Kiwanis Club of Bowling Green presents AmTryke to local child
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Bowling Green Kiwanis Club is helping one local child live out her childhood via a uniquely funded project.
At their weekly meeting at Crossland Community Church on Wednesday, they presented Amelia Webster with a brand new AmTryke, allowing her to ride a bicycle with her friends and big sister.
“Amelia was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was around 18 months old. She’s worked really hard to get to where she is today. We’ve done two surgeries to get to this level of functioning to be able to even ride on an adapted bike. She’s not super excited because it looks different, but I know once she gets on the bike and she’s riding with her friends and her big sister that she’s going to love it,” Amelia’s mother Samantha Webster says.
If you’re not familiar with what an AmTryke is, it’s a custom bike that is built specifically for kids that need them, and this is a brand new program that the Kiwanis Club is happy to start.
“Every single bike is custom ordered to meet the specifications of the recipient of the bike, and we are really excited to be able to give her this AmTryke. This is the first time that the Kiwanis Club of Bowling Green has actually utilized this program. We saw a need to be able to fulfill something in our community… and if you’re not familiar with Kiwanis, our value is children in our community, and how can we impact the lives of children in this area? Well, what better way to do that than allowing another child to have the opportunity to participate in something with their friends?,” Kiwanis Club vice president Mariah Hughes-Ortega says.
Samantha is excited her daughter was chosen, because she’s always wanted to ride a bike, but the pricing of bikes like these were a huge obstacle for them.
“Those bikes are very expensive. Most things in the special needs community for any parent of a child with special needs things are expensive. They’re very marked up. So spending that amount on a bike was just not… it was not in the question. We’ve tried a lot to adapt her own bike, and so having this opportunity, we were pumped,” she says.
While she was a little shy to talk with us, Samantha stresses Amelia is just excited as well.
“She understands that she’s different, and sometimes that’s hard when she can’t participate with her friends like she wants to… so it’s big for me, but it’s big for her too when she starts engaging in those things with her friends and her big sister, so it’s a big deal,” she says.
