For many of us, we take the simple things in life for granted such as riding a bicycle around the block with a group of friends. But for many children, this is an experience they will never get to experience.
Children with limited mobility, who often require specially adapted equipment, can find themselves in a situation in which riding a bicycle can prove to be cost prohibitive for many families.
You see, these devices can range from $1,500 to more than $5,000. Since bicycles are "recreational" devices in the eyes of many insurance companies, they are not covered by most plans. Therefore, children with limited mobility are often restricted to experiencing the thrill of riding a bike solely during therapy.
In line with our recent expansion, Variety recently selected five Houston area children
to receive a fully customized bike of their own, and a little sister of one of the five to receive support for her continued therapy sessions due to the fact she was about to reach her yearly maximum for such support.
While Hurricane Ike may have slowed down the delivery a little, October 3rd proved to be a life changing day indeed for these Houston area children and their families:
* Alex - 7 - Houston - Failure to Thrive and Brittle Bone Syndrome - Has not been on a bike for more than four years after he fell off of a bike and shattered both arms. Thus, leading to the discovery of his Brittle Bone condition.
* Bridget
(pictured to the left) - 4 - Pearland - Static Encephalopathy - Now her older sister and her twin sister can share with her the experience of riding a bike.
* Mauricio - 6 - Galena Park - Cerebral Palsy, Encephalopathy and Developmental Delays
* Victoria - 5 - Houston - Autism
* Kaylee & Taylor - 2 & 8 - Pearland - Leukodystrophy - Both children have this rare condition, and Variety presented Taylor with a bike and his sister Kaylee with the funds required to continue her therapy for the remainder of the year.
Click here to see images and video of the deliveries.
We hope you forgive us for the slight delay in getting this "October" edition of For the Kids to your inbox.
The past few weeks have been some of the busiest seen in Variety in recent years. In the past five weeks, Variety has hosted our second annual Take 'em Out a Ballgame series (and first in Houston), distributed more than $19,000 in support to Houston area families as part of our recent expansion, relocated our office, hosted a record breaking golf tournament and attended Variety's US Conference. All this has caused us to be slightly tardy in distributing this message.
After an amazingly successful first year, Variety was pleased to 
host its second annual Take 'em Out to a Ballgame series. Joined once again by Rehab Specialties, Variety started out with an initial goal of filling 500 seats for the Saturday, September 20 Ranger game versus the Angels. Little did we know how much word had spread about our little event.
But, Variety was not done there. With the support of the Houston Astros, Variety was honored to expand the Take 'em Out series to Houston this year. Almost two weeks after Hurricane Ike struck, Variety and the Astros welcomed in over 300 visitors to see the Astros play in their home park on September 24.
While the final accounting is still ongoing for Variety's 61st Annual Golf Tournament and Awards Dinner, we know without a doubt that the event not only broke our historical fundraising record for this annual event...it shattered it.
