PALMERTON, Pa. -- A children's charity and a special needs foundation teamed up to give away adaptive bikes to children in different Carbon County school districts.
Leah is a sixth grade student at L.B. Morris Elementary School in Jim Thorpe.
Until this moment, she was never able to ride a bike. Leah is a special-needs student, but on her new ride, she's just like every other kid.
"To see Leah receive this bike and to be part of this program, it's great. We can't wait! We can't wait for the special ceremony, so we are just excited," said Evaristo Pena, Leah's Dad.
A dozen students from different Carbon County School Districts received new adaptive bikes thanks to Variety The Children's Charity and the Carbon County Lehigh Special Needs Children's Foundation.
The two organizations teamed up to make this great giveaway happen.
"These are students who have not had the opportunity to ride a bike up to this point. They will now be able to ride with their siblings and families," said Deborah Popson, Carbon County Lehigh Special Needs Children's Foundation.
Ryan Sewell is also in sixth grade at Weatherly Elementary. He was ready to take off, right then and there.
"I am gonna ride it. I am going to ride it at the park," he said.
The nice part about the bikes is that as children grow up, they can grow into different bikes. If they start off with a small, they trade it in for a medium, all the way up until they get to the adult bike.
"That is wonderful that we will be able to replace it and not have to worry when he gets bigger what we will have to do because he will still want to ride a bike then," said Amanda Sewell, Ryan's mom.
Organizers say each bike costs a little more than $1,000. The hope is to have more adaptive bike giveaways in the future.