The Segway Riders Club of The Villages, along with support from the Orange Blossom Gardens Disabled American Veteran’s (DAV) Chapter 150, reissued a Segway to club member Wanda Newell.
The club gathered at Veterans Memorial Park in The Villages on Friday morning to award the Segway to Newell before taking off on a group ride to the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall that’s on display at the Rolling Acres Sports Complex in Lady Lake.
The Segway Riders Club and the DAV typically award one Segway a year to a disabled veteran. This year that Segway was awarded to Eddie McClellan, an army veteran who was injured in Vietnam and is medically retired. The opportunity to award a second Segway came about because the original recipient is no longer able to ride.
“I feel honored to receive this Segway because the first owner was also a retired female veteran,” said Newell, who served in the Air Force for 28 years. “I will ride with pride. I am so appreciative.”
McClellan received his Segway in September. He has been using it to ride around the neighborhood and get the mail.
“I am going to break out of the neighborhood soon,” he joked.
McClellan and his wife, Lois, have ridden Segways during their travels on city tours and they participate in the monthly rides with the Segway Club.
Newell already is a member of the Segway Riders Club. She joined after participating in the Segway Experience, the biannual fundraiser sponsored by the Segway club.
“I was drawn to this club because they were such a close-knit, welcoming group,” Newell said. “I love the camaraderie and cherish the friendships.”
The next Segway Experience will be Monday, Nov. 12 at SeaBreeze Recreation Center. For the price of a $30 ticket, participants get fully trained on a Segway and then get to go out for a 30-minute ride. All of the money from the ticket sales goes to purchasing a Segway.
Ken Redding, president of the 350-member Segway Club, said when the group was first formed, the members wanted it to be about more than just getting together for fun.
“We wanted to do something to give back,” Redding said.
The club came upon the idea of giving a Segway to a disabled veteran and joined forces with the DAV.
“We started by helping to identify a veteran who could get good use out of a Segway, and then we became partners in raising the funds,” said DAV Chapter 150 Commandant Bob Kobac.
The Segways are purchased from Dave Holzapfel, or Segway Dave, as he is known by club members, at Segway of Central Florida, which provides the items at cost.
Tickets for the Segway Experience can be purchased through The Villages Box Office. For more information about the club, contact Ken Redding at ken_redding@hotmail.com.
