Pepper Family Adventure

With the funds donated to The Gleason Initiative Foundation, Team Gleason was able to pay for pALS – Kole Pepper, his wife Jessica, and their two children on a trip to California on a truly memorable vacation.

  “It was a true blessing to be able to stand back and watch, as some of his dreams came true.” – Jessica Pepper 

     The Pepper Family was able to travel from Seattle to Los Angeles for a 5 day, 4 night adventure the whole family could experience together.

One of the first highlights of the trip for the family, was that they were able to go to Disneyland together and even ride several rides as a family, which they have never been able to do before.  The two girls, 11 & 8…were thrilled with getting to meet all the characters, seeing numerous parades and just getting to experience the magic of it all, with both parents by their side and able to participate as well.

Kole has been a life-long Miami Dolphins fan…especially his hero, Dan Marino.  The trip was originally planned around attending a Dolphins game vs. the Los Angeles Rams. Jessica said, “When I asked Kole to make a bucket list, this is the only thing he wanted to do that I couldn’t ever complete for him.  Of everything on this list, this was the only thing that I didn’t know how to do for him. Team Gleason made that happen!!   

  Both the Dolphins and the Rams organizations were BEYOND helpful in accommodating the Pepper Family.  The highlight for Kole…was finally getting to meet his idol, Dan Marino.  Kole was brought to tears.  Mr. Marino took pictures with Kole and the family, signed autographs and really took time to spend with Kole.  This moment, was by far the most memorable part of the trip. “The girls saw their Dad get something he never thought he could.  That memory is etched in our minds forever.  Mr. Marino was so humble and so kind to my husband.  He really seemed to want to talk to him, he seemed genuine and real.   It was a true blessing to be able to stand back and watch, as some of his dreams came true”, his wife Jessica, explained.

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While traveling is difficult and the go, go, go of the trip wore all of them down, they returned home in what was explained as a “State of Bliss”.

  “Thank you to those that made this possible.  To the Gleasons and everyone that works so hard at this organization, who worked endlessly to make sure this dream of ours came through for us.  My husband and children now believe that dreams do come true.”