Crown Pin Foundation
The Crown Pin Foundation has been in existence since the inception
of Niagara Healthcare in the 1950’s.
History
On a brisk winter day in January 1954, several hundred people
attended the opening of the Fairyland Clinic in Meadville, Pennsylvania
… a warm, friendly place, designed to delight the hearts
and captivate the imagination of little children. No-one who attended
the Clinic that day had any idea that later on it would provide
the inspiration for a dozen magazine articles, three network television
shows and hundreds of radio, television and newspaper interviews
– but it did! Mr. Owen K. Murphy, the founder of Niagara
Therapy Manufacturing Corporation in 1949, transformed an old
mansion on Park Avenue into the fantasy-like surrounding that
Dr. Ed Connor (co-founder of Fairyland Clinic) had always wanted
for the many exceptional children who were brought to him for
help.
From his own personal experiences, Dr. Connor knew how frightening
the cold, sterile, white tile atmosphere of the average hospital
or clinic can be to a child. He knew that the tension built by
the atmosphere could often offset the value of the treatments
being given there. Together with Owen Murphy, a man of great generosity
and compassion, he spent months in 1954 planning the Fairyland
Clinic …. a place of total informality, bright colours and
relaxing toys big enough for children to climb into …..
a place where play and therapy are so intertwined that they are
inseparable.
Owen Murphy not only had the therapeutic equipment which could
be helpful in such a Clinic but he also had the will, the desire,
the generosity, the imagination and the foresight to see how all
Dr. Ed’s ideas could be made a living reality.
The little children with exceptional problems are the real beneficiaries
of the Clinic, of course, but through the years there have been
many side benefits. In the Clinic much “seed” research
has been done which has led to larger formal programmes of research
in other centres. The atmosphere of the Clinic and its pioneering
in motivational therapy has been widely copied in other rehabilitation
clinics throughout America. Its acceptance of entire family units
as part of the therapy team made it one of the most comfortable
and comforting places to be found anywhere. The care and the love
they received made them feel a little more a part of the scheme
of things.
Owen K. Murphy was one of the world’s greatest motivators.
Perhaps Mr. Murphy’s personal philosophy of life accounts
for this success more than anything else. He believed that all
of life was a sharing process, that you can’t take out of
life without putting something back to balance the scale. In other
words, you have to give to get a return from life and the more
you give the greater you return will be.
He thought nobody should be satisfied just to make a good living
for his family and himself but that each of us should help those
less fortunate than ourselves. Mr. Murphy helped more people than
any of us will ever know and his personal philosophy was the basis
of the founding of the Fairyland Clinic and the Crown Pin Club,
which he subsidised personally for many years.
The Crown Pin Club continued with the Niagara staff, working
tirelessly to raise funds and donate equipment to worthy causes.
Recent fundraising
It is now the aim of the Crown Pin Foundation (as it is now called)
to offer support in terms of financial aid or donation of equipment
to specific charities throughout a 12-month period.
In 2004/2005, the chosen Charities were Riding for the Disabled,
Contact The Elderly and The Rainbow Trust and from 2006 until
2008 money from the Crown Pin Foundation went to help Simon Weston’s
charity, Weston Spirit.
The Company also sponsored Aladdin, a horse at the Clwyd Special
Riding Centre in Llanfynydd near Wrexham, where our Equissage
equipment is also put to good use on the ponies after a tiring
day being ridden by the disabled children and adults at the Centre.
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