EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Sergio Lopez, a Ruidoso football coach who has been confined to a wheelchair due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since he was a young boy has now gotten a new van to help him get around.
The El Paso Community Foundation worked with Ski Apache Adaptive Sports to donate a 2015 Toyota Sienna fully equipped through United Access of El Paso with the latest in wheelchair access features.
Lopez, who is also the assistant football coach at Ruidoso High School which recently went to state championship, was presented with the van on Sunday, Dec. 17 in a special ceremony.
KTSM spoke with the executive director at Ski Apache Adaptive Sports Ty Bonnell who helped coordinate the event.
“Up until the very last moment, we kind of let him believe that we had just raised a little bit of extra money to help him for maybe reaching his goal. It wasn’t until the last two minutes he realized “oh my there’s a van here” and that’s when the emotions were definitely high, people were crying, and people were cheering and heck everybody was happy that’s for sure,” said Bonnell.
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