Flower Pots by Kaylee

Meadow Glade resident Kaylee Kordosky is much like any other compassionate 20 year old. Two years ago, she looked around her world, saw a need and found a way that she could meet that need.

Introduced to painting flower pots by her best friend Katie Adams, Kaylee decided to utilize that hobby to raise much-needed funds for Camp Attitude, an all-access summer camp for children and young adults with special needs.

For Kaylee the mission of Camp Attitude is personal. Born with Pelizaeus Merzbacher Like Disease (PMLD), her legs and arms lack the muscle coordination to participate in traditional camp activities such as running an obstacle course, shooting a bow and arrow or playing softball.

Rather than fixate on her limitations, Kaylee proves she is handi-capable by adorning brightly-colored terra cotta pots with equally-cheerful depictions of flowers, hearts and frogs. From start to finish, each pot takes about an hour and a half to complete although it is typically done in stages to allow for drying time.

To compensate for her impaired motor development, her dad Cory came up with the idea of placing each project on a Lazy Susan so Kaylee can spin it while painting. She goes through her bin of colors for inspiration, paints the pot, lets it dry and decides if she wants to use a stencil for the design or decorate the flower pot free hand.

When she’s looking for a new idea, Kaylee and her mom browse the possibilities on Pinterest. She also receives special orders from extended family, friends and people who visit Nest Vintage & Home Décor in Battle Ground where her pots are sold for $10. Every completed, six-inch pot is then given a final spray by her dad to seal it.  

Kaylee said her favorite color is red (she zips around in a pretty slick red wheelchair) and she enjoys decorating the pots with flowers “because flowers are going in them so why not put flowers on them.”

To date, Kaylee has earned about $600 for Camp Attitude but her fundraiser idea nearly didn’t happen. 

Kaylee and her friend Katie met while attending a picnic event organized through a special needs moms group. Katie almost didn’t attend. At the last minute, plans were changed, Kaylee and Katie met for the first time and “now they’re inseparable.”

Katie, physically impaired with Cerebral Palsy, has been raising money for United Cerebral Palsy of Oregon through her decorative pots for about four years. A resident of Oregon City, she receives considerable special orders through co-workers and colleagues of her mom and other family members.  

Opened in 2000, Camp Attitude provides a week-long camp experience 30 minutes southeast of Lebanon, Oregon, for children to young adults with special needs and their immediate family.

“The whole family gets to go,” said Kaylee’s mom Elizabeth. “She (Kaylee) doesn’t like being away from home and her family. She gets to participate in something like that (camp) without having to be scared to be away and it’s nice for the parents because we have a little bit of a break because they do a lot of activities with the kids and keep them busy.”

Kaylee’s favorite activities at camp include horseback riding, arts and crafts and going out on the lake in a pontoon boat. Her sister Kelsey — who graduates from high school this year — and 8-year-old brother Kaden (also born with PMLD) are kept just as busy throughout the week as Kaylee.

In the last several years, enrollment in Camp Attitude has increased, causing a waitlist for first-time and returning campers.

Through her mom, Kaylee said, “They’re trying to raise money at camp and this was a way I could help. They’re trying to expand which will help to be able to accept more families.”