In 1979, Don Schoendorfer was on vacation in Morocco when he encountered a sight he couldn’t get out of his mind. “A woman was digging her fi ngernails into the dirt to drag herself along,” he told the AARP last year, when he was honored with the organization’s Purpose Prize award. “She had torn clothes and open cuts on her legs. People were stepping over her like she was not there.”
He was determined to use his expertise—he has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT—to create a simple, inexpensive wheelchair that might be able to help this woman and other disabled people in poverty-stricken areas of the world. Don initially took a few of his prototypes to distribute on a church mission trip. Then he founded Free Wheelchair Mission, a humanitarian, faith-based nonprofi t that donates wheelchairs for people in need. To date, the mission has distributed more than 1.4 million wheelchairs in ninety-five countries.
Angela Gomez, director of development for the nonprofi t, says stories like that of the woman Don encountered remain common. “There is so much need, and people don’t always think of wheelchairs,” she says. “But the World Health Organization estimates there are over eighty million people who need some sort of assistance with mobility.”
Free Wheelchair Mission creates sturdy, high-quality wheelchairs equipped with mountain-bike tires to meet the needs of people who must navigate rough terrain. At a cost of only about ninety-six dollars per chair, they manufacture and ship wheelchairs by ocean container to their distribution partners around the world. These partners on the ground then identify the individuals most in need and provide them with a wheelchair.
AN OFTEN-OVERLOOKED NEED
Beyond the staggering numbers, it’s the individual stories of struggle and suff ering that have the biggest impact on the team behind Free Wheelchair Mission and its supporters. Two of these ardent supporters are Barry (B.J.) and Cliff y Beal, Alys Beach homeowners who understand firsthand the challenge of caring for someone who needs a wheelchair and can’t get one. At the age of five, their son’s foot was nearly crushed in an accident. As he went through a long recovery and multiple surgeries, the Beals struggled to fi nd a wheelchair small enough for him. “We were carrying him everywhere,” Cliffy says, “and it was a blessing for us when we finally found one.” Though their son made a full recovery, the message resonated when they heard about Free Wheelchair Mission from their church. “We said, ‘We know the importance of a wheelchair.’”
They also had a family tie to Don: “His uncle was an investor in my business,” B.J. recalls. “So we also had that connection to him. But the mission is also just extraordinary.” The couple became supporters. Later, Don sent them a copy of his book, Miracle Wheels: The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World. “I read it,” B.J. says, “and I said, ‘We have to see this for ourselves.’”
A NEW LENS ON NEED
Angela says the group hosts four mission trips a year for a handful of supporters. She explains beforehand that the trips are not for the faint of heart. “We tell them, ‘Please keep in mind we’re going to be in areas where our partners are, which is often in the epicenter of the greatest poverty and need.’ So when a couple like Cliff y and B.J. go, they’re signing up to be out of their element. They’re being very vulnerable.”
No pictures or videos can prepare the visitors for what they encounter. Angela says many supporters have traveled to these countries on vacation but have only been exposed to the areas that cater to tourists. “I’ve heard from the supporters, ‘I’ve been to Costa Rica—I do the eco- tourism,’” she says. “And that’s great. But it’s amazing to see how they’re impacted when they look at the country from a diff erent perspective. They’re humbled.”
The Beals—who, like all Free Wheelchair Mission supporters, paid their own way to go—made a trip to El Salvador last November. Cliff y says once on the ground, the team helps to assemble the wheelchairs, praying over each one. Then they start meeting the people who need them.
“We gave chairs to lots of diff erent types of people,” B.J. says. “We had one young man who was maybe twenty, and his dad had carried him all his life. They showed up and got a wheelchair for the first time and could push him in the chair rather than carrying him.”
Adds Cliffy: “The dad said, ‘I love being with my son, I love carrying my son, but this will help me so much, because I’m getting older.’ They were so joyful.” The Beals say that was a common thread. For many families who had physically carried their loved ones for years, the wheelchair improved their lives as well.
One recipient had a wheelchair that had broken; they were able to outfit him with a new, more rugged version so he could wheel himself from his home to a booth where he sold trash bags. Another had been a prominent political figure who lost the use of his legs after a debilitating illness. “When he got in that wheelchair, the whole town was so happy for him, because he had helped so many of them through hard times.”
Then there was José. Both Angela and the Beals remember the day the group ventured into the town plaza to seek out some coff ee and had an unexpected encounter. “My husband saw a man in the middle of the square dragging himself,” Cliff y says. “Angela saw him too, got down on her knees, and got all his information. And the next day we were fortunate enough to take him a wheelchair. He was praying and crying. He didn’t know it was coming. It was miraculous to see how this changes a life.”
Often the group made trips to the recipients’ homes, which Cliffy describes as a deeply personal experience. “They’re so grateful that someone recognized they needed help,” she says. “It’s as powerful an experience as you can imagine. Holding someone’s hand, hugging them, getting down and looking them in the eye, speaking to them with love and dignity … we’re missing that in our fast-paced world. That was a blessing in disguise. It was really a ministry to us more than to them, and a lesson more to us than to them.”
