Aaliyah is our now 8 yr old daughter who we adopted from foster care. She has cerebral palsy and is a permanent wheelchair user, she cannot walk unassisted. Our family is in need of a new handicap accessible wheelchair van for her. Our current van has 300,000 miles and is no longer running without costly repairs. We adopted Aaliyah and her older brother when she was a baby and have since had another son, so we are a family of five. We are looking for a Transit van which is bigger than a minivan as we often have other family, friends, sports equipment, luggage etc. that we would like to be able to haul. We try to live life to the fullest for Aaliyah and our boys but not having a reliable vehicle that our entire family can fit in is very stressful. Putting Aaliyah into a regular vehicle currently means lifting her (~50 pounds) and her manual wheelchair (~50 pounds) into and out of the vehicle multiple times a day. Without a handicap accessible vehicle she cannot use her power wheelchair at all as it weighs closer to 400 pounds. Her power wheelchair is more ideal as it gives her more independence and she doesn't have to rely on someone to push her. Imagine that everytime it rains, or you have groceries to bring in, or other children to supervise in a parking lot. The list of stressors is endless and it is becoming dangerous the bigger Aaliyah gets. Aaliyah is so deserving as she is well known for her joyful and funny personality that she wakes up with everyday regardless of her disability. She is active in school, girl scouts, horseback riding, swimming, and countless therapies. She loves to travel, her family, friends, and animals. She reminds all of us to live life to the fullest! These vehicles are very expensive and taking Aaliyah to therapies multiple times a week means we no longer have two full time incomes. We do not need the most expensive (which can run upward of $100k) with all the bells and whistles, just a reliable vehicle that Aaliyah can use to continue to live as independent of a life as possible. This vehicle will be used to take Aaliyah to and from school daily (as we live out of parish and this is not provided to us), to numerous weekly therapies, medical appointments and day to day living as well as family travel. Thank you for donating or sharing!