Over 500,000 American kids under the age of five, plus millions of school-aged kids, have mobility problems. They often can’t run and play with other kids, and this limits their development. Geeks For Kids changes that! Geeks For Kids is a non-profit organization that provides movement opportunities to children between the ages of 5 and 12 who have movement limitations. Geeks For Kids builds specialized power wheels cars that are adapted to the child’s abilities. The abilities range from children not being able to use their legs, arms, or almost any combination, causing a regular power wheels car to be inoperable. These cars are adapted by providing a specialized drive system that either the child can use, or a guardian can drive remotely.

For this fundraising campaign, the Pitt State Manufacturing and Engineering senior project team partnered with Geeks For Kids has been asked to design a transfer device. This transfer device is going to be specialized to a specific recipient of a power wheels car with hopes that it will empower other kids with slight modification. Our end goal is to design a transfer device that allows a child to be transferred from her wheelchair to the car. And even further so, this device will hopefully allow the child to transfer to other chairs or wherever they need to be moved.

Lucy, a four year old, will be our first recipient of the product. Lucy can walk short distances with the assistance of a walker, but uses a Zippie manual wheelchair for more significant daily movements. Lucy has trouble transferring herself in and out of the wheelchair and into other chairs, such as her toy car. Lucy is going to be a primary recipient for our first product that will assist her in moving from her wheelchair to her toy car.

With the help of your donations, we will be able to prototype, test, and build a final product that will be given to Lucy. We ask you to consider a financial gift to the 2023-24 Engineering Technology - Geeks For Kids project.