A respected recreation association shows how you can start a program for your own local wheelchair sports heroes.
Members of the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association Sports Camp team, one of the group’s many events promoting adaptive activities for people with disabilities.
By Michael Lee
Luanne Westenbroek, a tennis enthusiast from Grand Rapids, Michigan, first learned about wheelchair tennis while on vacation in California in the 1970s. She knew a group of local wheelchair athletes whom she thought might be interested, so she recruited a tennis instructor to work with three wheelchair athletes and thus began the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Tennis Foundation in 1980.
From such humble beginnings, a mighty local wheelchair sports program sprouted. The Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association (GRWSA), now in its third decade, has won raves from athletes and their families and served as a model for other groups in similar-sized communities in the Midwest.
Passion for Sports
Rule number one for a successful program, GRWSA leaders say, is to have passion for what you’re doing and a desire to inspire that passion in others.
As the tennis program became more popular, Westenbroek raised funds to send the expanding group of players to various tournaments throughout the US. By the mid-1980s, the demand for wheelchair athletics in Grand Rapids had grown so quickly, the group added wheelchair basketball to their program. Soon, the organization was ready to share its expertise with young athletes from all over the area, and began holding the Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp each summer at Grand Valley State University.
Current tournament Director Lynn Bender, 35, is passionate about her job because of her love for tennis as well as for her husband Curt Bender, a wheelchair athlete. “For us, it’s our passion to play and share the sport of tennis with other players,” she said. “Besides competition, it’s a great way to meet new people who share similar disabilities.”
Maria Besta, 38, recreational therapist and president of GRWSA, has always had a passion for working with people with disabilities. She’s been a member of the organization for 10 years, and president for four. Besta is also the director of sports camp and junior coordinator for wheelchair basketball.
“It’s grown a lot,” Besta says of the organization in her time. “I have more access to new players and people out there who would like to join. And as our numbers have grown we’ve come up with new and innovative ways to keep it growing. Essential to a successful program is constant fundraising.”
Creative Fundraising
GRWSA celebrated its 25th anniversary last year but Bender insists that every year brings a fundraising challenge for the organization. The Mary Free Bed Rehab Guild, our main support financially, regularly provides funding for GRWSA. Bender, along with the 19 members of the volunteer working board, composed of Environmental Protection Agents (EPAs), wheelchair athletes, Guild members, and doctors, “writes a lot of grants” to corporations, government and philanthropic foundations. But the majority of the funding comes from their own fundraising in the community.
“Our athletes are expected to fundraise themselves,” she said. “We had a lot of success with statewide and national grants. We sell coupon books and ads for our program books to pay for coaching and travel expenses.”
Travel expenses are a major part of the organization’s costs, giving athletes the freedom to travel around the country and compete. GRWSA athletes have played in tournaments in Florida, South Carolina, Illinois, Atlanta, and New York, to name a few.
Bender says GRWSA’s annual golf outing raises $30,000 a year. “We have a separate sub- committee where we have a golf community. We get local celebrities and news people to participate in that. We also do a tennis charity event at a local tennis club that raises money.”
Bender believes that some nonprofits think money should just be handed over to them for the sake of the cause, but, alas, the world doesn’t work like that. “There are so many different ways to raise money,” she says. “We want to show that there are ideas for other nonprofits out there. You start small from golf outings to charity events to selling tickets at a venue. A lot of restaurants will have a ‘pick of the week’ and a lot of sales will go to a nonprofit. At any type of fundraising event, we’ll work at a booth and earn 20% of the sale. We’re always looking for new creative ways to make money for the group.”
I didn’t know anything about writing grants until two years ago,” Bender says. “Some [grants] are easy to write; some are harder no matter how much info they need.”
Besta is one of those rare people who has talent and luck with grantwriting. She and her grant writing team have been “successful every time” in receiving gifts they apply for and that certain organizations will give a donation every year. She says that other organizations are “looking to give you money, so if they know you’re nonprofit, they’ll give you their information.” Using Google to search for such organizations is a good way to start, she says. Keywords to search for are “children with disabilities,” “health and fitness” and, of course, “grants.”
The 3-to-5-Year Plan
This fall, for the first time in the history of their organization, Bender and company are hosting a huge gala event which they hope will bring in over 50,000 dollars. Bender describes it as a “huge sporting event” with a silent auction and special appearances from a few professional athletes.
Part of the organization’s three-to-five year plan is to find or build a facility to call home. Currently the organization has to utilize colleges and high schools for activities. Besta calls it “expensive and a pain because a lot of times people don’t have a connection with a person with a disability.”
Bender also wants to utilize the Internet’s newest promotional tools like YouTube.com. “We’re not opposed to it at all,” she says. “A lot of people put their videos out there. We can do something on our organization as well.”
For more information on the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association, visit www.grwsa.com or call 616-242-0351.
Michael Lee is a regular contributor to Action.
Members of the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association gather for one of its many events promoting adaptive activities for people with disabilities.
