Beta Theta Pi, a fraternity at Washington State University, has announced plans to make its chapter house wheelchair accessible after a brother was paralyzed in a January accident.
Back in January, five members of Beta Theta Pi were in a car crash along I-90 that killed one and injured four. Two of the passengers, twin brothers John and Justin Crawford, were both injured, and John was left paralyzed.
As a result, in early March, the fraternity chapter voted unanimously to make the house wheelchair accessible.
The Beta Theta Pi fraternity decided to dedicate its annual Mom’s Weekend Auction to fund interior and exterior ramps to accommodate John’s wheelchair. While Mom’s Weekend auctions are usually not open to the public, this year, Beta Theta Pi decided to open it to everyone.
Via KREM:
As John improved, his fraternity brothers said his optimistic outlook motivated them to make improvements at the Beta house that would ultimately allow John to live at the fraternity.
“When we heard about the accident, our house took it pretty hard,” Bailey Erickson, Beta Theta Pi’s Special Events Chairman said.
John and Bailey went to the same high school and played on the basketball team together.
“John is one of the most well-spirited guys. It would’ve been easy for him to just give up but he has been so optimistic,” Bailey said. “We were ecstatic when we heard that John wanted to return”
Crawford recently completed physical therapy at a rehab center in Colorado. The wheelchair ramps will be completed over the summer so Crawford can return to school in the fall.
