New Okanagan society aims to make rail trails more accessible, one can at a time
Bob Richards has been routinely collecting empty bottles and cans for years to help out others in need.
Now, with a few friends he’s created the S.O.S Wheelchair Trails Society and a Return-it account so people from anywhere in BC can chip in their empties to help improve trails for those in wheelchairs.
“For over four years now, I have been collecting bottles and cans to pay off a mortgage for a widow and her kids and I’ve met a lot of people in wheelchairs,” Richards told iNFOnews.ca.
“My late wife was (in a wheelchair) too. When she was still alive I was trying to work on the trails and I decided I’ve got to get back to it.”
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Patricia died in 2015 after being in a wheelchair for years because of her multiple sclerosis.
“We did a lot of hiking, wild vegetables, hunting and fishing,” Richards said. “She loved getting out.”
Not one to be held back, she wheeled along the Kettle Valley Rail Trail from Trout Creek in Summerland up to the second trestle past Chute Lake much of the way up Munson Mountain and Bob would drive her to places like the top of Apex Mountain so she could get out and about.
Going up to Chute Lake, Bob had to push her wheelchair at times even though it was electric by then. Some spots had to be bypassed and one trestle above Naramata needs to be rebuilt, he said.
The first project for the S.O.S. Wheelchair Trails Society will likely be to improve that stretch of the KVR to make it more wheelchair accessible.
Richards would also like to see some wheelchair accessible docks for people to fish off of and has other projects in mind.
“All the things I’d like to see done won’t be done in my lifetime,” the 80-year-old said.
While the S.O.S. in the society’s name stands for South Okanagan Similkameen it’s certainly open to everyone.
To donate, people can simply drop empties off at any Return-it depot in BC using the society’s name or the phone number: 250-506-1582. They can also call that number for tax receipts for donations of more than $20 or to join the society. They're still in the process of setting up a website.
Or empties can be dropped off at Richards’ home at 114 Ayres Cres. in Penticton.
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