STRIDE Assistance for the Disabled

Our start

Sometimes in the tragedies of life, a blessing comes out of the brokenness. It was in this way that the seed of STRIDE was born.

In 1983, Mark, a young member of Bell St. United Church was badly injured in a car accident. He was thrown through the windshield of the car and sustained a broken neck which left him, at the young age of 18, to face life as a quadriplegic. The accident also claimed the life of his cousin. Not only was the emotional burden of this accident a staggering blow to his single Mom, but the financial burden was also going to be enormous. The church community and Mark’s friends rallied around him, conducting numerous fund-raising events and starting a trust fund for him.

The G.A.P

STRIDE Assistance for the Disabled operates under a volunteer board of twelve members comprised of disabled and non-disabled individuals with a wide variety of experience, interest, and talents. The provision of financial grants aspect of the organization is dubbed GAP (Grant Assistance Program) and focuses mainly on the financial needs of those persons with physical disabilities who fall between the gaps of existing programs of assistance.

Over the past 36 years, over $345,000.00 has been raised through various means and distributed in grants to over 1,500 individuals throughout the Ottawa Valley area.

There is a deep commitment to and belief in the philosophy of the organization, which is summed up in its motto,

“REACHING OUT TOGETHER”.

STRIDE-Wheelchairs Plus Recycling Depot

In 1991, while addressing a group of professionals in the health care field, several occupational therapists echoed the opinion that a central point for the collection and distribution of used equipment was a viable business opportunity for a group like STRIDE to consider undertaking.

Insidiously, though, over the months that followed, the idea continued to grab more and more serious consideration, a fact provoked by awareness of the ever-increasing demands on ever-decreasing health care dollars. STRIDE had become very familiar with the “financial cost” of living with a disability.

So began the process in the creation of STRIDE-Wheelchairs Plus-Recycling Depot. STRIDE called on the expertise of students of the Algonquin College Media Studies Program to work with the organization in researching health care professionals and individuals living with a disability.

Our Future

In 2016, STRIDE received a grant from the Community Foundation of Ottawa to be used specifically to hire a consultant to develop a long-range plan to address business sustainability. Dubbed “The Revitalization of STRIDE”, it was an arduous, lengthy, intense exercise with a result of rejuvenated enthusiasm and direction. It was then we learned the term “social enterprise” and were advised that in starting this business back in 1993, we were ahead of our time as this aspect of business was a relatively new phenomena, at least in terminology.

We continue to strive to implement as many of the consultants’ recommendations as possible.

STRIDE will soon be celebrating 29 years of operating the Recycling Depot and it just keeps growing. It is our dream not to have to exist because the provincial government will eventually implement policies that will utilize the provision of good used equipment and encourage, through various incentives and initiatives, the involvement and commitment of equipment vendors in this endeavour.