There is chaos backstage as over 1,000 people rush to get ready for their time on the ice. They frantically don costumes and put final touches on their hair and makeup. Nerves run high; the performers have been training for this for months. Anxiety turns to excitement the minute they are told to go line up by the ice. They skate onto the rink at the HSBC Arena to thunderous applause from the crowd. The only thing separating these performers from the stars of the Icecapades is the fact that many of them cannot even see or walk.
This is the scene that will grace the home of the Sabres on March 25 when Celebration on Ice takes center ice downtown. Celebration on Ice is the annual show of Skating Athletes Bold at Heart (SABAH), an organization that pairs people with disabilities in the Buffalo area with volunteers who, according to SABAH’s mission statement, help them “to experience the success, pride, freedom, and joy of therapeutic ice-skating while achieving personal growth.” The organization is geared towards a diverse group of people—mostly children—who face a broad range of challenges that include everything from cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis to Down’s syndrome and muscular dystrophy.
Buffalo-based SABAH, founded by Elizabeth O’Donnell, has been teaching kids with disabilities how to ice skate since 1977. It has 400 active volunteers and over 600 skaters in the Western New York Area who meet weekly at half-a-dozen rinks around Buffalo for six to seven months to learn their routines for the ice spectacular. Aside from the Buffalo chapter, Elizabeth O’Donnell has also set up New York chapters in Rochester, and Saratoga Springs, in addition to more distanced groups in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
“SABAH was the first program of its kind to help handicapped children. Today, there are soccer and baseball leagues and things like that,” said Lisa Reinhart, a member of the Board of Directors. “ SABAH is only different because it offers ice skating and I think people started to realize that people with special needs needed other outlets.”
Due to the special nature of SABAH’s activities, the organization had to design equipment specifically tailored towards the needs of its skaters—including a number of modified walkers and specially produced ice skates.
Mia Peterangelo, a UB junior majoring in health and human services and psychology, has volunteered at SABAH for the past three years. She says a speech made by Elizabeth O’Donnell at her high school was her inspiration to join the group, which allowed her to help people like her sister who has Down’s syndrome and Autism. “I felt like I was involved in a good cause,” said Peterangelo. “ It changed me because a lot of people don’t have experience with the disabled and I got a lot more knowledge and there was so much learning to do about the whole picture of the disability, not just the basics or just one case.”
Peterangelo also noted the joy that comes with seeing improvement in a participant during the course of a season. “At first, a star that I had one year, Jessica—I can’t remember what [disability] she had—was always upset. My sister Sonja and I teamed up. At first she started off grumpy, but then after a while she was smiling and became a lot more friendly,” said Peterangelo. “She even started staying with the group and interacting more instead of going off and doing her own thing.” According to Peterangelo, it was amazing to see the progress Jessica had made and how much more she interacted with the other children by the end of the season.
Peterangelo even started to get her whole family involved. Her sister, Amanda, started skating for SABAH a year after she began to volunteer. Amanda made great progress at a rapid pace when she was in SABAH, according to Peterangelo. “When she first started, she had to use the walker. After a while she would start to let go and would skate towards me,” she said. “It almost made me want to cry seeing that type of improvement in my little sister.” Her mother, Renee, has also volunteered for SABAH, sewing costumes for the big show.
In fact, many of SABAH volunteers are related to SABAH participants. Maureen Mahaney, a volunteer mother and assistant rink captain at North Buffalo Community Rink, and her son Michael have been a part of SABAH for five years. Michael was born prematurely at 25 weeks and has cerebral palsy. “It is great feeling of accomplishment,” said Mahaney. “I love seeing the kids’ growth from year to year. I am happy when I see a kid that was in a bar walker last year not need one this year.” She also applauds SABAH’s inclusive community. “I want people to know that SABAH is not just for kids, the age range of people is from 4 to mid 70s.”
Skating with SABAH and keeping up the kids isn’t always an easy task, according to Bob O’Connor, the rink coordinator at North Buffalo. “Due to the physical activity level of the program alone, I am in the best shape of my life.” He said that he takes pride in the fact that he gets to help people get the exercise that they almost certainly wouldn’t get anywhere else. “The skaters get to leave their disabilities at the door,” said O’Connor. “ It is just their hour a day to interact with their friends and get physical activity and not worry about the outside world.”
The theme of this year’s Celebration on Ice is SABAH Salutes the Oscars and will be taking place on Sunday, March 25. Tickets are $7 and are available at HSBC, through Tickets.com, or from SABAH at 716-362-9600.
