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At Hero Kids Foundation’s Trail of Heroes event last month, an exciting new addition to the Nature Center was announced: the region’s first all-terrain wheelchair-accessible trail. In order to demonstrate the trail, Trails of Purpose — a nonprofit Hampton Roads organization that provides free equine-assisted therapy and mental health counseling to service members and their families — donated an action-tracked wheelchair for the event so people could test out the trail. 

Hero Kids founder, John Raniowski, said they had a total of three wheelchairs for the event so everyone who wanted to could try a wheelchair on the nature trail. After seeing the success of the chairs, Jackie and Randy Menefee of Atco Trucking and Hauling committed to purchasing a second all-terrain wheelchair for the trail — something Raniowski called a blessing.

“So they strapped in and got a real appreciation of what this chair can do, not just for the mobily-challenged person, but for their significant others that might go out on this trail with them,” he said, “and how much freedom this truly gives the family as a whole to get into nature.”

Dan Felsher will be medically retired this month due to a leg amputation after serving 11 years of active duty.

Serving somewhat as the guest of honor for the event, Felsher was able to use one of the wheelchairs on the trail, which he said was “revolutionary.”

He admitted he was a little skeptical of how well it would work at first, but after using it, he was surprised at how maneuverable it was.  

“It’s very touching, it really is,” Felsher said. “Service members get overlooked, especially amputees, myself being an over the knee amputee. We get overlooked a lot, and it’s touching to have access to the outdoors, especially if you grew up doing hunting and fishing and camping like myself, and it’s awesome,” he said.

Raniowski said some of the chairs can travel up to six or seven miles per hour, which is a lot for a wheelchair.

He said the trail at Hero Kids’ Nature Center is “very natural,” as it’s made without any concrete or blacktop. It also has dips, valleys, and mud.

Raniowski said in the future he would like to add signs with QR codes that provide more information about the kinds of plants along the trail. 

He also wants to work with mental health professionals to include light-hearted questions along the trail that can promote family discussions. He said the questions wouldn’t be “burdening,” but would be meant to increase family bonding and the “opportunity to make a memorie.”

Raniowski spoke about the possibility of having an all-terrain wheelchair at the Nature Center in December 2024. Soon, they will have two on-site, something he hasn’t seen anyone else in the region offer.

“It’s very humbling for me to know that this group of professional caregivers, in a sense, the community as a whole, want to be a part of Hero Kids, and want the mission to continue for the next 10 years,” he said.