US veterans and sponsors have returned to Vietnam to give as many as 320 wheelchairs to disabled people in ten provinces and cities nationwide, with the first 58 pieces of equipment being handed over today in Ho Chi Minh City.

They are gifts of the Vietnam Veterans of Diablo Valley in California, US and the US-based nonprofit Wheelchair Foundation, and are being delivered to recipients thanks to the coordination of East Meets West and the Vietnam Paralympics Association.

60 of the wheelchairs are specially designed and built for athletes with disabilities in order to compete in sports such as badminton, tennis, table tennis, and basketball. The remainders are built for rough conditions typical of developing nations.

Mr. Richard Lambert, former chairman of the veterans’ unit, told Tuoi Tre his team has 115 regular members who worked to raise funds through selling food and collecting donations.

The veterans, who served in the US Army in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, wish to make an effort to give back to individuals with disabilities in Vietnam and it is their way to find personal relief, he added.

David Behring, president of the Wheelchair Foundation, spoke at the ceremony to hand over the wheelchairs at the Sports and Culture Center in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District, saying that, “In our experience, the gift of a wheelchair not only changes the life of the recipient, but also changes the lives of family members and caretakers who would otherwise have to carry their loved one from place to place.”

It “allows an individual the freedom to move, be independent, productive and to contribute to family and community.”

Tran Phan Thanh Hai, 13, a member of the HCMC disabled chess team, said he is very grateful to donors as his parents will no longer have to carry him around thanks to the wheelchair.

Besides Ho Chi Minh City, the US donors’ team will travel to nine other provinces in Vietnam to hand over chairs, including Hanoi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh in the north; Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Hue, and Quang Nam in the central region; and Dong Nai and Can Tho in the south.

Established in 2000, the Wheelchair Foundation has given away 913,000 wheelchairs to disadvantaged people in 150 nations.

Representatives of the Vietnam Veterans of Diablo Valley in California, US and the Wheelchair Foundation pose for a picture with wheelchair recipients in Ho Chi Minh City on Nov.12, 2012 (Photo: Thuy Hanh)