BROTHERLY LOVE CIRCLES GLOBE.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

If it is true that the good sleep well at night, the Richard boys must sleep like babies.

They don't come any better than this family.

Their goodwill story began almost 10 years ago on a dirt road in Guatemala, where the oldest Richard brother, Mark, sat mesmerized behind the wheel of his beat-up old truck watching a young woman drag herself across the road in front of him. She dragged herself to a garbage dump, picked through the trash for a few minutes, then dragged herself back across the road to a lean-to where she lived.

``Mark went over and talked to her, found out she had polio at 7,'' said one of Mark's brothers, David. ``She had been dragging herself around like this for 24 years.''

Mark couldn't shake the images of that day.

When he returned to the States, he gathered 20 used wheelchairs, with the help of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, and drove them back down to Guatemala.

``Mark gave one to the young woman, then stayed on to help build her a small, wooden shack to live in,'' David said. ``That's how it all got started.''

Four thousand wheelchairs later, it's still going.

Mark got all his brothers involved in his wheelchair crusade for the poor of Third World countries. He now lives in Iowa, where he has enlisted the help of inmates at the Sioux Falls prison to refurbish donated wheelchairs, David said.

In a North Hollywood warehouse, David Richard and a staff of volunteers renovate donated wheelchairs. Brothers Kenny and Chad help. Another brother, Denny, who was instrumental in setting up the warehouse operations, died two years ago of a heart attack.

In the past 1-1/2 years, those at the North Hollywood warehouse of Wheels for Humanity have collected and refurbished more than 1,500 wheelchairs donated by local hospitals, convalescent homes, schools and individuals.

David, executive director of the nonprofit organization, just returned this month from Vietnam, where he gave out 218 wheelchairs - 30 of them to former soldiers who lost their legs to land mines in the Vietnam War.

``They've been hopping on stumps for 25 years because a wheelchair was out of the question for them,'' he said. ``By the time it was shipped, then doubled in price going through customs there, it would cost $800. The yearly income in the country is $200.''

Wheels for Humanity also has shipped wheelchairs to Rwanda, Poland, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

``I can't explain the feeling it gives you,'' David Richard said about giving away wheelchairs to the disabled. ``They're crying. Their parents are crying and hugging you. They can't believe that some gringo would come into their country and give them a `Mercedes-Benz' for free.''

There are unforgettable scenes - as when he picked up a wheelchair in Valencia six months ago from a little girl with cerebral palsy who had outgrown the chair.

Richard's own daughter was with him as the little girl cried because her outgrown chair had become an integral part of her life, and she didn't want to let go of it.

``I took her chair down to Costa Rica with 50 other wheelchairs. It was given to a 5-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who was living in an orphanage,'' Richard said. ``I took a picture of her in the chair, and when I got back home my daughter and I went back out to Valencia to show the little girl what had become of her wheelchair - the good it was now doing for another little girl.

``Since then, I've found out they've become pen pals,'' Richard said. ``To be part of something like that is to get the best reward in life a person can ever receive.''

To be able to put your head on the pillow at night and sleep like a baby, because you are good people.

On May 17 at the Skirball Center - in the Sepulveda Pass at Mulholland Drive off the San Diego Freeway - Wheels For Humanity will be holding a wheelchair drive from 9 a.m. until noon.

Old wheelchairs, walkers and car seats for infants are needed by the people of Third World countries who cannot afford to spend a year's salary for one.

And, if you're looking for the best reward in life a person can ever receive, give David a call at [phone]. He and his volunteers can always use some more help refurbishing those wheelchairs.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Volunteer David Brown, left, and David Richard, executive director of Wheels for Humanity, refurbish a donated wheelchair.

(2 -- color) David Richard checks one of hundreds of wheelchairs volunteers will renovate.

(3 -- color) In North Hollywood, volunteer Susan McGarry restores a donated wheelchair to get a disabled person off the ground in the Third World.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News