Bike rides, beach days, trips to the park – these are all staples of childhood that kids with disabilities want to experience. They want to be active and mobile like other children in their communities.

But the durable medical equipment necessary to give these kids the independence they desire is often too expensive for many families. And insurance isn’t always the answer - in many cases, devices like adaptive bikes and special needs strollers are denied, despite their immense physical and therapeutic benefits, because insurance doesn’t consider them to be necessary items. Even wheelchairs can take up to two years to be funded by insurance.

This is where Variety-the Children's Charity of Wisconsin steps in. Variety Kids on the Go! aims to help kids gain mobility, confidence, freedom, independence and the chance to join in the life of their community by providing funding for walkers, wheelchairs, specially-designed adaptive bikes, strollers, prosthetic limbs and other devices to families with the most need.

Each of our gifts strongly impacts individual children and their families and creates lasting change and improvements in their lives.  Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is through sharing the story of one of our children. Carissa is an energetic nine year old girl that has vision, hearing, and balance challenges.  She desperately wanted to be able to ride a bike like the other children in her neighborhood, but her physical challenges prevented her from being able to ride a traditional bicycle.

Variety purchased a specialized adaptive bicycle for Carissa that allows her mother to ride next to her and control the speed and steering to ensure a fun and safe riding experience.  Although production delayed the delivery of the bike until a cold January day, we are certain that Carissa and her mom will be riding as soon as spring arrives!