SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University has received a $25,000 grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to expand a student-led fitness program for veterans with disabilities.

The program plans to introduce wheelchair basketball and quad rugby to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

"We're going to attract a new group of younger veterans and promote a higher level of fitness, recreation and competitive sport opportunities for them," said Robert Arnhold, SRU professor of exercise and rehabilitative sciences.

SRU partners with the Butler Veterans Affairs Medical Center to bring 15 older veterans to campus once a week for recreational activities. The Butler VA will connect younger veterans to the opportunities at SRU, according to Arnhold.

The Reeve foundation, named for the late actor and his late wife, has given SRU grants each of the past four years totaling more than $108,000, Arnhold said. Some of the money supported scholarships for SRU students with spinal cord injuries.

The Reeve Foundation, based in Springfield, N.J., supports programs for people with disabilities, especially those with spinal cord injury.