The mission of Lose The Training Wheels™ is to teach individuals with disabilities to ride a conventional two wheel bicycle and become lifelong independent riders. This achievement, in turn, creates a gateway of opportunity, helping them gain assurance and self-reliance in many other aspects of their lives.  You can learn more at www.losethetrainingwheels.org

Some amazing parent advocates with the Omaha Down Syndrome Parent Network (ODSPN) worked very hard to bring this camp to Omaha.  We all owe a special thanks to Beth Hesselink and Mary McHale for all of their work making this camp a reality!  The autism community is also particularly thankful to Autism Action Partnership for co-present the week long camp.  Yet another HUGE thank you goes out to the numerous volunteers who walked beside and ran behind our fledgling bike riders!  This was an amazing week that changed the lives of many metro families!

The Autism Society was proud to be a seat sponsor for the event and is thankful that so many members of our community were able to attend.  It is hard to convey how emotional this was for so many of our families.  Several of our families had to “trick” their children into arriving at camp that first day.  Our children have been left behind by their neighborhood peers because they cannot ride a bike.  Our kids are frustrated and many had given up trying to ride.  Several of the parents expressed concern that their child wouldn’t even give the camp a chance.  Well, we are happy to report…they all did amazing! 

AAP and ODSPN are trying to determine if there is a demand to have this camp again. There is also an interest in holding a camp in Lincoln but they need to gauge interest before deciding.  If you are interested please take a few moments and email Mary McHale at nebuddywalk@cox.net. 

Participants must be 8 years old or older, ambulatory, atleast 40” tall, atleast a 20” inseam, and not more than 220 pounds.   Camp is limited to approximately 30 participants.

_____
Read one parents comment…

I can’t even begin to tell you what a difference this camp has made in our lives.  Not only our 11 year old son, but with his father and I, as well.   Braden has displayed so much more confidence in himself.  We’ve all been out riding our bikes every night after supper.  This has been a dream of ours .. to be able to go out riding to the park or to the library as a family.  Braden is also now able to ride around with his friends and not sit on the sidelines.  This camp has not only helped Braden learn a new skill, but has completely opened up a whole new list of possibilities.  Typically he gets easily  discouraged but now that he knows he can ride a bike, he now feels like he can tackle other challenges as well.

Read one participant’s comment…

Bike Camp helped me learn to ride a bike.  I started off with their bike and then I rode a two seater bike and then a two wheeler bike.  I liked it a lot!  I can’t believe I can ride a real bike! 

Thank you to those in our community who shared pictures of their new bike riders!