Meet Crystal & Gary Carpenter | Founder and Co-founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Crystal & Gary Carpenter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Crystal & Gary, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
8 years ago our daughter had twins, Ezra and Eli. Ezra was born with severe cerebral palsy and Eli wasn’t. However, after surgery to repair a intestine issue, Eli suffered a brain bleed which led to him developing severe cerebral palsy as well. We saw our daughter struggle with accessing resources because she makes a few dollars above what is required to get assistance. So, we decided to start a non profit organization that would not only help families that couldn’t afford the necessary equipment and therapy, but assist families that could. We concentrated on the needs of the child with disabilities regardless of their families ability to pay. We also offer assistance if their insurance company has denied their request. Crystal and I had a vision to help all children with disabilities regardless of their disability. We created Special Angels Foundation 4 years ago. We provide grants to families raising children with special needs up to $2500 for assistive equipment and $1500 for therapy. We have granted 10 grants a year until this year. In 2021, so far, we have granted 15 grants with 5 grants in the approval process. We have recently upgraded our website. Please go to www.specialangelsfoundation.org for more information about our history.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My wife and I have been dedicated to public service our entire professional lives. Crystal was a school teacher at juvenile hall and I was a Fire Captain. We both retired in 2018. Because of our drive to help other people and our personal experience with our beautiful grandkids, we decided to continue to dedicate our lives to public service through our non profit organization. Along with a career with the fire service, I own my our surveillance company. This experience has given me some of the knowledge needed to help start and run the technical side of our company. Having the right resources to start, run and to organize is essential. We hired a company to set up our non profit. This was essential. Special Angels Foundation awards grants to families raising children with special needs up to $2500 for assistive equipment and $1500 for therapy.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
1- Trip to Catalina, eat at restaurant on the island, tour the island 2- Trip to Newport Beach, eat at the Crab Cooker, walked on the pier and take the car ferry across to Balboa Island
3- Trip to the mall, dinner at Cheesecake Factory, see a movie

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Special Angels Foundation, a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to supporting families raising children with special needs.

Website: https://www.specialangelsfoundation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/specialangelsfoundation/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Specialangelsf2

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/specialangelsfoundation/

Youtube: https://www.youtube/specialangelsfoundation