Cal Poly Students Raise Money To Send Wheelchairs to Needy

May 7, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lynn Metcalf
(805) 756-2010

Cal Poly Students Raise $22,000 To Send Wheelchairs to Needy in Thailand

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly chapter of the Wheelchair Foundation has
raised enough money to send a container of 280 wheelchairs to Thailand
this fall.

For the third year in a row, the Cal Poly chapter hosted a series of
fund-raisers to purchase a container of wheelchairs. Thanks to the
chapter’s third annual Gift of Mobility Benefit, a benefit movie
screening at the Fremont and individual fund-raising efforts, the
chapter was able to raise $22,000.

Since 2001, students from Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business (OCOB)
and College of Liberal Arts have organized the Gift of Mobility Benefit
to help send wheelchairs to the needy all over the world. Proceeds from
the events go directly to the Wheelchair Foundation, which matches the
amount raised and purchases the wheelchairs to send to people in poor
countries.

“All the money we have raised this year has all been for people in
Thailand,” said Ashley Cera, a student active in the Cal Poly chapter.

During this year’s effort, students developed marketing materials, a
media and public relations plan, and made presentations to numerous
community groups including the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce and
the local Rotary and Kiwanis organizations.

Cal Poly students formed the chapter of the Wheelchair Foundation after
hearing a speech from Wheelchair Foundation founder Kenneth Behring.

“The students became interested in the organization and decided to get
involved after checking out the Wheelchair Foundation Web site and
viewing its video footage,” said OCOB Professor Lynn Metcalf.

After three successful years of involvement with the non-profit
organization, the Cal Poly Chapter of the Wheelchair Foundation has so
far raised more than $65,000 to deliver wheelchairs to Peru, Ethiopia
and Thailand.

“This organization has helped so many people who are in need around the
world, particularly the elderly,” said chapter event manager Kristin
Wetmore.

For more details about the Cal Poly chapter of the Wheelchair
Foundation, contact Metcalf at (805) 756-2010.

For more details on the national Wheelchair Foundation, visit its Web
site at www.wheelchairfoundation.org.