Nonprofit gives adaptive strollers to 3 Westmoreland families

Tears filled Melanie Skibicki’s eyes as she sat in the Fred Rogers Room of the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit in Hempfield on Friday morning, waiting to receive an adaptive stroller for her son.

Aiden Ward, 6, was born nonverbal and diagnosed with autism. For years, Skibicki has stayed home from her other children’s sporting events, fearing Aiden would run off and get hurt.

“You see it on the spot,” Skibicki of Monessen said with a laugh as Ward darted around the room, weaving through chairs and tables. “He’s not sitting down.”

But with the help of an adaptive stroller designed for children with disabilities, Skibicki will be on the sidelines of local football fields and softball diamonds cheering for her kids.

“I think life’s going to change,” she said. “I really do.”

More than 400 devices donated in Westmoreland

Variety the Children’s Charity Pittsburgh, one of 40 chapters across the world, donated adaptive strollers to three Westmoreland County families Friday. Lighter and easier to collapse into a car than a typical wheelchair, the strollers provide transportation for children who struggle with mobility and contain those who are prone to running away.

Since 2012, Variety has donated more than $11.7 million worth of equipment to children with disabilities — including more than 7,700 adaptive strollers, bikes and communication devices.

More than 430 devices, worth more than $650,000, have been given to Westmoreland County families, Variety CEO Tom Baker said.

Baker took over as CEO in January, following a four-year stint as executive director of North Hills Community Outreach. From 2008 to 2020, he served as chief community affairs officer and vice president of programs for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh.

“The best hour of the week is this hour — the hour we get to spend with all of you presenting this life-changing adaptive equipment,” he said.

Sponsors cover the entire cost of each device — $1,200 for a communication device, $1,800 for a stroller and $2,500 for a bike. Families who earn up to five times the United State’s poverty level are eligible, Baker said.

“We know that the cost and just the experience certainly weighs a lot more on the families with raising their children,” he said. “We’re able to help a lot more people this way, which is nice.”

‘Every child is unique’

Blackburn’s, a medical equipment provider, handles all of the behind-the-scenes work, Business Program Manager Randy Prunty said.

Blackburn’s staff orders each stroller, bike and communication device, assembles them and stores them until Variety is ready to donate them.

That’s when people like Prunty load the devices into a truck and deliver them to families, showing parents how to operate the equipment and adapt it to their child’s needs.

Prunty has been doing this for 12 years.

“As that number grows, it reminds me why my muscles hurt so much,” he said with a laugh.

His motivation for the job?

It’s the right thing to do.

“We deal with all aspects of care and pediatric care, and you see children that it’s hard to just sit there and say, ‘OK, one size fits all,’ ” he said. “Every child is unique. Every child has their special need, and we work with the parents in making sure that the equipment fits that need, and that’s important.”

For Crystal Sirnic, an adaptive stroller opens a new door for her daughter, Starr.

Starr Sirnic, 18, of Jeannette is blind and nonverbal. She could not walk for the first several years of her life.

Now, Starr walks faster than her mother, Crystal said with a laugh.

“I can’t take her somewhere without a chair or something,” Crystal said, “because she’ll go everywhere and throw everything and lay on the ground. It’s like being trapped in the house.

“This helps with just everything as far as getting out of the house.”

Skibicki knows just where she and Ward will break in the new stroller.

“I can’t wait to go back to the zoo,” she said. “He loves to go to the zoo, but it became too hard.”