The Challenged Athletes Foundation has announced grants totaling $5.1 million in support of individuals with physical challenges who are improving their lives through sports and fitness.
In 2021, the foundation was able to fully fund eligible applications from more than three thousand athletes in forty-nine states, Puerto Rico, and fifty-two countries — including over four hundred grants awarded in 2020 to recipients whose competitions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 grant distributions span ninety-four different sports and activities, including track and field, wheelchair basketball, adaptive fitness training, blind surfing, wheelchair rugby, para-equestrian, Nordic skiing, and outdoor recreation. In addition, through a partnership with GRIT Freedom Chairs, CAF awarded eighty grants for all-terrain wheelchairs, while through a partnership with Össur it awarded eighty-one grants for Össur prosthetics.
According to the foundation, more than half of the hopefuls representing the United States at the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo are past CAF grant recipients.
“We are proud to continue supporting our partnership with CAF and funding these deserving individuals as they pursue their mobility and physical fitness goals,” said Tabi King, director of marketing at Össur. “Together CAF and Össur ensure that individuals with limb loss and limb difference can unleash their athletic potential with critical access to innovative sports prostheses, expert coaching, and instruction.”
