THREE WHEELS, MANY SMILES
Zoe Binschus’ legs pumped furiously as she raced her custom tricycle through the parking lot of Chandler Tripp School in San Jose on a recent autumn afternoon.
In that moment, the wind rushing past her smiling face, the 5-year-old Morgan Hill girl was unencumbered by the mild cerebral palsy she was diagnosed with as a baby.
Asked just how fast she can ride “Cherry,” her red “trike,” Zoe exclaimed: “Really fast!”
The tricycle and the joy it brings were made possible by the Bay Area Trykers. “We know there are a lot more out there who would benefit from it and who would really enjoy it,” said Bay Area Trykers president Renee Cortise. “We’d love to put a smile on their faces.”
In 2016, Cortise, then a full-time physical therapist with California Children’s Services, helped found the Bay Area Trykers chapter of parent organization National AMBUCS Inc. There were no chapters in Northern California then, but the number now stands at three. To date, the nonprofit organization has provided 74 tricycles to children in the Bay Area.
“We started with a small group of therapists who were interested in being involved with something outside work that would help kids with their leisure and mobility,” Cortise said. “As therapists, we’re kind of selfish in that we know it’s going to help what we’re working on with the children.”
Cortise said the tricycles help kids like Zoe improve their motor skills in a way that’s “fun.”
“The work they’re doing while they think they’re having fun, we’re able to utilize in therapy to help build their skills for other things like sitting, standing, walking and crawling,” she said.
Zoe’s father, Michael Binschus, has seen the benefits. “It creates exercise she wants to do rather than having to work when she goes to therapy,” he said.