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Heather Burton, a senior at Crater High, welded a wheelchair the houses 32 wine bottles in the wheelbase. The chair will be the centerpiece at an upcoming auction that raises funds for Mobility Unlimited. Mail Tribune Photo / Jamie Lusch
Jamie Lusche
A Toast To Ingenuity
February 19, 2011
By Buffy Pollock
Mail Tribune
Crater High senior uses her welding skills to benefit Mobility Unlimited
When she was approached to weld a metal wheelchair that would hold some 32 bottles of wine, Crater High senior Heather Burton thought the request was a little unusual.
But the prospect of doing a good deed, getting to weld 16-gauge sheet metal and causing one of the school's principals to do a double-take was more than enough pay-off.
The wheelchair is an art centerpiece for an upcoming auction for Mobility Unlimited. The nonprofit organization helps Oregonians pay for equipment such as modifications for vehicles and power wheelchairs.
Bethany Brown, executive director of Mobility Unlimited, said proceeds from next month's Jazz and Jewels auction go directly to clients.
Brown said the idea for the wine-rack/wheelchair came up during a brainstorming session.
"We wanted something unique," Brown said. "The Providence Festival of Trees has had a wine tree, so we thought what's something fun we could bring into our office and we came up with wine wheelchair."
For her part, 18-year-old Burton spent more than 40 hours welding sheetmetal, tweaking a design and measuring wine bottles to get a good fit for the chair's wheel spokes.
"It was really funny. When I was working on it in our shop, our principal walked in and I had a bunch of wine bottles and was laying them all over the table and he stared at me and was, like, 'So, whatcha building?'" Burton said with a laugh.
"I told him a wine rack and just kept working and he went to talk to my advisor. It was pretty funny."
Welding since she was 12, Burton said she's always been interested in working with her hands and proving that girls are just as capable, if not more, than boys.
"We have a machine shop at home so I always been around it and just have always enjoyed doing the things the boys were doing."
One of the two or three girls who tackle metal fabrication class alongside their male peers, Burton plans to attend OIT in the fall to pursue a mechanical engineering degree.
She said she was glad to see her handiwork go toward a good cause.
The auction raises some $80,000 per year for Mobility Unlimited clients.
After this year's auction, the bottles of wine will be given to the winning bidder and the chair saved for use again at next year's auction.
Brown said the publicity about Burton's chair has raised awareness of the annual fundraiser and the work done by Mobility Unlimited.
"Heather is an amazing young lady. We're really excited to be able to add this to our auction this year. She did a great job," said Brown.
"And we're really excited to be able to get the word out about what we do."
Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. Email her at buffypollock@juno.com.
