Gifts of Grace Banquet 2024

Gifts of Grace, benefiting Bella Medical Clinic, is hosted annually in June. This annual fundraising dinner banquet brings together friends of Bella for an evening of celebration, recognition and support for Bella Medical Clinic. Our 2024 banquet was a great success. It included good humor from our guest speaker, Dan Kulp, and was truly affirming for all life. 

Dan Kulp has a huge heart for those with special needs and has spent his life loving them. Three of his five children are adopted and have special needs (Down syndrome and Autism, Alfi’s syndrome, spina bifida). He also has four siblings with Down syndrome (three were adopted).

After the birth of his brother in 1971, Dan’s parents adopted three more children with Down syndrome becoming a family with nine kids! This gave him a unique perspective on the value of life. PBS and Newsweek Magazine did a feature on them which aired internationally, and The National Enquirer did a two-page spread about the Kulps! Now, Dan and his wife have carried on the legacy.

We laughed as Dan described his parenting foibles. We were all moved to tears as he told how his wife’s experiences with the infamous “dying rooms” led to adoption. We were also inspired by their son Simon, who was abandoned in the woods on the day he was born and became whom the Kulps have been told is the first with Down syndrome adopted out of China to the U.S.