March 2009 – Eric and Jenni Colter entered the bike fair with no hope. Eric carried their most precious treasure, four-year-old Andrea. Andrea’s limbs hung limp against her daddy’s body. Her head lay listless on his shoulder.

Pleasant greeters welcomed them and physical therapists were meeting children with severe disabilities of all descriptions. The Colters were glad for other parents whose children were being assessed, fitted and then trained to ride AmTrykes, amazing therapeutic tricycles.

But there was no hope for Andrea. Countless doctors and therapists had told them so. Little Andrea had neither the physical stamina nor mental capacity to be fitted for devices or equipment that would give her any degree of freedom or mobility. 

“We’re so happy you could come,” said Dave Upton. “What time are you scheduled?”

“Oh, we don’t have an appointment,” Eric explained. “We only came because a friend insisted we check it out.” Eric assured Dave that they didn’t expect anything; an AmTryke would be beyond Andrea’s limited abilities. As Dave and the Colters talked, a physical therapist took Andrea from her parents.

“Let’s see if we can’t find a tricycle for you, little one,” the therapist said.

“Oh, no!” Jenni said. “You can’t do that. She’s too weak physically. And she couldn’t process how to stop or turn. The doctors have said –”

But the therapist and Andrea were gone. Dave continued to talk with the Colters, and within a matter of minutes, Andrea pedaled into the room on a customized AmTryke. Approaching another child on wheels, Andrea carefully slowed and turned her AmTryke to avoid a collision. Mom and Dad melted in tears of disbelief and gratitude.*

*This illustration is based on a true AMBUCS success story. However, the family’s names are changed and details are slightly altered to honor their privacy. 

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Meeting needs
The AmTryke brand is a trademark of AMBUCS, a national service organization originally known as American Business Club. (See below.) An AmTryke is hand and/or foot powered with various features customized to each child’s need. It offers mobility and independence to many children with health challenges – cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome and autism among others.

Some might call Dave Upton a wheeler-dealer. More specifically, Dave is a Christian activist, a family man, an entrepreneur, an athlete, a song writer and a community networker extraordinaire. And he’s president of the Birmingham, Alabama, chapter of AMBUCS. Over breakfast at Demetri’s Barbeque in suburban Homewood, Dave is animated and passionate about his volunteer work with AMBUCS. It seems half the people in the crowded neighborhood cafe know him well. They are eager to stop by the table to speak to him, offering unsolicited testimony to his character and sterling reputation in the community.

At age 80, Dave is still going strong. Ask him about his tennis game. He had knee surgery last fall but is confident he’ll be back out on the court soon. For the last year-and-a-half, he has devoted full time to expanding the reach of AMBUCS in his home state of Alabama.

What was it about AMBUCS and the AmTryke project that appealed so strongly to Dave? He points to a photo of a double bicycle, two side-by-side bikes welded together by bars between the two.

“I built one of these bikes 50 years ago just for my children to play on,” Dave said. He and his wife Annie have four sons, one daughter and 22 grandchildren, all of whom live within 15 minutes of grandpa’s house. One of the grandsons was born with Down syndrome.

Nowadays, Dave outfits his double bikes with an MP3 player. These bikes have proven especially effective for children with Down syndrome or autism. 

Why the MP3 player? Dave is sold on the use of music therapy for disabled kids. Yes, Dave writes music, too. “Out in Jasper, Alabama, we had a 17-year-old autistic young man,” he said. “He had that typical rocking pattern and almost no verbal expression, and music calmed him down.” Dave contacted a music therapist at Integrity Music and secured a free license to use 500 collections of music for children with Asperger syndrome and other autism disorders.

Sharing faith 
A second thing about AMBUCS that appealed to Dave was that it offered another arena in which to practice his Christian faith by serving others. Dave hopes to incorporate into the chapter mission statement the phrase “To further the kingdom of God” because he is convinced that such a focus can only enhance the club’s work. Three ministers serve on the chapter board, including a former director of Young Life, a retired University of Alabama Birmingham professor and a member of the Navigators.

Dave hopes other chapters will see the explosive start-up of the young chapter and ask what made it work. At the next annual AMBUCS meeting, Dave wants to be able to say, “You see what can happen if God is in the picture. I believe God has blessed us because we honor Him.”

Having impact
Dave has always been up for a new challenge. As a young man, he came from his native Walker County northwest of Birmingham to make his way in the city. He started a number of businesses and always worked tirelessly in community affairs.

At age 30, he was a traveling salesman for a nut, bolt and screw manufacturer. “Every customer I sold to, I had to tell them it would be a week to 10 days before delivery,” he said. He finally realized he could do better than that, so he started his own company and provided quick delivery. He had 10 locations when he sold the business to U.S. Pipe & Foundry, a leading Birmingham steel company.

Often partnering with other businessmen or friends, he was, at various times, involved in a sheet metal fabricating company, five foundries, a machine shop, a tool and die shop, an aluminum foundry and real estate development.

Before AMBUCS came along, he had made one ill-fated attempt at retirement. He didn’t like it. So he kept himself busy doing business consulting. He especially enjoys mentoring young men who are establishing a new business. Dave’s key rule for a start-up business is to find a good role model in the field and imitate his success. 

“I teach them how to investigate and copy what others are doing,” he said, “get people to teach them what they do.” 

Then, along came AMBUCS. Ask Dave about retirement now, and he’ll grin and say, “You gotta be kidding. When I find it in the Bible where you’re supposed to retire, I’ll retire.”

Discovering AMBUCS
“I heard about AMBUCS from a friend, and when I investigated, I knew we needed to revive the Birmingham chapter,” Dave said. The chapter had sputtered out decades earlier, but Dave was the sparkplug to get it going again.

Joe Copeland, AMBUCS national executive director, said, “Dave is amazing. He brings a lot of energy and wisdom to the new chapter. He’s already helped organize chapters in Mobile and Montgomery, and he’s helping get one going in Huntsville.” 

Since its start-up in September 2007, the Birmingham chapter has provided 240 AmTrykes and 26 wheelchair ramps for the disabled, but that only scratches the surface of the need.

Latest U.S. Census figures indicate about 16,080 disabled children in the Birmingham area and Dave is determined to put as many children as possible on their own custom-designed vehicles.

The process of bringing a child and an AmTryke together is not simple, but it works like a well-oiled machine from one of Dave’s earlier businesses. 

First of all, an AmTryke costs money, so Dave spends a lot of time securing financial partners – community foundations, private donors, chapter members, churches or businesses.

A second requirement for success is to locate the right kids. Teachers, therapists and other health professionals refer families to AMBUCS. Potential recipients of AmTrykes are assessed to assure that they can benefit from the service. 

Finally, the chapter recruits volunteers, including health professionals, to staff a bike fair like the one the “Colters” attended, where children are matched with custom AmTrykes. 

“When a child discovers that he can be independently mobile, everything improves,” Dave said, “his self-esteem, his happiness, his motor development, his confidence. It’s amazing.”

Amazing. Not a bad description of an 80-year-old who still lives life full time, using his gifts of compassion, service and people skills to serve Christ by serving others.    

AMBUCS founded in 1922
The first AMBUCS chapter was founded in 1922 in Birmingham, Alabama. Today the service club has 120 chapters with more than 6,000 members in 21 states. 

In 1989, physical therapist Sue Haywood, of the Longview, Texas, chapter, came up with the idea for AmTrykes. The chapter began producing the therapeutic tricycles.

Five years later, the national AMBUCS office adopted the AmTryke project nationally. AmTrykes are provided free of charge to children who qualify. On August 19, 2008, AMBUCS hosted a special event in Longview commemorating the presentation of the 10,000th AmTryke.

The AMBUCS mission statement says the organization is “dedicated to creating mobility and independence for people with disabilities” through providing AmTrykes, awarding scholarships for physical therapists and undertaking community service projects. 

Other projects common among the chapters are building wheelchair ramps at the homes of the disabled and recycling computers for the disabled. 

For more information: AMBUCS, P. O. Box 5127, High Point, NC 27262, 800-838-1845, [email protected], www.ambucs.org.