VENTURA : Donated Funds Buy New Beach Wheelchairs

More than $3,500 in donations has made it possible for more of the elderly and disabled to fully enjoy Ventura County beaches.

Three new beach wheelchairs are now available for public use, with bright yellow wheels that glide over the sand and a sporty umbrella to keep the sun’s rays at bay.

That brings the area total to six, counting two new ones at San Buenaventura State Beach, a new and a repaired chair at Harbor Cove across from the Ventura Harbor, and two more just across the Santa Barbara County line at Carpinteria State Beach.

United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles and Ventura counties purchased one of the three chairs and presented it to state lifeguards on Tuesday.

“It’s terrific,” said Ronald Cohen, executive director of UCP, as he watched a lifeguard push one of his clients back from a trip to the shoreline. “Now they don’t have to sit on the sidelines and watch anymore.”

For UCP client Jennifer Wilmot of Thousand Oaks, it was the first time she could remember being at the water’s edge.

“I get the impression that if Jennifer had her choice, she wouldn’t get out of the chair,” said Sharon Collins, director of development for the agency.

The new chairs will allow more of the elderly or disabled to go to the beach and stay out longer during the summer. The new wheelchairs also enable the lifeguards to host more group activities and interpretive programs during the off-season, said Craig Sap, a state lifeguard who helps maintain and lend out the chairs.

“We can get people out into the field rather than giving them only a theater-type experience,” he said.

The donations came in after Sap reported that the only chair at San Buenaventura State Beach was broken. A single working chair was being shuttled back and forth from Harbor Cove as they tried to raise money to buy spare parts.

The donations included $10 from a visitor at the beach, several checks written for amounts from $25 to $100, $800 from Robert Gray of Ventura, an $1,800 corporate contribution from Longs Drugs designated for purchasing two of the $900 chairs, and the UCP chair donation. Enough funds are left over to buy a fourth new chair and spare parts as well, Sap said.

Tim Fitsmorris, manager at Longs Drugs on Ashwood Street in Ventura, pooled funds from all seven Ventura County stores’ advertising budgets to pay for two of the chairs.

“We all get involved in our communities,” he said. “And this just seemed like a natural.”

During summer months, the chairs are at the lifeguard stands at Harbor Cove and Carpinteria or at the beach rental office at San Buenaventura. From September through May, Sap said, people should call first to notify lifeguards they will need a chair. The phone number is 648-3321.

“We can bring a chair over to Harbor Cove, the pier, McGrath State Beach,” he said. “That’s no problem.”