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Community Corner

Disabled Training, Recreation at BSAC

Special Olympics veteran Tom Denham III joins with the Brandon Sports & Aquatic Center to launch TRIDENT, a day and after-school training and recreation program for school-aged children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

Hillsborough’s former director of Special Olympics, in partnership with the Brandon Sports and Aquatics Center, is set to unveil tonight, July 11, a training and recreation program for people with intellectual disabilities. 

The open house is an opportunity to learn more about TRIDENT, or Training and Recreation for the Intellectually Disabled Enhancing Natural Talents, and its day and after-school programming for school-aged children and adults.

TRIDENT is set to open for business Sept. 19.

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“When you have an intellectually disabled child there a ton of services available to that child,” said TRIDENT director Tom Denham III. “But once they turn 22 the number of services available to those individuals are few and far between.”

Enter TRIDENT, and its day program for high school graduates and its after-school programming for school-aged children. Both programs focus on active recreation, with the day program including as well two- to-three hours per day of classroom time focused on independent life-skills training.

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Denham, a graduate of Yates Elementary and Brandon High, has a long history serving the intellectually disabled community in Hillsborough County.  In addition to serving six years as executive director of Hillsborough County Special Olympics, he served in several different volunteer capacities within the organization since 1987. 

“I remember being a little kid in the late 70’s helping my mom at Special Olympics events with her students,” Denham said.

His mother, Sandy Denham, has been a special education teacher in the Hillsborough County School System for more than 30 years. 

“I grew up here in Brandon, and the people that will benefit from this program are more than just clients, they are my friends,” Tom Denham said.  "I know a lot of their parents are frustrated by the lack of available options for their children.  This is an underserved population with few options.  Fortunately, BSAC was looking for a way to expand their mission of service to the community.”

There are a couple of programs out there, including the Med Waiver program, but the waiting list for that program is more than 10 years, Denham said. “So, if parents are not aware of that and wait until their children graduate high school they could be 35 before they can utilize the program.”

The TRIDENT program is designed to fill that gap, Denham said.

BSAC Executive Director Chuck Burgess feels the addition of Denham to the BSAC team is a win for everyone.

“With Tom’s passion for making a difference in every individual he works with and his experience in organizing superior special needs programming, he is a perfect fit for BSAC’s mission to positively impact all individuals in our community,” Burgess said.

The July 11 open house at  405 Beverly Blvd., begins at 7 p.m. and is for teachers, parents, guardians and caregivers of intellectually disabled individuals.  Tours of the facility will be available. The program starts Sept. 19.

Anyone interested in attending the open house can contact Denham at 813-545-4368 or via e-mail at tdenham@mybsac.org

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