GULF SHORES, Ala. — After building his dream home in the midst of the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge, Jerry Nasello became afflicted with Amyotrophi Lateral Sclerosis — commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Losing his strength and some of his muscle movement, he wanted to figure out a way to make the beach accessible to those confined to a wheelchair.

At first, he took a beach cart, added motors to it, put the right kind of wheels on it and used it to cruise the beach. But as he became weaker, his wife Mary suggested that he try to build a beach wheelchair.

“It was a great idea, but I had no welding skills or anything like that, so I built a chair out of PVC pipe,” Jerry Nasello said. “It was cheap, you could easily take it apart and put it together, so that’s what I did.”

After six months of trial and error, Jerry Nasello finally put a chair together that worked. Ready to show off his creation, he took his chair to the sausage festival in Elberta. The chair drew the attention of a gentleman who suggested that he try to make the chair out of metal.

So back to the drawing board they went, and produced five chairs out of metal.

At that point, Jerry Nasello knew he had a great idea, but he also knew that he would not be producing these chairs to sell.

“We knew we couldn’t sell the ones we were making because that would make us a manufacturer,” he said. “That would have been a difficult road to go down.”

And the idea of a beach chair really wasn’t a new one.

“I don’t take any credit for this chair,” he said. “There are people out in California who have been building this type chair for several years now. Those guys sell their chairs for up to $10,000, but I want the everyday guy to be able to go to the beach. That’s why we make ours out of used parts and rent them for $40 a day.”

Every chair that Beach Power Rentals produces is different because of the way Jerry Nasello, along with his business partner Tammy Fortenberry, go about building them.

“What we do is take apart a used power wheelchair, we look at it and decide what parts we can use to make a beach chair,” Jerry Nasello said.

According to Fortenberry, the parts of the chair that do not work, they take to the salvage yard, so everything is used or recycled.

Neither he or Fortenberry have experience in manufacturing or design. Jerry Nasello is a former Mercedes and BMW automobile salesman, and Fortenberry has experience as a boat captain, who worked with Jerry Nasello as a caregiver during the slow season.  

Both of these determined individuals will admit that their chairs are created, not by experienced engineers, but by two people who want to see smiles on faces of those who ordinarily would not be able to enjoy the beach.

Greg Bourgeois, a resident of Gulf Shores, and a customer of Beach Power Rentals said being able to rent the beach wheelchairs is a great concept.

“Somebody referred me to these folks. I have a couple of handicapped in-laws on their way down to visit and I wanted to be able to take them down to the beach. These rental chairs are the answer,” Bourgeois said.

Bourgeois, who has taken one of the chairs out onto the beach for a demo, is very impressed.

“These chairs work just as good if not better on the beach then they do on the road,” he said. “They handle very well.”

Right now, Beach Power Rentals has six rental chairs available, and soon their fleet will be at nine. Gary Dennis at Dennis Aluminum in Foley produces the frames, then he and Fortenberry add the wheel, tires, batteries and everything else needed to make the beach chair functional.

Many of the chairs even have names — such as the Mary Grace chair.

“Mary Grace is the name of a girl from Memphis whose family donated her chair to us, when she moved up to a different one,” Fortenberry explained. “So we will take her old chair, make a beach chair out of it, and will name it after her. Anytime someone donates a chair to us, we will put their name on it, and anytime that person comes to the beach, it will be theirs to use, free of charge.”

Does Jerry Nasello want to make money with this venture? Sure he does. But that is not his main goal.

“When you get diagnosed with ALS, they tell you that you have two to five years to live. I am trying to beat the odds,” he said.

In June, Jerry Nasello will have been diagnosed for four years, and although he has slowed down a bit, his work with his chairs keeps him focused and busy.

“I also want to leave this business behind,” he said. “I’m hoping that we can build this business up to where somebody in the family will take it and get involved with it.”

Beach Power Rentals also plans to use part of its proceeds to contribute to the ALS Association.

“I have several goals and I want to reach them all,” Jerry Nasello said.