CLAY COUNTY – With so many disabled people throughout the world, many are left with little to no way of moving around efficiently.

Some Clay County residents are determined to make a difference. Between the Rotary Clubs of Clay County and the Penney Farms retirement Community, people are helping to build and ship PETs (personal energy transportation carts) to those in dire need of them overseas.

PETs are designed to assist the disabled with individual transportation. A user of a PET can move themselves as well as their cargo, and the device is more durable than a standard wheelchair, being able to traverse more difficult terrain.

Larry Hills was a missionary who saw a need to help the leg disabled. After serving in the U.S. Army and then farming for 11 years in Michigan, he became an agricultural missionary in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was there that he discovered the need for the disabled to be more mobile. After retirement in 1999, he moved to the Penney Retirement Community. Once there, he developed the PET, began and oversaw the build and shipment of more than 11,000 units from Penney and more than 70,000 from 23 different United States locations. Between 1994 and 2001, Larry, along with a second missionary and an engineer worked on multiple designs of the PET. In 2001, they created the PET carts. Currently, the retirees at Penney Farms churn out about 80 PET carts monthly for 10 months each year.

“A donation of $300 gets a PET built, tested and then packed in a carton and taken to the port of embarkation,” said David Quirk. “It takes about 17 hours of labor to make one cart. Some parts are donated, e.g. Tampa Bay Steel donates about $1,000 of steel every month since 2001 to help make the carts. If we had to pay for the labor and all the carts it would cost closer to $750 to $800.”

In addition to retirees, who find enjoyment and an opportunity to stay busy with the PETs project.

“We didn’t come to Penney Farms to just sit back and do nothing – we want to be active and make a difference,” said one Penney Farms resident involved in the PETs program. There is also help from about 90 students from Ridgeview High working on their International Baccalaureate Degrees.

The Rotary Clubs generally became involved after hearing about the project at one of their luncheons. Multiple club members were sold on the program and began to volunteer their help to raise funds for donations.