Cycling 4 Life, Beech to Beach

They will arrive on Ocracoke (by way of Swan Quarter) on April 16th, and ride up Hwy. 12 to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

KAMPN Inc. (Kids with Autism Making Progress in Nature) is a local non-profit that giving kids with autism and their families a nature-based camping experience at KAMPN’s Camp Cogger, a summer camp  There are no charges to the families for their p[articipation.

In early December 2014, KAMPN founder and president  Dr. Jim Taylor announced a new venture for the nonprofit, the LIFE (Living Innovations for Exceptional) Village, which aims to provide adults living on the autism spectrum with community housing. 

To raise funds and awareness for the new LIFE program, Taylor has teamed up with fellow cyclist and retired Navy and airplane pilot Brad Hardie to cycle from the High Country to the coast, stopping at towns along the way to tell people about the importance of villages for adults with autism. 

“It certainly is a fundraiser, that’s for sure, but with the fact that April is Autism Awareness Month and we’re going all the way across the state, it’s a great way to raise awareness statewide, not just about autism but about the LIFE program,” Taylor said.

Between April 4 and 16, Team JaB (Jim and Brad) will stop at 13 different cities statewide. At each stop, the duo will be supported with free lodging and meals to ensure that the funds stay within the program.The Beech to Beach Cycling4LIFE tour’s GoFundMe page met the $1,000 goal within a month, so Taylor raised the bar, hoping to raise $5,000 in funds through this venture.  

Taylor’s goal is to open the LIFE Village within the next three to five years with the help of donations and government grants. A similar program within the state, Peace Haven, opened this past November, housing four adults with autism with the help of state grants.

The need for the LIFE program is apparent, as one in 56 kids are diagnosed with autism, according to Taylor.  According to a news release, more than 500,000 children with autism spectrum disorders will be entering adulthood within the next 15 years.  As these children mature into adulthood, they will need living security as their parents become unable to care for them. 

"Many of them will need some sort of housing, somewhere they can be happy and have life with a purpose and also have interaction with the community, because I think that Boone is a very caring and compassionate community,” Taylor said. 

The spark that started the fire of LIFE was set by Candace Lang, a mother of a 14-year-old girl with autism who had attended last summer’s KAMPN Camp Cogger.  According to Taylor, Lang’s shared interest in building the LIFE Village is what caused him to take action.

In his 50-plus years of experience in working with kids and adults with autism, Taylor worked in mental institutions where he saw people with various developmental disabilities who didn’t need to be there.  “I saw people in there  like me and didn’t belong there,” he said.

Through the LIFE Village, Taylor hopes to provide a compassionate and caring environment for adults living with ASD.

LIFE’s mission is “to meet the ongoing residential and community living needs of adults on the autism spectrum and other exceptional individuals who fall between the cracks.”  A number of individuals on the high level of the autism spectrum will be able to be assimilated into the normal society with help but many will be in need of a place where they can live and have LIFE with a purpose.

To donate to Cycling4LIFE’s Go Fund Me page, visit www.gofundme.com/cycling4life or send check to KAMPN, Inc. 1255 Wildcat Ridge, Deep Gap,  NC 28618  

All donations are tax-deductible

For more information on KAMPN, visit www.kampn4autism.appstate.edu.