Some 50 disabled veterans came out to the Samuel C. Pannell Community Center in Meadowview Thursday morning to play wheelchair softball on the center’s rubberized field, throw javelins across the grass and scuba dive in the center’s heated pool. This athletic gathering followed a press conference announcing that the Department of Veterans Affairs, in partnership with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), has selected Sacramento's Access Leisure as the recipient of a $150,000 grant for the second year in a row. Mayor Kevin Johnson, Congresswoman Doris Matsui, Congressman Dan Lungren and Congressman Tom McClintock were in attendance along with Paralympians and Army veterans Craig Vog

The City Council accepted a one-year, $150,000 grant on Tuesday from The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs through a selection process done by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). The USOC selected Sacramento as one of five regions to receive the grant to promote sports and recreation for veterans with disabilities. The four other regions to receive the grant were Boston, Georgia, Texas and Chicago. A City Council report said that “it is likely that the USOC will select the City of Sacramento as the recipient of these funds annually for a total of four years.” In a Department of Veterans Affairs press release, Charlie Huebner, chief of Paralympics at the USOC, said, “Research shows that