Saskatoon

Trailer containing kids' basketball wheelchairs stolen in Saskatoon

Nearly three dozen children’s basketball wheelchairs vanished from a parking lot in Saskatoon over the weekend.

34 wheelchairs for children's athletic program missing

Thirty-four child-sized sports wheelchairs were stolen. (Saskatchewan Wheelchair Sports Association)

Nearly three dozen children's basketball wheelchairs vanished from a parking lot in Saskatoon over the weekend.

A trailer containing the wheelchairs and other sporting equipment used by a children's wheelchair basketball program was discovered missing from the JVR Administration Centre parking lot on Cynthia Street on Monday.

"It's not really the trailer that I care about, it's the 34 wheelchairs that are inside because that's all the wheelchairs for our kids' mini basketball program," said Andrea Muir, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wheelchair Sports Association.

"The chairs aren't worth anything to anybody but us."

A participant in the NRG Mini Wheelchair Basketball program spins around the gym. The wheelchairs used in the program were stolen over the weekend in Saskatoon. (Saskatchewan Wheelchair Sports Association)

The program for children ages six to 16 runs from September to May. The trailer is a silver-coloured 2006 Royal with the Saskatchewan licence plate 859 HDN.

The chairs were Quickie All Court brand, coloured orange and black, and were in various children's sizes. Each cost the organization about $4,000.

Since many families can't afford the special sports wheelchairs, the program loans them out to children who take them home to use in their school gym programs.

Muir is asking the public to be on the lookout for the chairs, and hopes they turn up undamaged.