Cordell Jeter spent his childhood building tree forts and running through the woods catching frogs. He thought that part of his life was over when a car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down at 20 years old. Jeter had completed a marathon and won medals at the 1992 Paralympic Games within three years of the accident, but he had not returned to his beloved woods.
Fast forward thirty years: in 2014, Jeter was introduced to the Florida Disabled Outdoors Association (FDOA) and their all-terrain trackchairs, opening the outdoor world up to him. With FDOA, Jeter participated in hunts, visited the beach, fished, and explored the woods for the first time since his paralysis. To ensure that all have this access to outdoor adventures, we have made several grants to FDOA to purchase all-terrain mobility devices that are available to rent at FWC hunts as well as other outdoor adventures.
In 2024 we awarded $24,000 to the program from our Wildlife Foundation of Florida specialty license plate and received a $50,000 donation from FPL via NextEra Energy Foundation to help purchase more ecorovers, ensuring that even more Floridians will be able to access the outdoors.
