Variety The Children's Charity

Variety the Children's Charity provides children with disabilities with unique programs, experiences, and equipment, so they can live life to the fullest. Variety's programs and services focus on mobility, communication, and social inclusion/interaction.

Variety's "Peak Moments" Program, tailored for children with disabilities, provides places and times for children and their families to be together and have fun, be themselves, be accepted for who they are and feel that they belong to the Variety community/family. For example, Variety hosts an annual Halloween Party at Covestro corporate headquarters outside Pittsburgh and a Holiday Party at Highmark corporate headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh. These events are designed in a welcoming and accepting spirit - without any sense of stigma.

Variety's "My Stroller" Program currently provides a Kid Kart Mighty Lite adaptive stroller to eligible kids with disabilities. Typically, a family must choose between having a wheelchair or adaptive stroller. So, as a wheelchair is more necessary, an adaptive stroller allows for easier "on-the-go" mobility and participation in daily activities.

Variety's "My Voice" Program provides a communication device (currently an iPad with a prescribed communication app) to eligible children with a communication disorder to give them a voice at all times.

Variety's "My Bike" Program currently provides Rifton adaptive bikes to children with disabilities, so that they can have the freedom, joy, and belonging that is created through riding a bike. Since Variety's "My Bike" Program kicked off in November 2012, Variety has sponsored more than 1,100 adaptive bikes for eligible children with disabilities and expanded to a 40 county service area in Central and Western Pennsylvania and 10 county service area in West Virginia.

Testimonials

Variety consistently hears from families that the adaptive equipment is not only impacting their child, but their entire family. Logan, age 13, received an adaptive stroller through Variety's "My Stroller" Program. Her mother, Shawna , said it best:

"Our family is constantly on the go. Picking up and running out the door is never an option. It takes planning and organizing. To have this equipment means that our family can go all the places everyone else is going - we no longer have to say no. Everything takes a little extra effort when you have a child with special needs. We are looking for reliability, convenience, and a little bit of freedom. That is what Variety has brought into our lives - happiness and freedom."