It's time to kick off the spring — with a celebration of giving children independent mobility. Wichita State University's GoBabyGo program is holding its fourth annual Spring Car Delivery Day from 9:30 a.m.-noon Saturday, May 4, at WSU's Experiential Engineering Building, just northwest of 17th Street and Innovation Boulevard. 

Irasema, although only 2 years old, will get her first set of wheels at the Spring Car Delivery. A Wichita native, Irasema is delightfully curious and lights up the room with her personality. A chromosomal deletion and heart defect have brought mobility challenges, but she is determined to be on the move. WSU’s GoBabyGo program has customized a car for Irasema so she’ll be able to join in family fun just in time for summer.

Four additional children will receive their first car at this event. And as these little GoBabyGo drivers grow, WSU will continue to support them by maintaining their cars.

WSU students across disciplines work together to customize and deliver cars to children several times a year at no cost to the children’s families. Every car is customized to suit each child’s specific needs. To date, GoBabyGo at Wichita State has modified and delivered nearly 60 cars to children across the Midwest.

GoBabyGo is a multidisciplinary program at WSU that includes students from physical therapy, engineering, communication and education who connect with local therapists to serve children with disabilities. Students modify off-the-shelf, ride-on toy cars to specifically accommodate each child’s disability. The recipients range from 18 months old to 5 years old. Giving children with disabilities independent mobility aids their development physically, cognitively and socially.

The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. Wichita State is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly 15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master's and 12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.