Andrew McAllister is the most positive person you'll ever meet. He just happens to be in a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy.
He's being honored with the Jefferson Award for creating the Believe It Foundation, which helps young people like himself.The Jefferson Award is often called the Nobel Prize for Public Service. It's a nationwide program founded in Washington, D.C. in 1972.
And one Friday every month, News 4 WOAI is proud to present this honor to someone deserving here in San Antonio. Someone who has been nominated and chosen for going way above and beyond in helping others.
Meet Andrew McAllister:
"I was born very prematurely and so the part of the brain that tells my legs how to work didn't materialize, didn't go very well so I have cerebral palsy and that's why i'm in a wheelchair."
But that's clearly the only part of his brain that was affected.
"Correct," he tells me. "This is the hand I was dealt, but I can still make a difference. Sure there are challenges sometimes, but the best way to do it is just be yourself and show what you have to offer."
His family and friends always encouraged Andrew to do and be as much as he could. Then for a few summers he was hired to be an "Encourager" at the T-Bar M Camp in New Braunfels.
Encouraging comes naturally to Andrew.
"Just saying a kind word or telling somebody to -- quote -- get off the mat and do something. And being there for em when they need a hand or a pat on the back.
Now he's a UT-Austin student majoring in youth and community studies.
And he's founded what he calls the Believe It Foundation. The goal is to help children with disabilities go to T-Bar M and do all kinds of other things from skiing to going to Spurs games.
"I wanted kids with physical challenges like me to be able to experience what I did at TBar Mbecause it changed my life in a profound way and really gave me the confidence to feel like I can be around other kids that don't have physical challenges and to really interact wtih them and build relationships with them."
"It's so important because these kids that have physical challenges have wonderful hearts and wonderful brains and they have something to offer too. And I wanted that to be front and center and for them -- for the physicall challenged children -- to have fun and have leisure activities because I know from personal experience that living with a physical challenge can be sometimes difficult and it's great to just sit back sometimes and have a little fun."
Talking with Andrew, you forget about any "disability," but he says it's sometimes frustrating when others stereotype people in a wheelchair.
"I was put in this situation and it's hard sometimes, but I can still make a difference here. And that is what the Believe It foundation is all about. And the reason I called it Believe It is I wanted kids -- or people that look at the Believe It Foundation and what we do and physically challenged children and do things awesome and go 'Wow! I can't believe it. That's unbelievable.'
And to me that's just part of life. And so I've always been a goal setter and I just try to reach those goals. And if you don't have a positive attitude if you're in a situation like mine, it's just gonna drag you down. And so that's why I have a positive attitude is that I still have places to go and people to see and things to do.
And so that's how I ...that's just the way i continue on through tough circumstances sometimes is just having a goal and keep on going on, pushing on."
Congratulations Andrew. And all the best with the
Believe It Foundation.
