With help from one of our Community Grants, Motueka-based Whenua Iti Outdoors has been able to create much better accessibility to the great outdoors with the purchase of a funky new beach wheelchair.
The beach wheelchair had its inaugural outing in mid-December at the Amputee Stump Club Camp, which was based at Bethany Park and included a full day at Kaiteriteri, as well as time spent on the high ropes and tower at the Whenua Iti site.
Whenua Iti ran the camp alongside the Amputee Society of Te Tauihu, to bring together young amputees aged between 8 and 16 from around the country so they could take part in active recreation with a group of their peers.
The camp took a couple of years to pull together, largely due to the dedication of John and Claire West (Claire is pictured in the wheelchair), who had the original vision, and did much of the fundraising that enabled the camp to run.
Feedback from the rangatahi who attended was positive, and many made specific mention of how important it was “being with other kids my age with the disability”.
Our Community Grants open on 1 May, so keep an eye out for more information in the coming months, or if you want to know more now, check out this page(external link).