RoughRiders to the Amazon

Millions of people worldwide suffer from impaired mobility, meaning they can’t get around on their own or have major difficulty trying to.  This causes huge problems for them and their family members with things like attending school, holding a job, or even going somewhere with friends.  Bottom line: wheelchairs would make a major difference in their lives.

Today, thanks to the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks, 176 of those people in the area surrounding Iquitos, Peru, also known as the Amazon Basin, have received a marked improvement in their lifestyle in the form of RoughRider wheelchairs.  The RoughRider was designed by Whirlwind Wheelchair International, based at San Francisco State University, specifically for conditions in the developing world.  It can traverse obstacles that would stop a standard wheelchair, including tree roots, uneven ground, even cracks in the pavement, and the items on the chair that are known to be subject to wear-and-tear, such as bearings and the rear wheels, are made to be easily replaceable.

The Fair Oaks club headed up a group of 13 other local Rotary clubs in raising funds for the project and received a matching grant from The Rotary International Foundation; the total project cost was in excess of $37,000.  They partnered with the Rotary Club of Iquitos, Peru, and in early December, a team of ten people, including five Rotarians from the Fair Oaks and Rancho Cordova clubs, went to Iquitos to help with the distribution of the chairs.

The Rotary Club of Fair Oaks has been involved in projects like this, locally and worldwide, since 1946.  They meet almost every Monday evening at 6:45 pm in the basement meeting of the Fair Oaks Community Clubhouse.  If having fun while doing good is something that sounds attractive to you, they encourage you to attend a meeting.