Arlington ICanShine Bike Camp

Are you interested in helping a child with disabilities learn how to ride a bicycle? Arlington iCaShine Bike Camp returns to Arlington this April during April school vacation week. April 17-22. iCaShine bikecamp is a place where anyone 8 or over with a diagnosed disability can learn how to ride a conventional two wheeled bicycle. It's a place where miracles happen. We are seeking volunteers, 14 and over, to work with our riders during our upcoming bike camp. If you are unfamiliar with what bike camp is all about we suggest that you head to www.icanshine.org and check out a few of the videos posted there to see bike camp in action. In addition to our riders, our dedicated volunteers are the heart of our program. As a volunteer you have the opportunity to work each day for 90 minutes (or more if you so choose), for each of the five days of camp with our riders, helping them to get from being unable to ride a bicycle to riding independently. Our volunteers find the experience of volunteering very exhilarating and rewarding. You are an essential part of making dreams come true for our riders! Requirements: - 14 or older - able to attend one (or more if you like) sessions for each of the 5 days of camp, same time each day (sessions are scheduled between 8:15 and 5:00 each day) - provide physical, emotional, and motivational support to assigned rider - able and willing to get some exercise (walking, light jogging, and running by the end of the week) for a great cause! - able to attend Orientation/Training on Sunday, April 17th, 3pm-5pm To register for volunteering please go to www.arlingtonbikecamp.org. All of the information that you need in order to apply can be found there. Feel free to spread the word to others who might want to join us in creating an amazing week for our courageous riders. Nina Fischer, I CAN SHINE ArlingtonBikeCamp coordinator

Mission: The goal of iCan Bike 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. Movement and Play are the basis for all iCan Shine programs. Each program provides success through experience. Every effort is acknowledged for each unique person's individual abilities. Recreational skills can be difficult to master for individuals with disabilities. Breaking skills into small, achievable goals and celebrating each accomplishment builds the self-esteem and confidence needed to continue the challenges of learning. This is what we call the sense of "iCan". Everyone needs to believe "iCan" in order to make the effort required to gain the skill. Positive encouragement and guidance from well-trained, energized instructors and volunteers allow each participant to discover and develop their "iCan" in a safe, supportive and fun environment. Participants undergo a transformation from not believing they are able to accomplish a skill, to believing "iCan". This impacts their well-being and opens them to try new activities. Choices in recreation should be available for everyone. Fitness is easier to achieve when it is fun and you can be successful. That's when you really SHINE! Everyone can shine. We all just need the right environment and parameters in place to meet our individual needs. In the iCan Shine environment of teaching and learning, everyone advances, everyone gains by the experience, everyone is successful and... everyone shines. Our adapted iCan Bike program resulted from more than twenty years of research by Dr. Richard E. Klein, a mechanical engineering professor, and his students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Klein retired from his academic career at the University of Illinois in 1998 and held the first bike camp in 1999 in LaCrosse, WI. In the ensuing years, Dr. Klein and his wife, Marjorie, invested a significant portion of their lives in growing the bike program to three fleets of bikes and approximately 30 camps in 2006. Today Dr. Klein and Marjorie are principals in Rainbow Trainers, Inc. (www.rainbowtrainers.com) which is the manufacturer of our adapted bicycle equipment. iCan Bike programs are for children with disabilities ages 8-18. We understand that the vast majority of people with disabilities never experience the thrill of independently riding a two-wheel bicycle during their lifetime. Research shows that over 80% of people with Autism and 90% of people with Down syndrome never learn to ride a two-wheel bicycle. Defying these odds is why we exist! Success in learning to ride a bicycle is a major milestone in anyone's life. When learning has been a struggle, the accomplishment and its impact is much greater. We observe that learning to ride a bicycle infuses the rider with self-image that spills over into many other aspects of their lives. They are positively impacted by the experience as well.

Website: www.icanshine.org

Address: 90 Summer St, Amherst, MA, United States