Supporting Families with Loved Ones Who Have Special Needs

Our Mission: 

The Misty Carol Project, Inc. ’s mission is to provide a community of support, information, and financial assistance to the special needs, and disabled communities. It is our goal to positively impact these special needs, and disabled persons and let them know they are not alone, they have a support group, they are part of the community, and financial assistance is available to help make their everyday life easier. 

Our Vision: 

We envision more families feeling educated and empowered with the understanding of how to protect their loved ones, benefit from government care, and guarantee bright futures for their families through financial planning and the creation of special needs trusts. 

Our Goals: 

Our aspirations are to grow as large as the need. To reach our goals, we started our grassroots efforts in Wimberley, Texas. The Misty Carol Project, Inc. is anchored there through its Board of Directors.

Please learn more by visiting our website, www.TheMistyCarolProject.com!

By Mike Levingston

The Story Behind The Misty Carol Project:

My mother and father were young, when my father returned from fighting in the Vietnam war, they were blessed with a baby girl, Misty Carol Levingston. Misty Carol was born July 2^nd 1973. She was born with down syndrome and was born with heart issues that required multiple surgeries. She was the light that brightened the lives of everyone around her. At the age of 3 it was determined that she needed another surgery that sadly she did not survive. A devastating blow to the family and all who cared for her. Misty Carol was my sister although I never got to meet her since she passed away on July 16^th 1976 just about a year before I made my appearance on this earth.

My family already had the desire to help and my wife works with the special needs children at Wimberley ISD and has a passion for the special needs kids that only a few people can understand. In my heart for the past several years I’ve had the desire to do something in this world to help the special needs families in any way possible. In the beginning of 2022, my sister, Misty Carol, whom I have never met before came to me in a dream and simply told me “Little brother, it’s time to go to work”. I woke up and before saying anything else to my wife, I told her “It will be called The Misty Carol Project and it’s time to go to work.”

The Objective of the Misty Carol Project:

As a financial professional for 20 years now, I always knew I could do something meaningful to give back to the world that has blessed me in many ways. Due to my wife’s profession and my life experience, I know that many of the special needs families have very little education on what tools they need to have in place in order to correctly care for their special needs child or children. A lot of times they do not have the financial means to properly put these tools in place. The objective of The Misty Carol Project is clear to me. Education for the parents of special needs children is one of the main focuses for the project. Educating them on what documents they need in place both while their child is young and when they reach adulthood, how to properly invest for their special needs child and helping the parents begin to set up for their child’s future is the key. It is our goal to ensure that every special needs family has the proper tools in place, first and foremost a Special Needs Trust. By educating the families on the extreme importance of having these documents in place and identifying the families that cannot afford them, we can provide those important documents through fundraising and events to cover the costs for those families who cannot afford it. It’s been my experience that many of these special needs families need help with not only the big picture but sometimes things as simple as getting a night out knowing their special needs children are properly cared for. Sometimes it’s having someone volunteer their time to help clean or cook every now and then. We will also support any community programs already in place any way we can. Our goal is to help on both the big picture and the little things that can make a positive change in the lives of these families that have a full-time job just caring for their child.

We want to partner with and assist anyone along the way that shares our passion and can help reach the goal of positively impacting the lives of special needs families.

Through fundraising, volunteers and community leadership we hope to positively impact these special needs families and let them know they are not alone. It’s my belief that through the process of helping educate and implementing the proper tools, we can also help bring these families together so they can create an emotional support group, knowing they are not alone, they are part of a community and they have people to talk to and can identify with other families to share experiences and help each other along the way.

One of the projects ultimate goals is to be able to assist in starting adult care facilities to properly care for special needs children that have become adults and teach them the life skills they need to make it through this world. Hopefully through our work in the communities and working with community leaders we can create a cooperative that helps build a quality life for the families of the special needs individuals as well as the individuals themselves as they work to transition through life.