In an industrial park off Bradley Park Road, a small family-run company fills an essential niche by building, selling and servicing vans that are adapted for people in wheelchairs.
Founder John Quandt started Advanced Wheels in 1988 in a small 5,000-square-foot shop with support from the town of East Granby. Twenty-five years later, the company moved in March into a newly renovated 15,000-square-foot facility, also in East Granby.
The company works to customize vans so that they work for the specific challenges facing each individual, Quandt said.
"There''s a lot of people out there who are trying to McDonald-ize this," Quandt said, looking around a showroom packed with customized vans and the supporters of his business. "But you can''t fake it."
To mark National Mobility Awareness Month and the company''s 25th anniversary, Advanced Wheels sponsored a Local Inspirations contest. People were asked to nominate someone who had "persevered and stared down adversity despite being wheelchair-bound."
The winner was Zackary Capitao of Middletown, whose grandmother and grandfather each wrote a letter describing his fortitude in the face of a rare neuromuscular disease called Charcote Marie Tooth. The disease destroys nerves, causing muscles to atrophy.
Capitao has been forced to use a wheelchair since his freshman year in high school, but he stayed in involved in sports, traveled throughout Eastern Europe and graduated from high school with high honors. He''s now a criminal justice major at the University of New Haven and plays for the CT Jammers Wheelchair Rugby Team.
Capitao received $1,000, a certificate for a free weekend van rental, and a $1,000 donation made in his name to the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, which he chose from six charities, calling it "the best possible place."
East Granby First Selectman Jim Hayden was present for the award ceremony, and he talked about how important it was to support a family business like Advanced Wheels.
"We''re so pleased that he took a building that was underused and needed work and is breathing new life into it," Hayden said.
He also praised the company''s mission.
"It has a wonderful and positive influence on people," he said.