Kevin Frost warms up in Cancun for a good cause

Posted Nov 10, 2011 By Tony Muma

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EMC News - Peope like deaf and blind speed skating champ Kevin Frost are always on their toes and always on the go.

Frost recently warmed up Cancun, Mexico for eight days, sharing his story and lending a hand to hearing and vision-impaired villagers in the areas surrounding the tourist city.

"We bought food for all the kitchens in the villages which had anywhere from 80 to 100 to 2,000 people," he said. "We brought them pans, oil and stuff they needed. We did a presentation there for our Mission to Cancun." Frost arrived in Cancun armed with hearing aids for the hearing impaired and canes for the vision impaired.

"An 80-year-old woman who'd been blind all her life came by and I had brought some canes for the vision-impaired," Frost said. "When I gave her a cane, she burst in to tears of happiness, it was so touching." From there, Frost went to a town called Hobox, which he jokingly renamed "hard-butt" because of bumpy ride to get there. Still, the bumpy ride was nothing compared to the weather.

"We stayed overnight there before we were forced to evacuate when Hurricane Rina arrived," he said.

Frost then went to the mainland before we went to a town called Nova Durango.

"We filled the kitchens there with food," he added. "They wanted to protect themselves from the hurricane so we made sure they had plenty of food to eat. We had lunch there - it was the best meal we had all week. Everything was natural cooking and done from scratch." Frost's next destination was a village called KM 80.

"I thought the lady who was taking us there was mistaking its distance and its name," he laughed.

While at KM 80, Frost met the mayor and two young girls - one with Down syndrome and another who was hearing impaired.

"I gave one girl a hearing-aid," Frost said. "In that part of the world, hearing aids are a rarity. When she tried the hearing aid, her eyes started moving around She was like 'whoah,' it was pretty touching. I gave her batteries for two years." Frost said Davidson Hearing Centre back in Ottawa really stepped up and helped him with his fundraising endeavours.

"I didn't have to do as much fundraising for the humanitarian mission," he said. "I can't thank them enough." The next day, Frost bumped in to Hurricane Rina again but everyone came out of the encounter unscathed. Reflecting on his eight amazing days down south, Frost said being deaf-blind in Mexico is "interesting." "Canada's on par but different countries are in different places in terms of accessibility," he stated. "Sweden is the country to beat. Mexico is a bit behind in terms of accessibility. I got to help 11 people in Mexico- it was a fascinating experience. It's hard for me to have a hard day thinking of these people." Immediately after he finished that thought, Frost took two minutes to speak to a sponsor.

"I'm always on the go, so I'm always fundraising," he explained after a quick chat with a sponsor. "You have to capitalize on every opportunity to create awareness - that's how I got to Mexico." It comes with the package of training for speed skating, track, rowing and kayaking - as well as the 40 presentations he does each year to create awareness for disabled athletes - Frost is always on the go and always on his toes.

"Some athletes just train and it's hard to get funding for only that reason," he said.

Frost on the other hand recently won an award from the United Way and a community builder award.

Frost was gone as quickly as he arrived, heading back to the gym for another hour or so. He's training for three world cup skating events in the new year, including the annual Paralympics Open Blind Championships in Russia.

"It was interesting to learn about that but I'm learning on the go."

tmuma@theemc.ca




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