work– annually taking teams of professionals (pt, ot, slp, sped, etc.) to Uganda, Nicaragua and South Asia. Having watched the children we serve through rEcess grow up and having had the gift of working with hundreds of churches, 99 Balloons went back to the drawing board for a replicable model of relationships. bEfriend is a model of ministry to adults with and without disabilities to help pair them into freely given, long-lasting relationships.