The Ohio Beverage Association, in partnership with the American Beverage Foundation for a Healthy America, awarded a $25,000 grant to the Columbus Recreation & Parks Foundation to provide equipment for Columbus Recreation & Parks' adaptive youth sports program. The program will allow children with disabilities the opportunity to participate in adaptive sports such as wheelchair basketball, sled hockey, and adaptive track and field. The grant money will also be used to support the purchase of monthly passes for accessible transportation for youth athletes and cover many of the fees for practice and play time in ice hockey rinks.
"The Ohio Beverage Association is committed to improving the communities where we live, work and play," said OhioBev's Kimberly McConville. "We are thrilled to be part of this amazing opportunity for children in Columbus to play various sports, make friends and have fun regardless of ability. We believe that inclusivity and accessibility across all disciplines - sports and otherwise - are critical to our work to promote healthy choices, physical activity and wellness in the communities we serve."
Columbus Recreation & Parks hosted a wheelchair basketball "Try It" event at the Franklin Park Adventure Center, where kids of all abilities had the opportunity to use wheelchairs provided in part by OhioBev. They also got to meet and learn from the 2021 National Junior Varsity wheelchair basketball champion Cincinnati Dragons, and Paralympic gold medalist and Ohio native James Terpenning.
Click here to learn more about the grant.