May 30, 2017 at 8:37 a.m.
Camp American Legion benefits from another donation
Action Trackchair will provide more flexibility for those who need it
Camp American Legion benefits from another donation
According to TSS Equipment Company, the distributor of the Action Trackchair in nine states including Wisconsin, the chair "is the ultimate in off-road wheelchairs."
"You'll go places you didn't think possible," the company website reads. "Mountain roads, campgrounds, the woods, the beach, mud, snow, etc. Now you have a choice to stay on the hard surface or go off-road."
TSS manager Kelly Schneider said TSS has been distributing the Action Trackchairs since 2010, two years after they made their debut.
"The chairs are made in Marshall, Minnesota, by Action Manufacturing," she said. "Some of the sales are private sales to the end-user and some of them, we work with various foundations that give grants to individuals for a chair."
Schneider said the chair donated to Camp American Legion is actually three years old, having originally been donated to an individual who could no longer use it.
It was returned to TSS and she said sometimes when chairs are returned there are substantial repairs needed.
"This chair was in pretty rough condition and needed a lot of refurbishing," Schneider said. "At that point, we obviously decided we couldn't re-sell it as new."
She said the Independent Fund, which originally bought the chair for the individual, was contacted.
"They pay for chairs for wounded veterans across the United States," Schneider said. "When we told them what the level of use was on this chair, we told them what we'd like to do is donate through our company the labor and parts needed to bring the chair to brand new and find an organization in our home state of Wisconsin that helps wounded veterans and their families heal. We wanted to see the chair used by one of these organizations that maybe wouldn't be able to purchase a chair."
She said that proposal was approved by Independent Fund and TSS then spent $6,000 on parts to bring the chair to new status.
That compares to a new chair costing $11,000.
Even before the chair was refurbished, Schneider said staff members at TSS began looking for a new home for the chair.
"My parents were watching a show one night on public television about Camp American Legion a few months ago," she said. "My dad said, 'Kelly, you've got to look this up.' So, we went online and we found Camp American Legion and did a bunch of looking into their mission, what they do and how many campers they put through in a year, and we were just really moved by their mission and the things they accomplish for our wounded veterans and their families."
At that point they contacted then-camp director Kevin Moshea.
"We asked him if he thought there would be enough people coming through that have those types of disabilities who could use the chair," she said. "He said, 'Absolutely. We've heard of your chair and we would love it.' We started conversations from there and that's how we decided to give the chair back to the camp."
Schneider said as a company - her mom, her dad, herself, her husband and others - "veteran causes are so close to our hearts."
"We just love what these men and women give to our country and it's our way of giving something back and being able to say 'Thank you,'" she said. "That's really what we get out of it. A small way we can say 'Thank you.'"
Schneider said that holds true even if the end user for one of the chairs is a child as well as a disabled veteran.
"It changes their lives," she said.
'I instantly had a vision'
Camp American Legion's new director, Don Grundy, said the trackchair will give the camp more flexibility and is part of the evolution of programming at the camp.
"When that thing arrived, I instantly had a vision in my head of some of our campers using it on the nature trail," he said.
Grundy said the Trackchair is going to be able to go on trails yet to be developed at Camp American Legion.
"That's something that right now even a normal wheelchair would struggle going down a gravel path," he said. "While it's accessible, it's still a challenge to go down those paths with a standard wheelchair. This Trackchair is going to change the whole game. I can see, in the future, having three or four onsite."
That's something that Kelly Schneider, whose husband is a wounded veteran, said is a possibility.
"I think so," she said. "You know, we certainly never know how many chairs we're going to take back in, but I certainly think there's that possibility and especially for causes like Camp American Legion."
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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