Victor Torres is rooting for Barack Obama for president. He just finished reading Steve and Me: Life with the Crocodile Hunter, by Terri Irwin. He went to his grandmother's in Albuquerque's South Valley for Christmas. And now he is able to go to the grocery store.

Victor, who has cerebral palsy, has been in a wheelchair most of his life. Now the 15-year-old Albuquerque youth and his family are among four families who have benefited from gifts from the Quality of Life Fund, which provides adaptive devices so those who are disabled can live more complete lives.

Kay Kenton and her husband, Daniel Bethune, were inspired by the legacy of the late actor Christopher Reeve. Kenton said she was impressed by the work of Reeve's wife, Dana, who called their fund to provide adaptive devices "the Quality of Life Fund."

"I just knew that this is what I wanted to do — to help provide assistance for people who don't have the equipment to live full lives," Kenton said. She is double pleased that Andy Winnegar, director of New Mexico Technology Assistance Program, is able to combine gifts to create quality lives.

Winnegar used grants from this fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, from the Independent Living Resource Center and Carrie Tingley Foundation to install a lift in the 1995 Chevrolet van owned by Victor's family.

By pooling resources, the same organizations have bought a new lift for the van of grandparents raising two young children who use wheelchairs and installed a portable ramp for a family of three in Socorro. An elderly Gallup couple also got a remodeled bathroom, complete with an accessible shower.

On the drawing board is a ramp for a Taos couple and modifications to make a home more accessible for an Española family.

Victor's uncle, John Rhinehart, lives in Santa Fe, and his mother, Michelle Torres, works at Thrift Town in Albuquerque. Torres, who is only 5 feet 1 inch tall, says she was being pushed to the limits lifting Victor in and out of his wheelchair so he could do the kinds of things other teens do — cruising the mall, going to movies and visiting family.

Though a school bus carries Victor to and from Manzano High School, Torres is now able to drive her son to doctor and dentist appointments and everywhere else. Victor also is now able to open the apartment door and let himself in until his mother gets home from work.

"The lift was a blessing," Torres said. She has always felt Victor is a blessing, too.

He enjoys reading and writing and excels in his studies. When he was a student at Albuquerque's Jackson Middle School, Victor convinced an attorney to take the case to require the school to meet Americans with Disabilities Standards. The school now has ramps and accessible doors.

His mom thinks Victor can grow up to enter any profession he likes as his quality of life improves. In fact, she thinks he might someday be an attorney.

Billie Blair, president of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, can be reached at bblair@santafecf.org.