Makers Making Change Holiday Hackathon

Today on The Pulse, we’re featuring the Makers Making Change Holiday Hackathon! Last month in Burnaby, B.C., host Grant Hardy attended this event, hosted by Makers Making Change, a program offered through the Neil Squire Society in British Columbia. The event offered an opportunity for volunteers to adapt 250 toys to donate to kids with disabilities across Canada. In this episode, Grant speaks with members of the Makers Making Change team, volunteers, students, and people who will benefit from the adapted toys too! Grant’s first guest is Reed Schrad, the Web Product Owner at Makers Making Change to give Grant some more information about the event. Then, Grant speaks with Charlie Kiers, a volunteer at the Holiday Hackathon, who shows us how an adaptation is made to a popular Fisher Price toy. Ethan Ho, a high school student and volunteer, stopped by to give Grant some more insight into what kind of work is needed to adapt the toys and what kinds of difference these toys will make. At the event was Marie Brown, an occupational therapist with SET BC who told Grant about the importance of equitable access to inclusive play. Plus, Evie and Carey Lotz are a mother and daughter pair that were at the Holiday Hackathon. Evie has benefited from one of the toys through the Makers program and Carie spoke to Grant about how important these toys are to kids with disabilities. Check out the Pulse on YouTube! About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+ Learn more at AMI.ca Connect with Accessible Media Inc. online: X /Twitter @AccessibleMedia Instagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audio Facebook at @AccessibleMediaInc TikTok @AccessibleMediaInc Email [email protected]