Oregon Parks Forever is committed to providing a variety of healthy outdoors experiences so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of nature. Part of this mission is to see that those with mobility challenges can partake in outdoor activities that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Oregon Parks Forever (OPF) and David’s Chair Outdoor Mobility Systems have recently secured grants from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation, and the Biefke Vos Saulino Endowment at OPF, and with funds raised by donors from David’s Chair’s “Big Weekend” which will allow them to place three new electric all-terrain Track Chairs in Manzanita and Pacific City this spring and Seaside this summer.
When used properly, battery-charged track chairs will run for 6-8 hours without recharging, are quiet, and have rotating treads, designed to be used on various terrain, and allow the user to get onto the beach or on trails. The three new chair locations are a result of Oregon Parks Forever and David’s Chair Outdoor Mobility Systems working together to raise funds and locate hosts at veterans and tourist locations such as the American Legion, VFWs, and Elks Lodges. These organizations will host an electric all-terrain track chair and (sometimes) a trailer.
The goal is to arrange the funding for and determine host locations for 10 chairs or “Tow and Go“ chair/trailer combinations in order to make Track Chairs more readily available along the Oregon Coast in places like: Warrenton, Cannon Beach, Rockaway Beach, Lincoln City, Newport, Florence, Bandon, and Brookings.
David’s Chair was born in 2017 after David Hatrick, an avid outdoorsman, received a diagnosis of ALS, a paralyzing disease. A number of his friends got together and formed a non-profit organization to purchase a Track Chair allowing him to enjoy outdoor activities for eleven months as his mobility declined. Since his death in early 2018, the organization has grown and currently has eight Track Chairs in Oregon. David’s Chair has taken people and their families on exciting outdoor excursions at locations that are inaccessible to regular wheelchairs.
