Grant keeps training wheels turning

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December 15, 2009

STAFF REPORT The Commercial-News Tue Dec 15, 2009, 08:39 PM CST

DANVILLE — Children with disabilities will be able to “Lose the Training Wheels” for years to come.

The Lose the Training Wheels Camp received a $6,000 grant today from the First Midwest Charitable Foundation to help sustain the camp.

A grant ceremony was to take place at 10:30 a.m. today at the Danville High School Field House.

“It was a complete surprise,” said camp co-coordinator Peter Blackmon about learning of the grant. “The foundation found us. They asked us to apply. Someone must have been watching. Someone must have been witnessing the amazing differences this camp has made in the lives of so many.”

“What a great feeling that gives us,” Blackmon added.

The camp is an adaptive bicycle program that teaches students with varying disabilities how to ride two-wheel bicycles without the aid of training wheels.

The program gradually introduces the instability of a bicycle by using unique adapted bikes which allow children to lose their training wheels and ride conventional bicycles. The program is designed around the individual, from the bike through the progression of changes to the wheels.

The camp hosts up to five sessions per day at the David S. Palmer Arena, each lasting for 1.25 hours per session. There are up to eight students per session, 40 per camp. About 100 volunteers are needed for each camp.

Participants have ranged in the past from ages 7 to 24 years old; and come from all over, including Danville/Vermilion County, Chicago, Champaign, Mahomet and Terre Haute, Ind.

This past spring’s camp was the fourth annual camp.

Registration for the camp is $200. Scholarships are available.

Additional information can be found at http://www.losethetrainingwheels.org.

For information, contact Blackmon at 431-2424 or Pat O’Shaughnessy at 260-6716.

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