TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — On this giving Tuesday, Tarpon Springs based Wheelchairs 4 Kids is launching a big fundraising drive to raise $40,000 dollars in four months.

The group was awarded a reduced-cost trip to Breckenridge, Colorado next April to take 20 wheelchair-bound kids downhill skiing at Beaver Run Resort.


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Tethered to an instructor and sitting on a bi-pod, or sit-skis, the kids will get a chance to do something most adults never get to do, ski down a mountain.

"I'm an adventurous person.  I love to go on roller coasters," said Kiley Griggs, one of the 20 kids that is planning on taking the trip.

Griggs has done everything from water-skiing and sled hockey to zip-lining, and says she is looking forward to the ski trip and the cold.

"It'll be so much different.  I'm excited to be cold and my parents are like you are crazy," said Griggs.

Sometimes, a little crazy isn't a bad thing though.

The adaptive skiing trip has been 10 years in the making for Wheelchairs 4 Kids Executive Director Madeline Robinson.

She says any opportunity for wheelchair bound kids opens up the world to new possibilities for them.

And for Kiley, she says the thrill of skiing down a mountain will be something she has never felt before.

"They are flying," said Robinson.  

Talking to Griggs, Robinson said "You want a roller coaster?  You're going to be going fast," said Robinson as Griggs laughed.

The hard part of the trip is now underway for the group, raising the $40,000 dollars.

For more information to help or donate, visit wheelchairs4kids.org.