MOORPARK FUND-RAISER TO HELP DISABLED STUDENTS GET AROUND.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

The semester had just started and Darlene Eaton was carrying a full course load when she stepped into a backyard gopher hole and broke her ankle. The 58-year-old grandmother was baby-sitting her grandchildren when the accident occurred.

``Luckily I was able to use an electric wheelchair at Moorpark College, so I was able to continue my classes,'' Eaton said, remembering the fall semester of 1996. ``I wasn't used to using a wheelchair and I wasn't strong enough to push myself around campus in a manual wheelchair.''

But her luck ran out by a month or two later. The electric wheelchair was on loan from another campus and it also needed repairs, so by midsemester it was was out of commission. Both Eaton and the college's Disabled Students Program were left only with one manual wheelchair.

Since then, both temporarily and permanently disabled students have had to use the manual wheelchair, which often meant they needed the assistance of others to get from class to class.

Now, the Kiwanis Clubs of Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks and the Moorpark College Foundation are working to raise money to buy a $4,000 electric wheelchair for the campus. They hope to raise the bulk of the funds through a Tailgate Dinner before the Moorpark College Raiders football game Saturday.

``Disabled students need an electric wheelchair in part because of some of the slopes on campus,'' said Mark Westner, a Moorpark Kiwanis Club member who's helping to coordinate the fund-raising effort. ``All the campus buildings are accessible - it's getting from one area to another that can be a problem.''

The wheelchair will also help students who are unable to transport their own wheelchairs to campus.

``We have several students who can't fit their chairs into the cars they drive, and for some students it's easier to have a chair here - rather than loading and unloading a chair,'' said Jan Andriese, coordinator of the college's Disabled Student Program.

Andriese estimates that about one dozen wheelchair-dependent students are enrolled at the college, though that number varies from semester to semester. And, like Eaton, each semester one or two injured students may need the wheelchair.

Kiwanis Club members agreed with Andriese about the need for an electric wheelchair.

``Each year we do an analysis of community needs, and this was one of the things that arose,'' Westner said. ``The disabled program doesn't have enough money to meet its needs, and we're happy to help.''

Westner added that with 35 percent of its students coming from the Conejo Valley and another 29 percent coming from the Simi Valley, all the college's programs serve eastern Ventura County residents.

The Disabled Students Program serves students from all over the county. The program serves about 700 students with disabilities ranging from severe physical impairments to mild learning disabilities.

The program provides services ranging from counseling to interpreters for the hearing impaired.

``And we rely on community groups to help us when they can,'' Andriese said. ``Companies such as Amgen and groups such as the Kiwanis Club give us scholarship money every year, and for something like the wheelchair . . . we just don't have the money for it.''

The Tailgate Dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Griffith Stadium parking lot. A local vintage surf band, Banned from the Beach will play nostalgic beach tunes.

Kickoff for the football game between Moorpark College and West Los Angeles College is at 7 p.m. Tickets for the Tailgate Dinner are $10 and include game tickets. For more information or for tickets, call [phone].

Donations toward the purchase of an electric wheelchair can also be sent to the Moorpark Kiwanis Club at 207 W. Los Angeles Ave., Suite 204, Moorpark, CA 93021.