The tricyclists were Kriss Woodbury and her daughter Hannah, 8, out trick-or-treating in their matching lion costumes. They had just picked up Hannah’s new two-person tricycle and were taking it out for its very first spin.
Hannah has a number of disabilities and doesn’t have the strength, coordination or eyesight to ride a regular tricycle. Kriss thought the two-person variety, that they could both pedal, would give Hannah’s legs some much-needed exercise and get her out into the sunshine.
But the tricycle cost more than Kriss, a single working mother, could afford.
So she turned to the Massachusetts Assistive Technology Loan Program (MATLP). The MATLP is an interest buy down and loan guarantee program enabling people with disabilities and families to access affordable credit to purchase AT. The program is administered by Easter Seals of Massachusetts, and Sovereign Bank is the program’s lending partner. Leo Tonevski, the loan program coordinator, helped her through the loan process. “Leo was just super,” she said. “He went out of his way to help me.”
Hannah got to choose the tricycle’s color and picked her favorite – yellow. On nice days, she loves peddling it on the flat road beside the beach near her house.
“The tricycle has made a huge difference in Hannah’s life,” Kriss says. “Without it she would have been cooped up in the house, bored out of her mind and very frustrated. It’s also exercising her legs . . . and it’s made me realize how out of shape I’ve gotten!”
Reprinted with permission from Easter Seals-MA
Have a success story you wish you had time to write? ATPN can draft a profile that your program's newsletter can use too. Contact ATPN and put "story idea" in the subject line.
Comments