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BRIGHAM CITY — A Brigham City man is part of a movement to help people in underdeveloped countries gain their mobility.
In some countries, people who can’t walk do not have a lot of options to help them get around. Wheelchairs can help in many places, but in other locations wheelchairs won’t work since sidewalks are not available.
The PET International Project provides underprivileged people with three-wheeled carts, or “personal energy transports” that can go places wheelchairs can’t.
Brigham City resident Norman Anderson, 86, first heard about the PET International Project from a pastor.
“He said, ‘Norm, get off your can and do something for somebody else,’” Anderson said.
Anderson started building PETs back in 2007. They’re made out of wood with metals frames, and he said they cost roughly $250. That might sound expensive, but he said it’s actually very inexpensive compared to other means of mobility.
“There’s nothing in the field of medicine that you can buy for $250 that is equivalent to giving someone mobility," he said.
It's a wonderful feeling for a person that is crawling on all fours to finally get into a little cart and look up and see faces instead of feet.
–Norman Anderson
Anderson said 24 PET affiliates across the country work with distribution partners to find people who are most in need of these carts.
“It's a wonderful feeling for a person that is crawling on all fours to finally get into a little cart like that and look up and see faces instead of feet," he said.
The effort lives and dies with volunteers. He said local companies supply a lot of the metal to make the frames, and other people who come to his workshop help build the wooden frames.
“When they come, I usually have a little bit of activity where they can work together with or even by themselves," he said.
