PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Before she got her bike, the big green one with all the signatures, Cassie Hudson said she didn’t feel like she fit-in.
But thanks to some Portland creativity, some imagination and a little bit of magic, Hudson doesn’t feel that way anymore.
“I feel like I more fit in because I show more neridiness and it just makes me so happy, compared to before,” Hudson said from the seat of her Green Arrow model bike. “because I felt like I stood out a lot before. But now I feel like I fit in — like I actually belong there.”
You see, Hudson has a magic wheelchair — a mobile straight out of the DC Universe. It’s signed by a lot of the Green Arrow tv-cast. She said there’s nothing she doesn’t like about it, putting a no-doubt smile on her face.
Magic Wheelchair, a fitting name for the company that creates the costumes, teamed up with Labyrinth — a Portland escape-game venue — to put more smiles on kids’ faces and create more wheelchair costumes. The “Clues for a Cause” fundraiser was sold out for the early part Sunday morning, but the later segment of the fundraiser has tickets available until 10:00 p.m. You can buy tickets by going to their website.
“We’re about fun, we’re about making people happy (and) we make games,” said Daniel Smith with Labyrinth. “This is another way to kind of continue doing that.”
Smith said 100% of the proceeds from Sunday’s fundraiser will go to Magic Wheelchair. They hope the proceeds will be enough to sponsor 3 magic wheelchairs for kids.
“If we can sell out that last part of the evening, we’ll be in good shape,” Smith said.
Matthew Stowers is a fabricator for Magic Wheelchairs. He’s the one that creates the things that makes kids in wheelchairs so happy. Their creation potential is unlimited — and the feeling it gives these kids is unparalleled.
“The impact this organization has on families and children is absolutely — there are really no words to describe it,” Stowers said. “Each family has different types of needs.”
They’ve created Star Wars’ Millenium Falcon, Harry Potter’s 3-headed dog “Fluffy” and even dragons and monsters. Each magic wheelchair takes about 150 hours to make. It’s well worth it, said Stowers.
“It’s just such a wonderful thing,” he said. “Magic Wheelchair isn’t just about creating costumes for kids. It’s about challenging social stigmas and bringing people together. What better way to do that than through art and expression and wonderful magic things.”
The magic has given Hudson the feeling that she fits-in with the rest of her community. It’s also given her a connection to the Green Arrow, a superhero who doesn’t need superpowers to make people safe, Hudson said.
“The green arrow doesn’t have super powers like the rest of them — he saves people because he wants to,” Hudson said. “He wants to make sure everyone is safe, his family especially.”
The magic wheelchair, she said, is perfect — everything about it. Well, except one thing.
“I don’t have a thing I don’t like about it, except it’s big and hard to get in the van,” she said.