Steven Weinraub, who suffers from a form of muscular dystrophy, on a ramp on his specially outfitted minivan, which no longer works. A drive has been launched to raise the $110,000 to $112,000 cost of a new vehicle for Weinraub.
Photos by Debra Rubin
Those interested in contributing to the Steven Weinraub Van Fund should send checks to the Jewish Social Service Committee of New Brunswick and Highland Park, Inc., 850 U.S. Route 1, North Brunswick, NJ 08902. Write “Steven Weinraub Van Fund” in memo line of check.
July 8, 2008
Steven Weinraub has become a “prisoner” in his own East Brunswick home. Confined to a wheelchair since birth because he suffers from spinal muscular atrophy — a nonfatal form of muscular dystrophy — the 27-year-old is dependent on a specially equipped minivan for transportation.
Unfortunately, the computer mechanism on the 1997 van Weinraub has used since getting his driver’s license 10 years ago is “fried” and cannot be replaced.
With the van out of commission for several months, Weinraub has had to give up his social life and independence. The cost of replacing the van is approximately $110,000.
“My family and I are not destitute, but we absolutely cannot afford a purchase as costly as this,” said Weinraub. “I’m going crazy here.”
Weinraub contacted the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, which referred him to the Jewish Social Service Committee of New Brunswick and Highland Park, Inc.
The committee decided to immediately launch a drive to buy Weinraub a replacement vehicle, according to its treasurer, Lee Livingston. To jumpstart the drive, he said, the committee is contributing the first $10,000.
“We’ll get him his van,” said Livingston, who also serves as federation president.
JSSC is a nonprofit organization that helps Jewish individuals in Middlesex County referred by the federation, rabbis, or the Jewish Family and Vocational Service of Middlesex County.
The computerized touchpad and hand controls that allow Steven Weinraub of East Brunswick to operate his minivan are beyond repair. The van is unusable, and the muscular dystrophy sufferer has become largely housebound.
Weinraub lives with parents, Eric and Marylou, in a handicapped-accessible ranch house; he uses a motorized wheelchair to get around.
Weinraub works in the after-school program at Robert Frost elementary school in East Brunswick, assisting students with homework and doing other activities.
Rachel Silverstein, who is handling the van fund-raising drive for the committee, said she researched acquiring a used van, but because there are special fittings required by the state and other considerations, she realized “there was no such thing.”
“The good news is that he has this job,” said Silverstein — a former president of a Jewish family service — but without the specially equipped van, he has to rely on his mother to drive him. It is particularly difficult for her to schedule the additional time into her own work schedule.
Weinraub, said Silverstein, “wants to work. He wants to go back to college, but he can’t. He has no social life. He is a prisoner of his home.”
Weinraub attended public schools, where an aide was assigned to him until the eighth grade. The assistance stopped at his own request.
“She was cramping my style,” he recalled. “I had a lot of friends in my classes who did things for me.”
Weinraub, an honors student, went on to be elected president of both his junior and senior classes at East Brunswick High School. He went to Rutgers University for two years, but had to drop out because of problems with the van.
“I love my job and want to take it to the next level and become an elementary school teacher,” he said “But I kept missing too many classes.”
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