Since his son was born with special needs 27 years ago, Longmont resident Calvin Keim has dedicated himself to ensuring that his son, as well as other individuals with special needs in the community, could have access to the activities they enjoy.
As a lifelong lover of motorcycles, Keim felt excited to share this passion with his son. That’s why, when a vestibular problem stood in the way of his son’s ability to enjoyably ride regular motorcycles, Keim knew he needed to do something.
In 2005, Keim set off on an 11-year-long process of building a “special needs trike,” by taking apart and reconstructing a 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle.
Keim used money and supplemental materials donated to him by friends and family to build the trike from the ground up. He assembled it strategically, adding meaning to each component of the trike.
“The curves of the trike represent how we have to be flexible as a family,” Keim described. “The teardrop taillights show the tears we shed in good and bad times; the black screens represent the uninformed individuals who are in the dark about people with special needs and the screens reflect the filters we sometimes use to protect our children.”
Pro Automotive Finishes in Longmont donated fuchsia — or “manly pink,” as Keim calls it — paint for the trike. The richness of the color, as a result, came to represent “the richness that special needs kids bring to my life, their families’ lives and community members’ lives,” Keim said.
Since the trike’s completion in 2017, Keim has been able to share his passion for motorcycling with his son, who absolutely loves the trike and is put “almost in a trance while riding it,” Keim said.
Keim and his son are not the only people to enjoy the trike. Every year, the trike is included in the Longmont Parade of Lights and Frank’s Ride for Children and, this July, it will be featured in a parade dedicated to a Longmont boy who has autism, according to Keim.
“If our family sees (an event to benefit special needs children) that’s happening in our community, we jump right in,” Keim said.
Apart from riding the trike that his father built for him, Keim’s son has loved swimming on the Longmont Dolphins — an assisted swimming team that’s part of the Colorado Special Olympics — for the past 16 years.
Volunteering at Special Olympics Colorado events over the years has opened the doors for Keim to connect with people like he and his son, he said, “and we’ve all become almost like a family.”
In the beginning of 2022, Keim saw online that Special Olympics Colorado was seeking coaches for its children’s sports programs due to a shortage of them following the pandemic. Around the same time, Keim noticed that only ten people were on his son’s assisted swimming team, compared to the 15 or 16 swimmers who used to be on the team several years ago, he said. This realization opened Keim’s eyes further to Special Olympics Colorado’s need for coaches.
“If only ten kids can be on the swim team here and now (because of the coaching shortages), there must be a lot of other kids who are missing out,” Keim said. “So, I decided to take on coaching.”
In January, Keim began the process of becoming a coach for Special Olympics Colorado, which required taking an online class that covers a coach’s responsibilities, sportsmanship, how to engage with young athletes, safety skills, a concussion training course and other related topics, Keim described.
After Keim completed the course and his national background check was cleared, in March, he received his credentials from Special Olympics Colorado to coach children in the organization’s special needs sports programs.
“I was really happy when I got the certificate, and I’m happy that I can now help more kids with special needs by being out there for them … and their families too,” Keim said.
Specifically, Keim looks forward to getting more kids with special needs on board the Special Olympics’ sports teams, which will better their physical health and teach them important life lessons, he said.
“It’s important for these kids to come together, make new friends and learn about teamwork, sportsmanship and how to support their teammates,” Keim said.
