‘Smile and have fun’ Always B Smiling opens activity, learning center for kids with disabilities along Montour Trail
On a warm, July Tuesday morning, 11 students from Peters Township School District’s Extended School Year program, buckled up in adaptive bicycles and piloted by volunteers wearing bright-yellow “Always B Smiling” T-shirts, embarked on a nine-mile bike ride on the Montour Trail in Cecil Township.
“We’re going to ride past a really cool caboose, we’re going to go over a couple of bridges, through a tunnel and then come back, and then at the end of the day we always have pizza and ice cream!” said board member Gina Esch, vice president of the board of Always B Smiling, as she threw her arms in the air enthusiastically. “The most important rule at Always B Smiling is to smile and have fun.”
And fun it was, as the kids spent a chunk of their day riding bikes, working on crafts, playing yard games, and munching on pizza and ice cream.
For Kristin Huibregtse, executive director of Always B Smiling, who launched the nonprofit adaptive ride program for children with disabilities with her husband, Dean Huibregtse, it has been a satisfying summer.
Two days before, the couple held the fourth annual Miles For Smiles 5K race, to honor and remember their son, Bennett, who passed away on July 26, 2020, at 16 years old, from complications of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease.
And they unofficially unveiled a new state-of-the-art, handicapped-accessible, 3,300-square-foot activity and learning center that will provide recreational activities and programming for kids with disabilities and their families. A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 12
“Bennett had a very complex, challenging life. He had multiple disabilities, and throughout his life he faced a lot of adversity, but he was one of the most gentle, kind, happy souls, and he always had a smile on his face,” said Kristin Huibregtse. “When Bennett passed, we wanted to build his legacy around all of the things he enjoyed, such as adaptive bike riding. We wanted to spread his smile and spread joy and give back. That is what Bennett taught us and that is what we want to share with the world.”
Huibregtse marveled at how fast the nonprofit has grown, and the support it has received.
That includes the Tom Robinson family, who donated a 100-year land lease – located on the section of the trail where the Huibregtses used to ride with Bennett – after meeting with the couple for 15 minutes.
“And the beauty of this location is, this is where we always took Bennett for a bike ride as a family. We would stop at the end where the red barn is, and we’d give him his drink and his snack. This is where we hung out and stopped,” said Huibregtse. “We never imagined then that Bennett was going to leave us and we never imagined any of this. It’s been unbelievable.”
Always B Smiling also has received grants from Washington County Tourism and Washington County LSA, along with donations from several businesses and individuals.
Always B Smiling’s Bennett Park ever-growing complex – affectionately dubbed “B-Town” for Bennett – sits on what once was an empty lot along the trail in Peters Township.
It now includes the activity center, Matt’s Garage (which houses the adaptive bikes and a fleet of e-bikes and is named after the couple’s first son, who died from the same kidney disease as Bennett, hours after he was born), and a turf field area for activities that also includes handicapped-accessible picnic tables built by Boy Scouts.
The new facility includes a therapy room, a large activity room, and state-of-the-art handicapped-accessible bathrooms with an adjustable changing table, showers, and movable sinks.
“Families have everything they need at the center so they don’t have to go home if something happens. They can change their child there if an accident happens, or there’s a room to decompress if they need to,” said Huibregtse.
The center also will serve as a place for caretakers and family to unwind, with internet-accessible tables for laptops or areas for reading, and opportunities for facials, massages, socialization, and other self-care activities for parents and caretakers to address their mental health and well-being.
“We give the parents a chance for 30 minutes or so, while we are with their child and they know their child is being taken care of, they can relax because often, they’re caretakers 24/7 and don’t get a break,” said volunteer Kim Rawson, who pilots children on the adaptive bikes.
The next phase of expansion calls for construction of a Sensory Zone, a park that will be built behind the center and is set to open in the fall of 2025.
There are plans to open a cafe with coffee and snacks for people using the trail and launch a greenhouse that will be led by a volunteer horticulturist.
April Ragland, assistant director of pupil services at Peters Township School District, has taken students to Always Be Smiling for two years.
“Last year, we started doing these field trips as community-building activities for our students. It exposes them to the idea that no matter what your ability level, there are ways that things can be adapted and modified so that everyone can participate. It is a public space that any community member can access, and Always B Smiling widens exposure to how families and children can have access to these things,” said Ragland. “I’m really excited to see what they’re doing in the future.”
Always B Smiling now has about 75 volunteers. Among them is Rawson,
a retired hairdresser, who started volunteering nearly two years ago after seeing a sign on the trail asking for volunteers.
“I was so impressed by Kristin and Dean and their love for special needs children, and their desire to keep Bennett’s legacy alive, and their determination to keep going with this is amazing. They are a special couple,” said Rawson. “After our ride on (Tuesday), the smiles on the kids’ faces were awesome. They had a blast. It’s helping these kids have something fun in their lives and it offers families with special needs kids to be around other families. A lot of friendships have been built through the program. The need for a program like this was so desperate, and I’m so excited how fast it’s grown.”
The Huibregtses are grateful for the support.
“People have stepped into our lives to make this happen. We could never have done this without the support of volunteers and the community because you can’t do this alone,” Huibregtse said. “They want to help with the legacy.”
Huibregtse said Always B Smiling has helped her to deal with the grief of losing Bennett.
“There are pieces of me that are so sad that he’s gone, but when I get inside that building, I’m so happy because he’s there in that building,” Huibregtse said. “It was a tragic event, Bennett passing, but without that, Always B Smiling wouldn’t have come into fruition and we wouldn’t have been able to serve the families and children with disabilities that we’ve helped.”
For additional information on Always B Smiling, including hours of operation, programs, and volunteer opportunities, visit www.alwaysbsmiling.org.