Fitness for all in North Bellmore

Louisa Rodriguez, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, rode a bicycle for the first time at HOPEFitness in North Bellmore last week.

Rebecca Rogak/Herald

Members can participate in a variety of activities at the gym, including yoga.

Rebecca Rogak/Herald

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“I don’t know,” replied Louisa Rodriguez, 44, when HOPEFitness Sports founder H.L. Greenberg asked whether she wanted to get out of her wheelchair and onto a stationary bicycle at the organization’s North Bellmore facility last Wednesday.

Rodriguez was careful not to say, “I can’t.” HOPEFitness has taught her not to believe in the phrase.

“You do the best you can with what you have,” she said. “If there is something you think you can’t do, you modify it.”

Rodriguez did just that, even though her cerebral palsy limits her use of her legs. With assistance from Greenberg and other HOPEFitness volunteers, Rodriguez was soon pedaling on a bicycle for the first time in her life.

The HOPEFitness staff said their mission is to provide such moments for members, who face a range of physical and mental challenges. As the nonprofit group approaches its 10th anniversary in 2015, it continues to devise new ways to help participants focus on their abilities rather than disabilities to feel good and achieve their fitness goals.

Meeting physical fitness needs

Greenberg established the HOPEFitness Sports Foundation in 2005, which now has fitness facilities in North Bellmore and Bohemia and a corporate office in East Meadow. Program Director Michelle Soodek, a social worker and former president of the East Meadow School District’s Special Education PTA, came across the Nassau County facility while driving to the Rosemary Kennedy School, just east of HOPEFitness, on North Jerusalem Road.

Both Greenberg and Soodek were inspired by experiences with their own special-needs children. Greenberg explained that his time running recreational programs for disabled youths for a decade and volunteering at Special Olympics for 15 years also made him realize that the disabled needed a fitness center of their own.

“People with special needs often don’t feel welcome in local gyms,” he said. “I’ve seen people with special needs be neglected and not spoken to…but they need to stay healthy.”