Carson City handicapped man whose stolen trike was recovered makes $3K donation on behalf of community
Submitted by Jim Gustafson on Sat, 02/03/2018 - 3:15pm
Matthew Ingbar of Carson City made a $3,000 donation Thursday to the Parks and Recreation Department program Movers and Doers — on behalf of the community following an outpouring of monetary support after his trike was stolen last November.
After the theft, a Facebook post asking people to keep an eye out for the bike began going viral. The post was widely shared on social media and was picked up by Carson Now and other news organizations.
The community began offering money to help buy Ingbar a new 3-wheel bike, but he and his family decided they would much rather see locals show their support by making a donation to the Movers and Doers program, which helps provide social activities for hundred’s of Carson City area residents, like Ingbar, who are mentally or physically handicapped.
The family declined donations but locals insisted they wanted to help, said Mathew's mother, Carrie Ingbar.
“'Who can we give money to? 'they asked," she said. “We thought that Movers and Doers serves a huge portion of our handicapped community and would be a good recipient of the community's support.”
Randy Gaa, a friend of Mathew Ingbar’s father and President of Muscle Powered, quickly organized a GoFundMe crowd sourcing page for people to send monetary donations to Movers and Doers.
“There were a bunch of people that wanted to replace Matthews trike,” Gaa said. “I set up a GoFundMe and referenced the article from Carson Now. People started going crazy with the donations and it was impressive.”
Around $3,000 was raised through the GoFundMe effort and many others sent in donations directly to Movers and Doers totaling $400.
Carol Dunn, the program supervisor, said that the donation letters had clippings and printouts from news articles about the incident.
“It makes me feel really proud to live in a community that supports their own and turns a negative into something so positive benefitting so many people,” said Gaa.
Dunn began volunteering with Movers and Doers when she was in high school and has now been working for Parks and Recreation for 18 years and has been in her current role as the Movers and Doers Program Supervisor for more than a decade.
“Carrie reached out to me and asked to redirect support to Movers and Doers,” Dunn said. “It’s not necessarily well known outside of our participants, so the public awareness has been amazing.”
She added, “More people know we’re here and can get help.”
The program operates on around a $5,000 annual budget so the $3,000 will go a long ways, she said.
The Movers and Doers program provides recreational experiences for people with intellectual and or physical disabilities and their families. Activities are designed to contribute to the physical, mental, social, emotional growth and development of all individuals. Movers and Doers organizes activities such as movie nights, swimming, arts and crafts, bingo, bowling, plays and shows, dances and more.
“Movers and Doers provides a social life and friends,” said Dunn. “I’m always looking out for new activities and ideas. That’s why donations are amazing for this program. Donations subsidize our funding so that they can participate in new activities that might be more expensive, or maybe they would never be able to afford on their own.”
“Donations impact their quality of life,” she said.
Readers can learn more about the Movers and Doers Carson City Parks and Recreation program by contacting Carol Dunn directly:
Email: Cdunn@carson.org
Phone: 775-283-7424
Activities are listed on page 25 here in the current Parks and Recreation activity guide.
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