Printer Friendly Version (MS Word document)

News Release
July 18, 2003
Contact: Kort Utley, (801) 538-1053

World War II Veterans in Russia Receive Wheelchairs
Team Utah helps in humanitarian effort led by the Wheelchair Foundation

MOSCOW, Russia – Today Governor Mike Leavitt, First Lady Jacalyn S. Leavitt and Team Utah helped distribute 100 wheelchairs to Russian World War II veterans in Moscow’s No. 3 Veteran’s Hospital. The wheelchairs were donated by the Wheelchair Foundation and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and were distributed during a ceremony which included about 150 doctors, nurses, patients and members of the Team Utah delegation.

“May these wheelchairs serve as a gesture of our appreciation for the people of Moscow,” said Leavitt to Deputy Mayor of Moscow Pyotr Aksenov. “We wanted the Moscow-Utah Summer Games to be about more than just sport … we wanted them to be about the heart.”

The Wheelchair Foundation is a non-profit organization leading an international effort to create awareness of the needs and abilities of the physically disabled. The foundation has shared approximately 139,000 wheelchairs in over 100 countries since its inception. In addition to the 100 wheelchairs donated today, nine more containers, including 100 wheelchairs each, will arrive over the next several months.

Governor Leavitt worked with the Mayor of Moscow to help bring the wheelchairs into Russia duty-free. Estimates show that one in ten Russians has a disability; of those, approximately one in six needs a wheelchair.

“This gift is an example of how some people understand other people’s problems,” said Deputy Mayor Aksenov as he spoke to the veterans. “Restoring mobility enhances quality of life.” Aksenov said the wheelchairs would be shared with 40 medical institutions throughout the city.

Volleyball players and wrestlers from Team Utah, wearing their white practice jerseys, helped place the patients in the wheelchairs. These athletes will join others from Team Utah and Team Moscow in the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night.

Neways International, which made it possible for the Utah athletes to attend the games, is the official Utah sponsor of the Moscow-Utah Summer Games.