Valencia family receives adaptive bike from children’s charity
GROVE CITY — For some children, riding a regular bicycle, and the sense of freedom and fulfillment that comes with it, is out of reach due to physical limitations. One of those children is 4-year-old Savannah Karolewics of Valencia.
When her family was offered a special adaptive bike by the children’s charity Variety — the Children’s Charity, they jumped at the chance. Savannah was one of five Western Pennsylvania children to receive an adaptive bicycle or stroller from Variety on Monday, Nov. 17. The distribution was made at the Midwest Intermediate Unit IV building in Grove City.
“She cannot ride a regular bike. She cannot hold herself up,” said Savannah’s mother, Shaunna Zimmerman, who declined to elaborate on Savannah’s condition. “This bike will give her a little bit of community inclusion. She’ll get to ride with a deeper experience in general.”
Savannah is one of hundreds of children who have received special adaptive equipment courtesy of Variety, which has a Pittsburgh branch based in Wexford. Variety’s primary focus is providing adaptive bikes, strollers and other mobility technology to children with disabilities.
“The children in our program, they've been told since a young age that they will never get to ride a bike because of physical reasons or different reasons,” said Tom Baker, CEO of Variety Pittsburgh. “This enables them to do it.”
Variety’s “My Bike” and “My Stroller” programs provide free equipment to eligible families in the 59 Pennsylvania counties covered by the charity, including Butler.
Baker said the Pittsburgh branch has distributed more than 9,000 pieces of adaptive technology to children in need since it began its adaptive technology programs in 2012. Over 500 donations have been made in the counties of Butler, Lawrence and Mercer, which make up Midwest Intermediate Unit IV.
“For years, Variety has done a variety of things for children, but we've been laser-focused on the bikes, strollers and voice systems for these last 12 to 13 years,” Baker said. “In these three counties, we've been able to provide 510 pieces of life-changing adaptive equipment. That’s over $805,000 worth of equipment.”
A representative from Blackburn’s Accessibility Center in Tarentum was on hand to fit the children into their new rides.
Two of the five beneficiary children — 7-year-old twins Aubree and Ava Montozzi of Sharon — received a second adaptive stroller from Variety after having outgrown the previous strollers they received. They were also fit for a second adaptive bike.
“The twins that are here today with us got their bikes back in 2020 and are getting refitted for bikes since it's been about five years,” Baker said. “The kids can continue to grow, continue to get their skills, get exercise and feel the confidence to be in the community because of the strollers and bikes they receive.”
