One nonprofit is changing lives worldwide — one wheelchair at a time.
On World Kindness Day Thursday, Free Wheelchair Mission is one philanthropic organization building and delivering wheelchairs to people with disabilities around the world.
The nonprofit has given 1.5 million wheelchairs to people in need in 95 countries since 2001, according to their website, describing their company as “a humanitarian organization that designs and manufactures cost-efficient, durable wheelchairs for individuals living with disabilities in developing countries.”
Courtesy Free Wheelchair Mission – PHOTO: Anna is shown with her wheelchair in Kenya.
Nuka Hart, the CEO of Free Wheelchair Mission, told ABC that their goal is to provide free wheelchairs across the globe.
“There are 80 million people that need a wheelchair at any given time, and our mission is to provide those wheelchairs for free,” Hart said.
Courtesy Free Wheelchair Mission – PHOTO: Nuka Hart, CEO of Free Wheelchair Mission is shown with Fabienne Joseph, a wheelchair recipient in Haiti.
Ulises, 16, who lives in Argentina with Cerebral Palsy, was one of the first to receive one of Free Wheelchair Mission’s latest foldable wheelchairs, the GEN 4 JOY, in June. He told ABC how the wheelchair has changed his life.
“This wheelchair changed me, it truly changed me,” he said. “Yes, I have a disability, but I accept myself how I am, this reinforces how I am important, and how much I really have to give back to the world.”
Cerebral Palsy (CP) “is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture,” according to the CDC.
“CP is caused by abnormal development of the brain or damage to the developing brain that affects a child’s ability to control their muscles,” their website reads.
Courtesy Free Wheelchair Mission – PHOTO: Don Schoendorfer, Free Wheelchair Mission founder and president, (R), assembles a wheelchair with Clever Sobrino and Pastor Taylor Barriger, in Peru.
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Free Wheelchair Mission’s GEN 4 JOY wheelchairs are designed to last longer and be more efficient to produce.
“With its more modern design and robotics integrated into the factory production line, GEN 4 JOY also enables increased production efficiency and reduced costs for shipping wheelchairs internationally to all the countries the organization serves,” a press release about the wheelchairs says.
Courtesy Free Wheelchair Mission – PHOTO: A worker with distribution partner Junta de Beneficencia de Guayaquil delivers a wheelchair in Ecuador.
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“Wheelchairs provide mobility, which changes everything: it means independence, the ability to participate in society and earn a living. Mobility means renewed dignity, independence, and hope,” their website reads.
