A day dedicated to helping kids with disabilities find the right adaptive bicycle and handcycle for them was held in Edmonton on Saturday. Goodwill Alberta’s Try-A-Bike day was hosted at the charity’s 168 Street location. The day is part of a bigger program, You Can Ride 2, which was created by strategic director Janine Halayko in 2003. “We help kids with different disabilities ride bikes for the first time and just experience freedom and independence,” said the program manager, Emily Kim, at the Saturday turnout, who said the day brings a sense of agency and independence for children. “Every kid can remember riding a bike for the first time. It’s a rite of passage to have,” she added. The program has more than 200 adaptive bikes on standby and offers mechanic modifications to bikes brought in by families looking to take part in a six-week educational program that runs during the summer months. Keith Heslinga, a volunteer mechanic with You Can Ride 2, said Halayko would often notice families who had bikes sitting in garages they weren’t able to use anymore that could be readapted for every variation of young rider and began building up donations over the last 20 years. Heslinga and his team will spend the rest of winter adjusting bikes to each kid who came in on Saturday. “It’s super gratifying. It’s amazing to watch the kids trying out bikes and take them and get some freedom,” he said. Lonnie Willier and his daughter, Addelyn, have been part of the program for five years. “It gives her that freedom to go out, bike with other kids, exercise, just do more stuff outside,” he said. “In the last couple of years we’ve had to start jogging to keep up with her.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall
