Adaptive Paddling Program Gets a Boost
This summer, Travel Oregon awarded $6.2 million in grants to 65 projects across the state through their 2024-25 Competitive Grants Program. It’s not your typical tourism upgrades. The funding is going toward projects that help people who have often been left out of the travel experience, because of mobility challenges, language barriers or long histories of exclusion.
In Central Oregon, Oregon Adaptive Sports program (OAS) has been awarded $60,000 to reinvigorate its adaptive paddling program. The grant will be used to purchase a full fleet of new boats with physical adaptations, a boat trailer, and hire and train instructors.
OAS’ adaptive paddling program will start on location at OAS headquarters in Bend and will travel to either the Deschutes River or one of the Cascade Lakes using flatwater kayaks or paddleboards. The program is designed for anyone who experiences a permanent disability (physical, cognitive, developmental) that requires adaptive equipment or adaptive instruction.
Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic, OAS had a popular paddling program. Next summer, it hopes to offer adaptive paddling up to three times a week, from June through August. Leah Persichilli, the program director for OAS told the Source, “When given the proper support and equipment, there are only opportunities for people with disabilities.”
—Sophie Haney
24
—The average number of days a Bend home was on the market in June from “It’s Time for Bend Real Estate Roundup!”
“The goal is to offer free space where they (teens) can, first and foremost, show up and be cared for.”
—Maija Kellner-Rode about creating the Open Arts Center in Bend.
This article appears in Source Weekly July 24, 2025.
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