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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Cuts in state funding have threatened to put an end to a Marshall University program that focuses on helping people with special needs learn how to independently ride a bike.
Consecutive years of diminishing state revenue and consequential budget cuts to higher education in West Virginia have started to catch up with the Lose the Training Wheels program, said Greg Twietmeyer, with the School of Kinesiology at Marshall, which hosts the program each year.
The Lose the Training Wheels camp costs between $12,000 and $15,000 to put on at Huntington High School each year, and even though camp participants pay a fee or receive a scholarship to participate, there are some years when the program relies on assistance from within the College of Health Professions budget, sometimes receiving as much as $4,000, Twietmeyer said.
"The university has said they cannot subsidize us anymore primarily due to the higher education funding cuts and the tightening of the belts of everybody," he said. "We're already signed on and committed to do the camp this year, but moving forward we will see whether or not it is feasible to continue the camp."
With the $100-per-camper fee along with the scholarships, there are some years that the camp has been self-sustaining since it began in 2011, Twietmeyer said, but it hasn't been consistent enough to ensure the camp will go on.
Marshall has lost more than $11 million in funding from the state since 2012.
Hosting a camp like Lose the Training Wheels is exactly part of what Twietmeyer said is the mission for the School of Kinesiology.
"We're the only camp like this in West Virginia," he said. "I mean, you could give the health reasons, but it's a lot deeper than that. There's the obvious joy of learning to ride a bike that we often take for granted. We talk about things being as easy as riding a bike, but there are people who never experienced that feeling. It's one of the great joys of life that has missed them. If we have the capacity to solve that problem for some kids, we should do that."
Robin Voiers, of Ashland, said her son, 22-year-old Michael Haley, participated in the program in 2014 and had a great experience.
The thought of losing funding and losing the program is one that Voiers said would be an even greater loss for the community at large.
"That would be awful," she said. "Without that camp, there's an individual, a child or an adult who won't be able to accomplish that because they won't even get that opportunity."
Twietmeyer said this year's camp will still take place Monday, July 20, to Friday, July 24, at the Huntington High and the formula will remain the same.
Each participant attends one 75-minute session each day, where they are taught to ride a bike while being accompanied by a volunteer spotter. Participants must be at least 8 years old.
The program receives specialized bikes from iCanShine, which provides quality learning opportunities in recreational activities for individuals with disabilities, according to the organization's website.
The organization provides bikes that have training wheels and other equipment that can be used to balance the bikes until participants find their own balance. Gradually, the equipment is removed from the bikes as the participants gain more control of their bikes.
Before participating in the camp, Voiers said Haley had ridden a bike with training wheels off and on growing up, but the Lose the Training Wheels program helped him gain a new sense of independence.
"You could see it in their faces. They just lit up," Voiers said. "Our everyday lives our challenges, our everyday living and things that we tend to take for granted are stumbling blocks for people with special needs. To support a program that gives people the opportunity to have that inner well-being that they accomplished something significant, I don't think there is any greater thing than that to help another human being."
For more information about how to support the Lose the Training Wheels program, or to become a volunteer, visit www.marshall.edu/lttw or contact Twietmeyer by emailing twietmeyer@marshall.edu or calling 304-696-2938.
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Information from: The Herald-Dispatch, http://www.herald-dispatch.com
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