Revving up
Permanent site to allow growth of go-kart nonprofit
WEST LIBERTY — The family drove up the icy, winding road to get to the top of the hill, where, for them and so many others, magic awaits.
On this sprawling and picture-perfect 42 acres in rural Logan County, Rocky Grimes is expanding his nonprofit organization that develops, modifies and specially outfits bicycles, go-karts and the like to help people of varying abilities overcome their challenges and meet both physical and quality-of-life goals.
Grimes has never had a permanent space where he could build, repair and store the go-karts and equipment for his clients — until now.
At the end of November, he rented two barns, a heated workshop, a classroom/ training center and a greenhouse on property owned by Adriel School Inc., a nonprofit foster-care agency. Grimes also can use an indoor gym on the property and has access to all the land and a concrete track for his driving programs.
He and his wife and two daughters are renting a home on the property as well. They have big plans now to serve more families and offer new programs.
It is a new relationship that Grimes said will be lifechanging for his family, the nonprofit Heart of Unlimited Boundaries (formerly called Prescribed Power) they run, and the dozens of families they serve. But it also is a reawakening for Adriel School.
The foster-care agency, based in Logan County since 1900, operates in 44 counties across the state and does so largely with an untarnished reputation. But that has not been the case at home base in West Liberty, where Adriel had also run a residential group home for troubled youths. The home shut down this year after years of trouble.
The problems reached a crescendo in January with fights, disturbances, crimes and a melee that the local police chief called “pure chaos.” Among other incidents there before it closed: An employee mixed cough medicine with soda and gave it and other drugs to residents, and a counselor showed the teens pornographic videos, according to an Ohio Department of Job and Family Services investigation.
Adriel CEO Todd Hanes said that when the opportunity arose to work with Grimes’ organization and breathe new life into the property — which still serves as Adriel’s state headquarters for its foster and adoption work — he and his board jumped at the chance.
“We feel like this is just a wonderful match,” Hanes said. “This property has had a spotted history. To work with Rocky’s karting program, and to utilize this property to serve our local population of those with developmental disabilities, is something we couldn’t be more excited about.”
Grimes said that after years of housing his family in a run-down, too-small property and cobbling together their finances to support his karting program, he feels that this opportunity is a godsend. It came about, he said, after The Dispatch featured his work a year ago.
After that story appeared, he received two grants from the Columbus Foundation — including $20,000 from the Walter Family Foundation — that helped him increase the number of families he was serving in each of his six-week sessions from about 17 to 30. He also received a $14,000 Honda Pioneer off-road vehicle donated by Bruce Daniels and his Honda Marysville Motorsports business that Grimes can use for his program clients.
The grants and the growth they allowed brought new families in for Grimes to work with, and one of them knew a board member at Adriel.
“The serendipity of it all is really something,” said Grimes, who is not a licensed therapist but just a man who turned his generous heart, mechanical know-how and a limitless imagination into something to help others. The agreement, under which Grimes is paying $300 a month for use of the property and buildings and $700 a month for the residence, came about pretty quickly, he said.
Now, he plans to continue to grow his program in new ways, including working with Adriel on specific programs Daughters Cori, left, who is 16, and Julia, 11, help Rocky Grimes put together a new Power Wheels go-kart. Grimes said that after years of housing his family in a run-down, too-small property and cobbling together their finances to support his karting program, he feels that this opportunity is a godsend.
at the greenhouse, building a “climbing wall” accessible to all, and in working to create his Going Places dream town (think Safety Town, but built with replica local landmarks and made especially to serve children with disabilities).
Grimes works with clients of any age and with any type of developmental disability and physical limitation. Many are on the autism spectrum. He finds out what someone needs, and then he designs, re-engineers or customizes a vehicle, an activity and a course to achieve those goals.
For example, Grimes and his daughters — who are very much a part of his work — are modifying a Power Wheels toy that’s similar to a zeroturn lawn mower so that
children who cannot operate it with their hands can steer with their feet instead, helping to boost their strength and coordination and to let them experience some freedom and fun.
In a letter to the Adriel board supporting this new partnership, the superintendent of the Union County Board of Developmental Disabilities wrote that Grimes’ “innovative and creative perspective” is invaluable.
“I have observed young people driving and controlling Mr. Grimes’ carts who have never even controlled their own wheelchairs, let alone done doughnuts and felt the wind blow through their hair,” Kara Brown wrote. “Maybe more importantly, while they are experiencing some of life’s greatest joys, they are also achieving therapeutic goals and improving their lives.”
A family visiting the new property with their autistic son for the first time a couple of weeks ago described Grimes as “a miracle worker with a heart of gold.”
Hanes said the partnership with Grimes is just the start of the resurrection of the Adriel property.
“I believe this is just the beginning about what we can do all together,” he said. “My intention is to be a good neighbor and to raise or elevate the opinion of Adriel in the West Liberty area to bring it up to where the reputation of Adriel is everywhere else outside of this county.”
Personally, Grimes said the best part is that he no longer has to choose between his clients or his family. Because he never had a permanent home for his karts, he was gone from before dawn to after dark all summer to work with clients elsewhere. And his wife, Catherine, and their daughters, 16-year-old Cori and 11-year-old Julia, too often got left behind. Not anymore.
“Dad’s not gone. Dad’s just working up the hill,” Grimes said with a grin. “They can just come on up, and we can all work to change the world together. How cool is that?”