Good afternoon. I'm Ted Forrest. The bike idea was secondary to an idea that Baz Mokhtar,
our local physiotherapist and the owner of Aaron Physio Fitness, had to raise some funds
for ARC Industries East. The new building was established and opened in early 2013, and
there were a lot of fundraising programs going on locally, and Baz wanted to participate.
He talked to a few of us at the gym, and I took the idea back and pondered it for about a week,
and all of a sudden, another volunteer program I'm involved in over at Wellington Terrace,
a senior's residence in Fergus, and I was an active volunteer over there. I had a wheelchair
bike program. I guess the penny dropped, and I thought, my goodness, this would be a good
program to introduce to our little ARC Industries East. The ride has a very calming effect on all
the individuals, regardless of their anxiety or anxious state before the ride. We have some
that may be non-communicative in their program that day, but once we have them out on the trail
for a bike ride, they're humming and singing and listening to the birds. It's an opportunity for
them. They don't have many opportunities to get out and experience just the outdoors and nature.
They can't ride their own bicycles, so this gives them an opportunity to go for a bike ride
on the trail. They all have a smile on their faces when they're coming back in. It's absolutely
terrific. It's where we as the riders get our fix on the program. The wheelchair bikes are
actually designed and manufactured in Holland. The bike is extremely well-designed and well
balanced. You don't have to be superhuman to be able to become a bike rider of this wheelchair
bike. The wheelchair itself is on a detachable post. It does have its own brake system, so you
can lock the wheelchair in position, so when you're loading a passenger or disembarking a
passenger, the wheelchair is stationary. They are expensive. The bikes that we purchased were
$5,000 each. I've had lots of other people ask me about what it's like to do this thing,
and they say, you know, you go up there twice a week, or you go up there once a week, and they
say, you can do whatever you want. You're a volunteer. They'll accept whatever time you're
willing to give them. There's no badges or medals for how many hours you spend there. But what
happens is the routine does become your fix.
