Mildly Good Deed Uncovers the Real Thing

It happens every year or so. The piles of newspaper and notebooks and letters and press releases on my desk achieve a dangerous altitude. Sometimes I think I should just let it grow, because like Everest, it is there. But aftershocks leave me worrying that I might be buried alive.

So I begin to clean house--a process that inevitably resembles an archeological dig.

The cafeteria manager will be pleased to know that I’ve recovered one coffee cup, one drinking glass and five metal forks. And I hope a few readers will be pleased to know that I’ve found letters that had simply seemed to vanish, but now may be filed under Better Late Than Never. The following was prompted by a July column about the charity Wheelchair for Humanity.

Arthur A. Fleisher II of Northridge writes:

And of course there are no needy people in the U.S. who need wheelchairs. Many of the public, including charities, are quick to complain that our government is more concerned with illegals and those in other countries than with its own citizens. Not that people in other countries are not needy. However, shouldn’t the old adage be heeded? CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME!

A good question. Wheels for Humanity, a nonprofit agency based in Studio City, collects America’s used wheelchairs for distribution to needy people in impoverished countries. I suspect other readers had the same question.

David Richard, the charity’s founder, provided the answer. There are two reasons, both of which say much about life in America.

One reason is the high cost of liability insurance in the United States. If Wheels for Humanity recycled a faulty chair and that were to prompt a lawsuit, Richard says, the charity would go belly up.

Secondly, Richard says, in this land of plenty it’s extremely rare that someone in need isn’t provided a wheelchair. Elsewhere, the need is much, much greater. Spend enough time in Central America, he says, and you’ll witness a polio victim drag himself across the highway.

That column was written at a time when Richard was hustling to find free warehouse space for donated wheelchairs. Since then, Richard says, a private company has donated the space that now holds 150 wheelchairs, awaiting shipment to Guatemala. Those were among more than 400 that Wheels for Humanity collected on Aug. 31 in an event at First Christian Church in North Hollywood, the charity’s sponsor. The other 250 have been trucked to Iowa for refurbishing.

Richard is not one to squander a little ink. Although the storage problem has been solved, “we sure could use a donated van,” he says. The charity had been using First Christian’s van--until it broke down.

At any rate, charitable thoughts and charitable deeds left me thinking that this would be a good opportunity to provide updates on a few stories that may serve to remind us how fortunate we are.

* Here, for example, is a press release from the World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF), promoting its Golf for Life fund-raiser Oct. 17 at Brookside Country Club in Pasadena. Based in Encino and founded by LAPD Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroeker, the WCTF works to promote organ donation and to educate the world’s doctors in transplantation techniques. The entry fee is $200 and more information is available by calling (818) 905-9283.

* Here’s another press release, now out of date, from the Make-A-Wish Foundation about Diane Hollinger’s boys Devin, Jason and Jordan, all of whom have leukodystrophy, a severely disabling degenerative disease that makes communication extremely difficult. Hollinger, a Burbank resident, told me last spring that she can tell her boys love the beach. I hope readers got a chance to see Lisa Leff’s recent story in The Times about the Hollingers’ visit to Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard, compliments of Make-A-Wish.

* And finally, here’s an unusually thick envelope from Robert C. Horn of Winnetka:

As you can see, the book is almost here. . . . It will probably be out by the end of October. In the meantime, feel free to pass out the brochures.

As I noted before, it’s always nice to hear from Bob Horn. Virtually paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, breathing with the aid of a ventilator, the former Cal State Northridge professor writes by using his foot to manipulate a home computer with a specially rigged mouse. When I visited earlier this year, his manuscript about his and his family’s battle with the disease had been accepted for publication by St. Lucie Press. He gave it the title, “How Will They Know If I’m Dead?”

Actually, he only gave me a couple of brochures. Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former surgeon general, wrote the preface: “ . . . Faced with the choice between death and a life all too many would say was not worth living, Robert chose life, and in doing so has made so many of us realize how much life is worth living.”

And looky here, the brochure includes a quote from me. Bob Horn, you see, had been kind enough to let me read a draft of his manuscript.

But you know what?

I’ve been misquoted! I did not say that Bob’s story is “a picturesque tale.” I went for the ten-dollar word. I said it was “picaresque,” as in (to quote Webster) “having to do with sharp-witted vagabonds and rogues” and “characteristic of the kind of fiction that deals episodically with the adventures of a hero who is or resembles such a vagabond or rogue.”

You can imagine my outrage. But it’s too late, I suppose, to demand a correction.

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Please include a phone number.