New transmission means new life for Valley woman

BUTTE — It might look like just your average Ford Econoline van.

But to Lucinda Irish, the van means freedom, the ability to get out of the house and do things.

Wheelchair-bound for 32 years since a motorcycle accident at age 19, Irish bought the van off Craigslist and put all her savings into installing a lift and a swiveling driver’s seat. For the briefest of moments, everything was going great.

“Then I drove it five times and the transmission went out,” Irish said.

There wasn’t anything she could do about it. She’d already spent all her money. Two years passed with Irish relying on various public transportation vans for trips to the store or the doctor, and staying home most of the time.

“I was starting to cave,” Irish said in the living room of her apartment Monday. “I can’t fit in my friends’ cars and I can’t just show up at their houses, they all have stairs.”

But then her care coordinator at the Palmer Senior Center put together an application to Matanuska Electric Association’s Round-Up program.

“She just couldn’t stand seeing me so depressed,” Irish said.

This year, she got a grant and a new transmission — and suddenly things was looking up.

“It gave my life back,” Irish said.

The Round-Up program is in its infancy, with just a few months under its belt. But it has its own charitable board of directors, and if you pay an electric bill in the Valley you’ve likely contributed. Each month, MEA rounds customers’ bills up to the nearest dollar.

The list of organizations benefiting from the program is long, including:

• Children’s Lunch Box, which provides lunches at the Mat-Su Boys and Girls Club.

• Chugiak Youth Sports Association for scholarships to sports programs.

• Paws for Dignity, which helped a local child get a hearing assistance dog.

• Radio Free Palmer, to help install a transmitter and buy studio equipment.

Irish said she wants to thank both Round-Up and the organization that distributed the money to her, Access Alaska.

She said she’s got big plans for her van. She wants to start volunteering at the recycling center, maybe start selling mats made from grocery bags.

“I have life in me. I don’t want to be a senior citizen yet,” she said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.