PET International

The PET in PET International stands for Personal Energy Transportation. In 1994 Rev. Larry Hills was a missionary in Zaire (which is now Congo) he saw the how many people had been crippled by land mines and polio who could no longer walk. Since there were few if any paved roads normal wheelchairs were useless. Rev. Hills told his friend Mel West about the need for a three wheeled vehicle that would be able to handle the rough roads in developing countries. Mel began working with Earl Miner, a product designer, to design a vehicle based on three principles:

1 - Sturdy: to provide service for many years.

2 - Simple: easy to maintain in outpost conditions

3 - Low-Cost: use common components

Within a year Mel and Earl sent four prototypes to Larry in Africa with the instructions to "put these in the worst places and see if they pass the test". They did and production began on more.

By 2004, 1,000 PETs had been built and sent to developing countries to help those who have limited mobility due to injury or illness. The PET vehicles are hand powered by a crank system and have a simple brake to slow the vehicle. There is also a piece of wood that can be wedged against the back wheels to prevent it from moving. The vehicles are fairly easy to use and greatly increase the quality of life for those who receive them. 

Today there are many PET building sites all across the country and one of them was in Brigham City until two days ago. For the past year people in my community have been gathering tools and materials to begin building and shipping PETs around the world. We had the use of an old building called the Merrell Planning Mill for a minimal cost. This is the same building that my brother earned his Eagle Scout by organizing his scout troop to paint the building and fix it up a little bit. 

We had been storing all the equipment we'd been gathering in the building while we were working on getting all the other supplies we needed to begin production. 

For Vacation Bible School this past year we had the children bring in items that we would be using as packing material and that could be used by recipients and their families. These included clothing, toys, plastic milk jugs, metal clothing hangers or empty pill containers.

This was a project that I have been very excited about and was looking forward to doing everything I could possible do to help get these vehicles to the people who need them most.

But now all those items that the children brought to VBS, the items that I promised them would go to help other children, that I watched grow everyday and how excited the kids were to see the pile growing, all those items are ashes thanks to an arsonist. 

Early Monday morning Brigham City firefighters were called out to a fire at the building. By the time the sun rose, they had managed to put the fire out and had prevented it from getting into the area where the PET Project materials were being held. When the last person left Monday night the whole area was wet and there was no heat or even the smell of smoke. But Early Tuesday morning they were called back out and found the side of the building that the PET materials were was on fire. They managed to put it out and I thank them so much for that. But it did come at a cost. The fire had only consumed the roof and the flames didn't reach to the ground but the foam that they used to put it out cause a reaction with the metal of the tools and they all began to rust.

My dad had to beg to be able to get a crew into the building to get all of our stuff out. He along with a few others from our church, those that had been involved with the PET Project as well as the same scouts who'd helped beautify the building a little over a year ago, to get what they figured could be usable. All these items are now in my dad's shop and he has spent the last two days trying to fix what he can. 

This isn't the first building that was set on fire. In August the Bott Memorial Building, a historic building that was still being used by the Bott family to make headstones, was set on fire. That fire was even worse because people almost died. A woman and her child were staying in a section of the building. If their neighbor hadn't seen the flames and got them out it would have been much worse. But now the building has to come down and the Bott family, like the PET project, must find a new place to do business. 

This isn't fair! How could another person think that they could do this? What must be so wrong with a person to make them think that it is alright to set fire TO ANOTHER PERSON'S PROPERTY! It makes me so angry and sad. 

This person sets a fire and gets a kick out of it but it's the rest of us that have to deal with the aftermath. A family business that has to relocate. A group of people who just want to help others forced to a halt. They didn't see the joy on children's faces when they knew they were going to be helping others only to have their efforts turned to ashes. They didn't watch their dad take two days off of work to try to save the tools that were purchased with donated funds. He had to work fast both to save the tools and to raise the spirits of the people who have put so much work into this project. 

I just don't understand how someone could be so horrible. I always try to believe that people are basically good but then something like this happens and it makes me wonder if the human race is only getting worse.