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[quote style=”2″]Bike Program Offers Challenges and Rewards[/quote]
Monday marked the beginning of a challenging but exciting week for the 20 kids who participated in this year’s iCan Bike program at West Park Elementary School.
The iCan Bike program is designed to teach people ages 8 and above with physical or developmental disabilities to ride conventional two-wheel bicycles.
This year’s program consists of five 70-minute sessions every day for five days. Each rider attends one session per day. The program wraps up today.
Participants start out with specially-designed bicycles which they can pedal without needing to balance themselves. With the help of volunteer “spotters” and staff members from the iCan Shine organization who walk (and eventually run) alongside them, the riders work their way up to two-wheel bikes. By Friday, each one is ready to practice with his or her own bicycle.
Sponsors of this year’s camp include Hermiston Kiwanis, the Hermiston School District, InterMountain Education Service District, Good Shepherd Community Health Foundation, Umatilla Electric Cooperative, Howard Softball Tournament, United Cerebral Palsy and more, as well as many individual donors.
Cindy Middleton of Hermiston learned about the iCan Bike program about four years ago and enrolled her son, Rian, who was born with hypotonia, a condition which causes low muscle tone and can affect motor nerve control in the brain. The camp was a game changer for Rian, allowing him to share the fun and freedom of bike riding with his family.
The only problem was that the nearest iCan Bike camp was in Longview, Wash. — more than 200 miles from Hermiston.
Having seen the impact of the iCan Shine organization’s program in her son’s life, Middleton decided to bring an iCan Bike camp closer to home. This is Hermiston’s third year hosting the camp.
“This year we have riders attending from Athena, Umatilla, Bend, Pendleton, Hermiston, and Leavenworth,” Middleton said. These participants range in age from 8 to 18 years.
“This week has been one to remember with several priceless moments, countless pedal rotations, and lots of smiles to go along with the hard work,” she said.
“Cindy does an absolutely amazing job putting this all together,” said Feltner. “The biggest thing contributing to the camps’ success is the volunteers who are here working and sweating every day.”
Almost 60 volunteers from around Umatilla County have helped with the program this week. Among them is Cal Harris, who has enjoyed seeing the progress the kids have made in the last few days. “It’s a blast,” he said, adding that one boy whom he has been helping was itching to be on two wheels since day one.
Mary Lou Bailey watched her daughter, Anne, proudly from the sidelines.
“This is the best thing,” Bailey said about the program. Anne had attempted to ride a bike before, but without much success.
“She has a four-wheeled go-cart that she’s ridden for years, but she wants to ride with her brothers and sisters.” By the end of Thursday’s late-morning session, Anne was well on her way to doing just that.
“I feel like a lot of these (kids) are ready to ride,” said Feltner.
To learn more about the iCan Bike program, visit the iCan Shine website.
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