by Travis Spaulding, The Advocate
Disabled U.S. Air Force and Army veteran J.D. Roberts, of San Antonio, Texas, received a life-changing gift, a new Action Trackchair, an offroad power wheelchair that uses tracks instead of wheels, as a result of the philanthropy of LSU’s Alpha Gamma Chapter of Kappa Alpha fraternity, on Saturday, November 20, 2021.
The wheelchair, which tilts forward and backward to change the center of gravity when going uphill or downhill, will enable Roberts to, in addition to other things, accompany sons Jacob, 14, and John, 17, when they go hunting.
Roberts had multiple injuries while serving in northern Afghanistan, and had moved on to serving in an administrative capacity for the Army at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, when in 2016 he was struck while riding his motorcycle, causing the amputation of his right leg.
The Alpha Gamma Chapter worked for its first time with The Independence Fund, which provides assistance to catastrophically wounded, injured or ill military veterans, raising over $20,000 in the frat’s fall fundraiser to enable TIF to buy the $16,000 chair and sponsor the family’s trip to Baton Rouge.
This year, 50 KA fraternity chapters, some working together to fund a chair, have participated in ‘Operation KARE,’ the fraterity’s national 2021 Trackchair initiative. The chair was purchased through Baton Rouge’s Disabilities In Action, the dealer for Action Trackchairs in Louisiana and Mississippi.
