Turned Up for STEPtember: Demandbase Employees Move for Cerebral Palsy Awareness

September isn’t just about back-to-school and Pumpkin Spice. The philanthropically-inclined may know this first month of fall by another name: STEPtember. For the uninitiated, STEPtember is a special time of year where we band together and work up a bit of a sweat to raise money that funds research for cerebral palsy. 

Cerebral palsy awareness

Cerebral palsy (CP) encompasses a group of disorders that affect one’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It is the most common lifelong physical disability in the world and affects one in 323 babies per year. While symptoms vary from person to person, people with severe CP can require special equipment and may even require lifelong care which can exceed $1.2 million USD per person over a lifetime.

At Demandbase we like to walk, run, jump, ride, and vacuum (to my family’s delight and my pets’ dismay) our way into STEPtember. This September marks our second year of participation in STEPtember and I couldn’t be happier with how DBers continue to step up to the plate. Two weeks into STEPtember, over 80 participants have already surpassed our $20,000 donation goal, so because we are ambitious and competitive, we’re reaching for something a little more challenging: to rank in the top 5 fundraisers in the U.S.! Given how much smaller our employee pool is compared to the competition, that’s a lofty goal, but in my 8 years of working at Demandbase I’ve witnessed firsthand how passionate our employees are when they set their minds to something.

Close to home

For many, like our own Enterprise Account Director, Mauri Kim, and her son Ezra, STEPtember is personal. According to the doctors, Ezra wasn’t meant to live. But despite the triplegia that affects three of his four limbs and his CP-related learning delays, CP has not slowed down the eight-year old charmer and “Mayor of Third Grade.” In his own words, Ezra is “a regular kid” who loves sports and playing with his friends.

As the parent of a disabled child, Mauri has had to be a fierce  advocate for her son. Together, the family – mom, dad, Ezra, and younger brother – work together to ensure that Ezra’s CP doesn’t stop him from experiencing life to the fullest.

“We knew in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that there was brain damage. In Georgia we have an organization called Babies Can’t Wait which provides in-home services for special needs infants and toddlers. They told me they’d do an evaluation in three weeks and then arrange for services after that. I insisted they do it right away – I knew that every moment counted. And I’m so glad I did!”

Getting involved during the pandemic

COVID has changed the way that we do a lot of things, but at Demandbase we are fortunate that it hasn’t affected the way our employees turn up for fundraising. We’ve increased our STEPtember team by 26 people since last year, and even though we can’t meet up to get our steps in together, our sense of community and support continues to grow and branch out through our global community.

Help us fund CP research

As incredible as it has been to see participation grow in remote fundraising events, I’m holding out hope that next STEPtember we will be able to count our steps together with those we work closest to. Until then, if you’d like to contribute to Demandbase’s STEPtember goal of raising money for cerebral palsy research, visit our STEPtember profile and check out the amazing DBers like Mauri Kim who not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.

Happy stepping!

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