News : \'Dreams Made True\' for Marissa Yessak and her family

Marissa Yessak and her escort during the Evening Gown portion of the 'Dreams Made True' event.

Marissa with her buddy Miranda

Marissa and Miranda waiting for the awards along with all the other girls.

A Vinton girl with special needs is still basking in the happiness she shared with her family at the Dreams Made True Beauty Pageant in July.

Marissa Yessak of Vinton, the daughter of Jason and Anita Yessak of VInton, was one of many young girls with special needs to share that experience.

Marissa's mom shared the following information about the event:

“Dreams Made TrueTM, Inc. was founded in 2010 by David and Dayna Teske after being inspired by their daughter, Daleney Marie Teske. They took her initials, DMT, and created Dreams Made TrueTM, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of girls with special needs, ages 5-25, and providing their families the opportunity to connect with and learn from each other. These young ladies have the chance to unite and showcase their unique abilities through the beauty pageant format.”

This is statement is so true as our daughter Marissa, participated in the Dreams Made True pageant on July 22-23 and had a wonderful time. This wonderful experience almost did not happen for Marissa as we were apprehensive about having her participate. Whenever you have a child that has special needs, trying something new is always scary. As a parent you never know how your child will react to a new situation. You don’t know if they will understand what they are doing, or how others will respond to your child. You hate having everyone look at your family as “different”.

When we received the email back in early June about the pageant we had a million questions running through our head. This was new territory not just for Marissa but for our entire family as we are sports junkies. Our daughter, Marissa is 8 and very outgoing young lady. She has overcome a lot in her short life but has always amazed us. She has learned how to adapt to being visually impaired, developmentally delayed, and speech impaired. But for a month we really thought long and hard about participating, even though she has amazed us in everything she does. After having a long phone conversation with Dayna Teske, I got off the phone and looked at Jason and told him that we were going to do this and we are so glad we made that decision.

When we arrived in Carroll, IA on Friday, July 22 for rehearsal we were met at the doors with acceptance, understanding and friendship. All of the girls were excited to have a “special” weekend just for them and the parents were all excited for their daughters. You could tell that everyone was there for the right reason, to make sure all the girls had fun! There were a ton of volunteers there to help, the parents did not have to do anything. Each girl was paired up with a buddy that would be by their side the entire weekend. Marissa hit it off instantly with her buddy Miranda, who had no ties to anyone at the pageant and was still willing to give up a weekend to volunteer.

On Saturday when we arrived back to the pageant to prepare for the BIG SHOW, we were met again with that same enthusiasm as we did Friday night. The girls had a full day getting ready. Each of them along with their buddy met with the judges for the interview portion. This portion of the pageant had us scared to death, everyone that knows Marissa knows she doesn’t have much speech. She understands everything we say, but it is very difficult for her to communicate to us. The only comfort we had was that we had filled out an informational sheet about Marissa prior so we knew the judges had some background about our daughter. When Marissa and Miranda came out of the interview portion, everyone had big smiles!! Miranda said that Marissa did awesome and she had the judges laughing the entire time. That was a huge relief lifted off our shoulders. While all of the girls had their turn with the judges, there were a number of activities for the girls and their buddies to participate in. Some of those activities were getting their nails painted, making headbands with a ton of different items – each looked great and each girl was proud of their headband. Some of the Disney Princesses showed up and surprised the girls during one of the activities. This was a huge hit, and even with Marissa who was not able to see what was happening. She got excited as she was in a room full of energy and screaming girls!!! What was also awesome about the day, was that everyone understood when a girl needed to have ‘their’ time. Marissa gets over-stimulated and scared when she is in a room with a lot of loud noises and sounds that she does not know what is going on. Usually when this happens we get a lot of looks from everyone as we take Marissa out of that situation, but when it happened during this event no one stared or even asked what is wrong. Instead we were asked if there was anything that they could do to help or get us. We felt so relaxed. What was also extra special was that Miranda would be out there with Marissa and would play with her so we didn’t have to do anything. We were usually within a distance that if Miranda had questions or if she needed help she could get us but we were hardly ever needed. It was a sad and happy moment. Our little girl was growing up and didn’t always need us.

After lunch, each of the girls had their make-up and hair done and with this each girl got so excited. All of them had the biggest smiles on their face and each girl waited patiently for their turn in each of the chairs. Again, we were very worried about how Marissa was going to do as she has never worn any make-up or had her hair curled. But again she amazed us and did wonderful. The whole process ran smooth and all of the women that put on the make-up or did the hair were so patient. They made each girl feel so special and important. Is was great! Once all the girls had their make-up and hair done families started showing up. Marissa was so excited when her family showed up. She became a jumping bean with the excitement and everyone couldn’t believe how ‘grown-up’ she looked. After the girls were able to see their fan club, they were taken off to get prepared with their first outfit. Everyone had a smile and there was no complaining. Everyone wanted to be there. Once everyone was seated the big event was able to start.

Dana and David started the pageant explaining why they started Dreams Made True and how it had already doubled in size in a year. There were 18 girls that participated this year and their goal is to double again for next year. They introduced the emcee, Gary Kroger of Saturday Night Live and the awesome afternoon was started. The first event was the girls along with their buddy wearing their pageant shirt and denim. When each girl would appear on the stage the entire crowd would clap and make noise. It was not just the family of the girl, but everyone. It was a great experience. Once the girl and her buddy would walk under the arch, pictures of the girl would show on the PowerPoint up on the front of the stage and the emcee would talk about each of them. Each girl was very patient waiting their turn and when they were on the stage they just had this big smile on their face and it just warmed everyone’s heart.

The second part of the competition the girls wore a casual outfit that fit their personality. This was very easy for us as Marissa loves to go horseback riding so she wore her pink cowboy boots along with her western shirt. Instead of having her buddy walk her up on stage, she was escorted by an older boy wearing a tuxedo. We were worried about how she would react to having a stranger hold her hand and again she amazed us and did an awesome job. Each of the girls did an awesome job, they were all proud of showing off their outfits and each one of them matched their personalities.

The final part of the competition was the evening gown. When we told Marissa that we had to go shopping for a dress we asked her what color and her response was “purple”. It took us a little bit but we found an awesome purple dress that she looked beautiful in. When her escort brought her on stage this time, each girl was met under the arch with a former Miss Teen contestant and was asked a question about what they would like to wish for. Marissa answered with “popcorn”, a favorite treat of hers. The entire audience clapped and cheered.

Once all the girls had the opportunity to show off their beautiful dresses they were all brought up on the stage for awards. Each girl received a participation medal, the Disney Princesses handed them out along with a special award for each girl. Marissa won the Giggle Award for making everyone laugh during her interview. Then each age category awarded a 1st Runner Up and a Dream Made True winner. All of the girls were excited for the winners.

After the event was over and everyone was packing up to go home, it was nice to see all of the girls give each other hugs and talk to one another. The parents all talked to each other. You didn’t have anyone mad because they did not win, no one made anyone feel like they were not good enough to be there. I know every parent has the same thoughts and feelings for their kids when they start something new, if it is the first day of kindergarten or college. But the one thing for parents with a child with special needs is not only the feelings of it being a new activity but you also have to think about how everyone will react and how your child will react. You would love to have your child fit in and just be like everyone else. Well, for 2 days we had that feeling and we are very grateful that we decided to have Marissa participate in the 2nd annual Dream Made True pageant and can’t wait for the 3rd annual next year.

The link to the Dream Made True website is http://www.dreams-made-true.org/Home_Page.php. Hopefully next year we will have more girls from Eastern Iowa will participate.