NEWS (April 2008): Rebuilding Together Pasadena will be renovating the Altadena home of Victor Wright and his family!
To help with this project, please contact Rebuilding Together Pasadena.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF VICTOR
"A Helping Hand," Pasadena Weekly (April 23, 2008)
"Building a Better Future for Victor," Pasadena Star News (April 28, 2008)
KNBC video of the volunteer renovation of his home (April 26, 2008)
"Muir alumni pay tribute to paralyzed former football star," Pasadena Weekly (Jan. 11, 2007)
Pasadena Star News (Jan. 8, 2007)
Los Angeles Times (Dec. 30, 2006)

Victor is a founding member of Family of Friends International,
a non-profit Christian charitable organization. Click here for
Victor's text and audio message about the group.

Fellow guest speakers included two of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen and KJLH-FM disc jockey Roland Bynum. The three-hour event included information tables, where students spoke with doctors, attorneys, nurses and other mentors.

Victor encouraged the young people to stay in school and not quit. "I wasn't always hurt," he told the audience. "When I went to Edison (Elementary) and Eliot (Jr. High), I was healthy, and then I got hurt. I had dreams of playing in the Rose Bowl. Instead, I graduated in the Rose Bowl, which is just as good."

Victor will have also a Mentor/Role Model Table at The College Zone this year, to be held on April 26, 2008.

VICTOR JOINS THE JMHS HALL OF FAME -- APRIL 26, 2007

The John Muir High School Class of 1979 proudly salutes VICTOR WRIGHT as its second inductee to the John Muir High School Hall of Fame. The annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony will kick off the school’s open house festivities at 6 p.m., Thursday, April 26, 2007, at Rufus Mead Auditorium, 1905 Lincoln Ave., on the Muir High campus in Pasadena. Tours of the Hall of Fame, Museum and Alumni Office will immediately follow the Hall of Fame program.

Newly elected to the Hall are: Susan Boyle, Class of 1960, under the category of Visual Arts; Chad Brown (’88), Sports; Arnold Hackett (’81), Business; Eddie Newman, Ed.D. (’65), Education; and Victor Wright (’79), Community Service.

VICTOR WRIGHT NIGHT -- JANUARY 18, 2007

Victor Wright Night took place successfully on Jan. 18, 2007 at the John Muir High School auditorium. At left, Victor Wright and his mother, Mrs. Wright, at Victor Wright Night.

GOLF TOURNAMENT HELD TO BENEFIT VICTOR -- JUNE 29, 2001

On June 29, 2001, a benefit golf tournament was held on Victor's behalf at Pasadena's Brookside Golf Course. We had 70 golfers and raised nearly $3,500 for Victor. More importantly, we really brightened his spirits and have set the wheels in motion to make this an annual event. For local news coverage of this event, click here.

Victor Wright's life changed forever during a football game on a Friday afternoon in the fall of 1976, when the John Muir High School sophomore fullback went after a St. Francis High School defensive back following an interception.  As he describes it, "if felt like a bolt of lightning hit me, then there was numbness."

Life has not been the same ever since for Victor, who, at 45, already has beaten the odds of survival among quadriplegics, thanks to a loving family, his faith in God, and a strong commitment to live his life with dignity and meaning.

Despite being paralyzed from the neck down, Victor has accomplished much in the past 25 years. In 1979, he was named one of the outstanding seniors in his graduating class. In 1989, he earned an associate degree from Los Angeles City College.

Finding a career has been difficult for Victor, given his physical limitations.  But if success were measured by determination and heart, he would top any candidate list.

In recent years Victor's financial situation has grown more perilous. His mother and principal caregiver, Dorothy Wright, has experienced poor health, placing a strain on his family to provide daily care.   

This newspaper article tells more of Victor's story: Pasadena Star News, January 15, 2001.

HOW TO HELP VICTOR:

You can send a donation directly to Victor at this address:

Victor Wright
3379 N. Glenrose Ave.
Altadena, CA 91001

Checks should be made out to "Victor Wright."