About Get Kids Going
Get Kids Going! is a national charity which gives disabled children and young people - up to the age of 26 - the wonderful opportunity of participating in sport.
It provides them with specially built sports' wheelchairs so they can do marathons, triathlons, tennis, athletics, skiing, rugby, basketball etc.
Get Kids Going! also helps and encourages British disabled children to compete by supporting them with their sports; training, physiotherapy, travel, design and development of sports' wheelchairs. With your help many could become record holders and Olympic champions!
Get Kids Going! also provides personalised manual wheelchairs and trikes for children to use every day; at home, at school, and to enable them to play with their friends. The charity believes that all disabled children and young people should receive the right equipment to get them going.
It also believes that disabled children should have the best care and assistance they need. Get Kids Going! supports children with all disabilities and ensures that any equipment which is outgrown is recycled to other children, so supporters' valuable donations are never wasted.
Many people who support Get Kids Going! feel a marvellous sense of achievement and satisfaction. They see that even the smallest donation makes an amazing difference to a disabled child's life.
Get Kids Going! gives disabled children and young people the chance of a lifetime, freedom and many wonderful opportunities that others take for granted. Opportunities they may never have without you and the help of Get Kids Going!
No other charity in Britain focuses on helping disabled children and young people with sport in the same way. The cost of a sports wheelchair is about £3,000. A lightweight manual wheelchair is around £2,000 and a trike £800. All are designed individually, and perform... just like a Formula 1 Racing Car.
More than 200,000 disabled children and young people in Britain need the help of Get Kids Going! They desperately want special manual wheelchairs, trikes and other mobility equipment.
Another 50,000 disabled children and youngsters need sports wheelchairs to let them compete in their chosen sport.
Our history
Chief Executive Jane Emmerson had a friend whose child became disabled in a riding accident. Although now reasonably mobile and able to attend a mainstream school, she was unable to take part any longer in sport. This was very disheartening for her, as she had played tennis and represented the county at netball.
Her ordinary wheelchair wasn't suitable for playing any kind of sport. It was far too heavy and unwieldy. However, when she was watching the Paralympics in Atlanta she could see what could be achieved - with the right equipment.
Jane helped her friend research the type of equipment available and the costs. A specially constructed, made to measure sports wheelchair would cost around £3,000 - a figure way beyond the family's means. Sadly, the NHS is far too over-stretched to help with this kind of leisure equipment.
Thinking about what could be done, Jane talked the whole problem over with a number of friends whilst away on holiday in France that summer. Although fundraising for young Sally was the immediate objective, they talked over the possibilities of actually starting a charity that could offer help to thousands of youngsters who want to be involved with disability sport - but lack the right equipment and support.
So that's how Get Kids Going! (GKG!) began - with the simple promise to disabled children of 'Turning Dreams into Reality'.