Leping Benevity Fund: Adaptive sports program for people with spinal cord injury

Our Mission:

Building an inclusive and developing society together, increasing the welfare of the disadvantaged, and giving everyone the right to equal development. 

History & Leadership:

Beijing Leping Social Entrepreneur Foundation was founded in November 2010 by many well-known economists, scholars, and businessmen. The executive board members of Leping include Ai Luming, Lin Rongqiang, Guan Kai, Liang Zaizhong, Shen Dongshu, Tang Min, Zhou Qingzhi, Zhang Weiying, and Zi Zhongyun. 

As a pioneer in social innovation, Leping has incubated and developed five social enterprises from 2002 to 2013 based on Fuping School, covering such fields as vocational education for poor women, rural microfinance, rural preschool education, and ecological trust agriculture. As a builder of the social innovation ecosystem, Leping started to explore ways to bring in cross-border forces to participate in the social innovation process by landing the SVP China project in 2014. In 2017, Leping became the only Chinese publisher of the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) and held the “Stanford China Social Innovation Summit” for years. In that year, we also launched the “B Corp” project; In 2019, the Believe to See Lab was established to actively promote new projects and applications that combine new economic platforms, digital technologies, and social innovation methodologies. 

Awards and Recognition:

Beijing Leping Social Entrepreneur Foundation was honored as the 5A level foundation by the Civil Affairs Bureau of Beijing in 2019, and it received many awards in the philanthropy areas during its development process. In 2019, the case of Leping’s Pre-School Education for poverty alleviation was selected as one of the “Top 50 Cases of Social Organizations for Poverty Alleviation” by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. As an out-of-province helper of Gansu Province’s Shuanglian Action and Targeted Poverty Alleviation, Leping Foundation was awarded the People’s Heart Award by the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee and Gansu Provincial People’s Government in May 2016. 

Current Needs:

More than 3.7 million people have spinal cord injuries in China, caused mainly by traumatic injuries. The sudden disaster not only deprives them of mobility and generates a series of sequelae, but also leads to a series of psychological and social problems. People with spinal cord injuries may find it difficult to accept the loss of self-care in a short period and cannot adapt to life in a wheelchair; at the same time, China’s poor accessibility infrastructure makes it very difficult for them to get around, thereby depriving people with spinal cord injuries of their original social connections. They may lose their jobs because of the change in their physical abilities and have difficulty finding new jobs that accommodate them. The multifaceted struggles of people with spinal cord injuries remain marginalized from mainstream society, further exacerbating their physical and psychological problems, thus creating a vicious cycle. 

Sports adapted to the physical abilities of people with spinal cord injuries are a breakthrough in dealing with this vicious cycle. Despite losing part of their physical abilities, people with spinal cord injuries can still participate in adaptive sports such as hand-cycling, swimming and rock climbing. This not only helps people with spinal cord injuries gradually regain their physical abilities, adapt to life in a wheelchair, and prevent sequelae, but also helps them expand their social sphere and reconnect with mainstream society through sports, therefore making them physically “unhindered” and mentally “settled down”. However, there is currently a lack of adaptive sports services for people with spinal cord injuries. The lack of sports for people with spinal cord injuries remains an urgent problem that requires the cooperation and attention of third-party organizations and the public. 

Our Solution:

With the help of professionals such as community event organizers, accessibility experts, adaptive sports coaches, and Paralympic athletes with disabilities, the program will conduct monthly adaptive sports activities where disabled partners can learn how to participate in activities such as swimming, rock climbing, and hand-cycling to improve their physical and mental health and make new friends in sports, as well as learn about the importance of sports for spinal cord injury rehabilitation in sports literacy and accessibility science classes, and how to get around more barrier-free. Through awareness and practice, people with spinal cord injuries can regain control of their lives. 

Our Progress:

7 provinces (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Gansu, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Sichuan) have been directly and deeply served nearly 500 people with disabilities and indirectly impacted nearly 20,000 program participants.   

Your Impact:

With the support of the donations, we will be able to hire experienced professionals and rent more suitable venues to provide services and training for disabled partners. Because of the unique physical conditions of people with spinal cord injuries, we will provide them with better sports equipment to ensure safety and prevent physical injuries during exercise. In addition, the donation can also support long or short trips on hand-cycles, so that while exercising, the benefits of fitness exercise can be introduced to the rehabilitation organizations at the travel destinations, making more people realize the possibility of returning to society and embracing life, and bringing the joy of exercise to more places. 

Donation Services and Outcomes:

• $10 will provide a sports literacy course to a disabled partner. 
• $30 will provide an adaptive sports course to a disabled partner.
• $100 will provide 3 adaptive sports courses to a disabled partner for a month.
• $200 will provide a short adaptive sports travel to a disabled partner.
• $500 will provide 12 adaptive sports courses to a disabled partner for a year. 

Success Stories:

Seven years ago, Yi suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident, making her fall to the bottom when she was young and on the rise in her career. At that time, she had low self-esteem and was depressed, and despite her efforts to rejoin society, she could not get rid of the shadow. She learned about adaptive sports on her friend’s recommendation and signed up for rock climbing activities. When she stood up from her wheelchair, she felt a sense of uprightness that she had not felt in a long time. As she rose gradually, she finally accepted herself from the bottom of her heart. Now she no longer has low self-esteem but appreciates the fearlessness and courage she now has, and she can start pursuing her happiness again. 

Yi climbing

Disabled partners doing adaptive sports under the guidance of professionals