About Us

Mission, Promise, Values | Our Namesake | Meet The Team | Join the Board

Our Mission

Jacob's Chance enriches lives by empowering individuals 5-40 years old with intellectual, developmental, physical, and/or complex disabilities through inclusive programs that promote personal development and positive relationships.

2024 Impact Report

Our Promise

We are committed to diversity and inclusiveness in all aspects of our organization. We promise to create equity as we embrace cultural differences and promote cultural understanding.

Our Values

Inclusion

We are dedicated to educating our community about true inclusion by offering programming where youth, teens, and young adults with and without disabilities play, learn, and grow together.

Adaptability

Through utilizing resources like our collaboration with local community partners, we adapt the sport, program, or class to the ability of the participant to allow us to service individuals at any skill level.

Healthy Lifestyles

We are dedicated to fostering physical and emotional well-being of individuals with disabilities by promoting active living, holistic wellness, and positive self-esteem.

Accessibility

We actively work to remove physical, financial, and social barriers to ensure that all individuals have equal access to opportunities, resources, and experiences.

Diversity

We embrace and celebrate the unique backgrounds, abilities, and perspectives of every individual.

Mark

Jacob's Chance Incident Report Form

Our Policies

We strive to serve and protect our participants and volunteers in all that we do.

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Who is Jacob?

Jacob was a bright, fun-loving

young boy who lived life to the

fullest and had a deep love for sports.

He passed away in 2002 at just 11 years

old due to complications related to his disabilities. Our Founder and Executive Director, Kate, came to know Jacob’s family through sports—her sons played on the same teams as Jacob’s brother. Today, all of our programs are dedicated to Jacob and the memory of his infectious smile—a smile we continue to see reflected in every individual we’ve served since becoming a nonprofit in 2013, and even earlier during the years of Buddy Ball. These programs are Jacob’s "chance" to live on—through the youth, teens, and adults whose lives we’re honored to impact every day.

Meet the Team

Staff

Kate Mardigian

Founder | Executive Director

Born in Charleston, WV and raised in Richmond, VA. Mom of two grown sons and Gigi to two amazing granddaughters. Enjoys hiking, live music, and ice cream cones.

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Brooke Cable Hsieh

Program Director

Born and raised in Richmond, VA. University of Georgia grad and a board certified music therapist. Mom to a new baby girl and dog mom to one pittie pup. Enjoys rock climbing, trying new things, and all-you-can-eat buffets.

Sadie Hodges

Athletic Director

Born in Terre Haute, Indiana and raised in Richmond, VA. Sadie earned her Undergrad and Grad degree in Special Education from Longwood University. Sadie enjoys being outside, running, watching sports, and traveling to new places.

Cat Papadopoulou

Program Manager

Cat was born in Athens, Greece and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a VCU School of Social Work alum. In her spare time you can find her reading, antiquing, and hanging out with her tuxedo cat named Percy. Cat hopes to travel and obtain her masters in counseling!

Sydney Griffin

Program Manager

Born over in Midlothian but a proud Richmond resident, Sydney graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology from VCU. In her free time she enjoys spending time with friends and family or cuddling with her animals. Sydney hopes to return to college to get her Ph.D. to pursue research in psychology.