By John J. O’Dell
Erik Zetterberg is getting ready for his 26th annual trip to Mexico where he gives away artificial legs, wheelchairs, crutches and other aides for people who have no access to this equipment. Over the years, he has financed much of this on his own, although from time to time he has had aide from individuals and the Rotary Club of Nevada County South.
Zetterberg, who’s had a prosthetic leg since the age of 7, has collected used and rejected prostheses from local prosthetic companies and distributed them for free among the disabled poor in Mexico. Over the years he has received a larger variety of donations – clothes, toys, eye glasses, mainly from friends.
In September 2007, the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation recognized Zetterberg as the Humanitarian of the Year for his decades of social service. “I couldn’t see usable goods going to waste when people needed them” said 70 year old Zetterberg. “There was a need for these things in Mexico. I couldn’t see them being thrown away in the garbage can”
One of his joys is to know that from the multiple artificial legs he donated to organization in Mexico last year, they were able to somehow take parts of some of the artificial legs and create multiple more legs to help more people.
If you have any wheel chairs, crutches, canes or even artificial legs, you would like to donate to Zetterberg, you may contact him by calling him (530) 273-0789 or (916) 955-7711 and he will come by and pick up whatever you care to donate.
ohn J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
jodell@nevadacounty.com