When Kansas City was preparing to celebrate the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win with a parade in 2024, the children’s charity Variety KC uncovered a challenge too big to overlook: there were no inclusive restroom spaces along the route. In fact, after searching across the country, they discovered that no mobile accessible restroom unit existed in the area at all.
Yet the need was urgent. The organization believes that all individuals should have the opportunity to use the bathroom with dignity, not be forced to be changed on the floor, in a car, or miss out on events simply because there’s no place to use the restroom. Can you imagine? That’s why Variety KC set out to build the first mobile accessible restroom unit in their own community.
'The Rolls Royce of Mobile Restrooms’
“This isn’t just a restroom,” said Variety KC Chief Inclusion Office Marc Harrell, “This is the Rolls Royce of mobile restrooms.”
Kansas City’s Mobile Accessible Restroom (MAR) is a 24-foot portable trailer designed to transform event inclusivity across Kansas City. Fully equipped with specialized features, it ensures that individuals with disabilities have safe, dignified access to restroom facilities wherever community life happens.
Sova is proud that the MAR’s centerpiece is an Ascent Universal Changing Table, which provides a sturdy, adult-sized surface designed for comfort, safety, and dignity. Thoughtfully engineered for ease of use, the Ascent features a height-adjustable tray to support convenient transfers and can be mounted to most walls without the need for costly, time-consuming retrofitting. Its contoured tray enhances user comfort while the antimicrobial ABS plastic surface ensures quick, simple cleaning and long-lasting hygiene. The mobile unit also features intuitive additions like a hydraulic lift to help with transfers and includes a hand-held shower head next to the UCT for improved hygiene and convenience.
“We’ve worked on similar projects across the states, and the outcome is always the same—families finally feel welcome, included, and able to enjoy their community without barriers," said Sova Business Development Manager Gregory Burchard.
"Sova already has a strong track record with mobile restrooms, with some of the very first Ascent units installed for county fairs in Ohio's Auglaize and Montgomery Counties."
Breaking Barriers and Building Inclusion
Variety KC’s motto is “Be Active, Be Social, and Belong.” and through its extensive work in the Kansas City community it aims to ensure children of all abilities can live full and enriching lives.
The MAR is the first of its kind in Kansas City, and one of just a few in the entire United States. Going forward it will provide vital access for individuals with disabilities at festivals, concerts, parades, and community gatherings across both Kansas and Missouri.
And because it’s mobile, this restroom isn’t tied to one location—it can travel to events all over Missouri and Kansas, meeting families where they are and eliminating barriers that once kept them from fully participating. By bringing accessibility to every corner of the community, Variety KC is helping make Kansas City a place where EVERYONE belongs.
This Mobile Accessible Restroom is more than a trailer—it’s a symbol of what happens when a community comes together to ensure no one is left out.
Learn more at https://varietykc.org/markc/