“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Carrie Goodwin and Dick Kleinau
Special Kids was founded in 1998 by Dick Kleinau and his daughter Carrie Goodwin. Carrie worked in an outpatient facility and saw children with special needs being turned away from services when insurance ran out and their families could not pay.
At this same time, Dick saw how critical it was that children with special needs receive proper care and treatment because his grandson (and Carrie’s nephew), Cody Moore Carr, was born with a rare genetic condition that made finding proper care for him extremely hard to find and afford.
Together, Dick and Carrie, along with many family members and friends, began envisioning a facility where special need and medically fragile children would not be turned away regardless of their ability to pay for services, but rather be embraced by Christian Love and healing arms.
The monies that Kleinau raised, along with funds from the Christy Houston Foundation, enabled Special Kids to build their first building and open completely debt-free. In September of 1998, with the support of the community and many volunteers, Special Kids opened its doors to the children.
Special Kids has never lost sight of its original purpose because even though both Dick Kleinau and Cody Moore Carr have both passed away, their legacies live on at Special Kids through the continued involvement by the Kleinau/Goodwin families in all aspects of Special Kids.