Kelowna’s Kids In Action program began in the spring of 2000, as one of two outreach pilot projects in community recreation by the occupational therapists at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children in Vancouver.
These therapists wanted to find out what kinds of home community recreational activities were available to children with disabilities, once they were discharged from inpatient rehabilitation therapy at Sunny Hill.
The compassion & high caliber of Kids In Action’s leaders is another reason for its success.
Here’s how the process works:
Kids In Action recognizes an unmet recreational need for a particular child with disabilities;
Kids In Action finds a similar existing activity or program, and works to integrate the child into it; If nothing appropriate exists, then Kids In Action looks for a community leader to start a new program.
The City of Kelowna generously contributes to Kids In Action, by providing its excellent recreational facilities gratis.
In 2003, Kelowna hosted the BC Disability Games, including the new international sport of Powerchair Football (known as Soccer in North America). Then & there, People In Motion’s Okanagan Thunderchairs soccer team was born.
For some time now, Kids In Action has been a program of People In Motion. Each spring, Kids In Action organizes the Disability Sport Awareness & Demonstration Day.
Volunteers from other People In Motion programs provide demonstrations:
The players and coaches on the Okanagan Thunderchairs soccer team demonstrate the sport of Powerchair Football (Soccer);
The members of the PowderHounds Adaptive Ski & Snowboard Club demonstrate some of their specialized equipment of sit‐skis, bi‐skis, mono‐skis, adaptive snowboards, tethers, etc. and hold a Disability Awareness workshop each fall.
Community Recreation Initiatives Society (CRIS) staff demonstrate their equipment & programs in:
Cycling, employing tandem bicycles & tricycles;
Paddling, using kayaks on Okanagan Lake; and
Hiking, with Trailriders invented right here in BC.
Kids In Action is currently attempting to meet the caregiver needs of this community, by offering Disability Awareness Training at sites where caregivers work.
PIM membership fee is only $10/year.
