Bella's Bumbas LTD. began out of love and support a great aunt and uncle wanted to provide to their great-niece, Bella. It was that initial love that has brought Bella's Bumbas to where it is today.
Bella was born with Spina Bifida and had no feeling below her knees. After seeing how limited she was when it came to mobility, Bella's aunt and uncle began looking for ways to help. They saw the plans for the Bumbo wheelchair online and, after seeing the cost of the comparable commercial version, decided to make one for her.
This decision was spurred on by many factors. First, Bella's family's insurance, like many families, would only cover products that were deemed medically necessary. Second, many insurance companies typically only cover a wheelchair once every five years--a time-frame that, if starting at the age of one, would result in quickly outgrowing the covered wheelchair.
After building the first chair and seeing just how much joy it brought Bella and how much she enjoyed simply being able to interact with her siblings and friends and get herself around, they decided, as a family, that they wanted to make more chairs for other children who were facing mobility challenges.
Today, they hand-build each child's chair in their workshop located in Webster, NY with the assistance of many volunteers. They do not charge families for the chairs, they only ask that the families cover the shipping costs. In the United States, the shipping ranges from $62.40 to $74 depending on the seat style chosen. This, however, is only possible with the support of donors who help fund their global mobility mission. Every dollar that is received is put into building a chair for a child in need, be it domestically or across the globe.
The goal and hope is to be able to stay true to, "Global mobility is our mission...", and continue providing independence at an early age to children across the globe.
If you'd like to support this mission, please click one of the donate links located at the top right-hand corner of this page.
Bella's Bumbas has now built and shipped over 2,600 chairs to 64 countries across the globe!