TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Members of the Tempe Police Department are using social media and a fundraising website to help a longtime police officer get a special van for his large family of disabled children.
Nathan and Lori Ryberg are parents to 13 children, seven of whom are special needs and three of whom use wheelchairs. Nathan Ryberg has been a Tempe police officer for nearly 27 years.
Over the years, he’s resisted offers from co-workers to raise money for major expenses, such as a van that can accommodate all members of the family and their various wheelchairs.
But Ryberg, 55, says he’s getting to an age where lifting his daughter, who uses a wheelchair, into the family van is getting tougher. Two other sons use wheelchairs but can use their legs with braces. The family also can’t fit into the van they already use, and they have to take two cars when they travel together.
Ryberg, a detective in the department’s crime prevention unit, said the family cannot afford a $71,000 van that’s equipped with a wheelchair lift and can fit the whole clan.
His 19-year-old daughter uses a wheelchair and is getting bigger. Ryberg says getting a van with a wheelchair lift is in part so she can have some self-sufficiency.
“She’s almost 20 now, and she really would like to get into a vehicle by herself,” Ryberg said.
Ryberg says all of the older children and adults in the family participate in Paralympic sports and Special Olympics.
“I just think this family is very deserving of this blessing, and it would make their lives so much easier, and that’s what we’re hoping for,” said Lisa Ball, a Tempe police crime prevention officer who works with Ryberg. “He’s a super nice guy. He always helps other people.”
But Ryberg plays down his role.
“We don’t really think it’s that amazing - we really don’t - because we’ve been plugging away at it for a long time. We have lots of issues but they’re all happy,” Ryberg said.
He says he and his wife met in college, where they both studied social work and began working with disabled children. The couple had six children of their own and adopted seven, all of whom have various disabilities.
Ryberg joined the force because social work pay wasn’t cutting it. Lori Ryberg stayed home with the kids and recently became a part-time teacher. The family recently adopted two boys who were born premature and with Down syndrome.
Ryberg’s police department colleagues started a GoFundMe page for the family: https://www.gofundme.com/Ryberg-Family.
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