Timmypalooza brings hope

 Walking is a daily activity for students at IU.

Whether going to T.I.S. College Bookstore, the Indiana Memorial Union or class, most students spend a good amount of their time walking around campus. But for sophomore Gaby Cheikh, that was not always the case.

When Cheikh was 18 months old she woke up one morning and was paralyzed from the waist down. She began working with a physical therapist, Dr. Chuck Dietzen, the founder of the Timmy Foundation, which is named after his younger brother Tim, who died as an infant.

Since she was 9 years old, Cheikh has been a part of the Timmy Foundation. Now that she is a student in Bloomington, Cheikh is involved with IU’s Timmy chapter and most recently has brought Timmypalooza to campus last year.

Through Timmypalooza, which takes place from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Dunn Meadow, the IU Timmy chapter is teaming up with the chapters at Purdue University and the University of Colorado-Boulder to raise money. All the money raised will go to reach IU’s chapter goal of $20,000 to help build an intensive care unit and postpartum ward in Ecuador.

“Our primary goal is to raise health care awareness in third-world countries,” said Ben Fischer, last year’s professional recruiter for the IU Timmy chapter.

Timmypalooza has seven bands, five of which are local, and some area restaurant participants. The bands performing will be The Giggles, The Mirror Stage, Alexander the Great, Husband&Wife, The Delicious, Rodeo Ruby Love and Company of Thieves.

Local non-profit organizations will also be present to talk about their causes.

“It’s our first initiative that’s cross-campus, cross-community based,” said Anna Remenschneider, president of IU’s Timmy chapter. “We’re pulling in local bands and local student groups and getting everyone involved. Timmypalooza is our second-annual benefit concert raising money for our International Partner Organization in Ecuador.”

Each year IU’s Timmy chapter takes two trips to help fulfill the needs of these third-world countries.

“The stuff that we face down there hasn’t been seen in the U.S. in decades. It’s stuff that most people here don’t even have to deal with,” Fischer said.

Timmypalooza has been a way for Cheikh and the other Timmy officers to bring third-world countries to Bloomington. Since 2001, IU’s Timmy chapter has raised money for an ambulance for crossroads in the Dominican Republic, a tilapia pond for a hospice in Honduras and prescription medications for every trip they have gone on.

“We focus on the health of children because they can grow up to be healthy adults, and that’s where your community starts,” Remenschneider said. “Our biggest emphasis is for the IPO to tell us what we can do to help them.”

Today, Cheikh is just another college student walking around IU’s large campus. She still attends physical therapy and often has aches in her legs. Cheikh is using her life’s experience to help IU’s community grow.

“Timmy Foundation has been something I have done since I was 9, so by making it more aware it’s helped others,” Cheikh said. “It just shows how a big passion can start off small but has the opportunity to change people’s lives.”

Just as Dr. Chuck changed Cheikh’s life, now IU’s Timmy chapter and other Timmy chapters around the nation are changing lives by “building healthy futures one child at a time.”