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What a day to remember in Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa
Rica!
A new
record for the Do It Foundation Wheelchair Program 500 wheelchairs
constructed and distributed in one day!
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Our team had worked hard to get the word out about our upcoming
wheelchair program in Liberia. We had fabulous support from
many companies and organizations who donated precious time, materials and
equipment to make it all happen.
A special thanks to Dr. Michael Bayer who is a board member of
Free Wheelchair Mission of
California. Dr. Bayer traveled to our beautiful country to observe and
participate in the Liberia project. Without these people
our events would not be possible. Many thanks for your words of encouragement
and elbow grease!
And I want to offer a special acknowledgement and thanks to Jim Hahn and his father-in-law Gary. These guys always show up
to our projects with tools and an air compressor and a can-do attitude that
really gives the Foundation confidence that we will have a successful event.
The
Boy Scouts, the foundation board members, Silvia our coordinator, Real Bellhumer,
Adrian Clachar and Kelly Harden and many more, and lastly, our friends
Richard &
Sandra Young with friends Robert & Susan
Siragusa who donated 275 chairs. In fact, I want to here and now recognize these
special individuals as
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“Do It Foundation Super
Heroes”!
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As usual at these events, we had several “defining moments” that will
forever be in our memories.
First there was Miguel Our initial observation was that Miguel
probably could not communicate and was struggling with controlling the movements
of his body.
As Dr. Bayer placed Miguel in his new chair and adjusted his
straps, I wondered to myself if he really understood what was happening?
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A moment later, all doubts were erased when
Miguel suddenly gained focus, extended his hand and with a broad smile on his
face, and said “Gracias!”
Awesome!
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Oscar immediately caught our attention as he entered the crosswalk and
started heading towards us. You see,
Oscar was born without legs below the knees so he “crawled” over to the church
with his muscular arms and only pads on his stumps. Seeing his face light up and his infectious
smile as he was placed in his own chair was unforgettable! He dashed away with his powerful arms,
shouting praises about his new mobility! We are now trying to locate Oscar again
to offer help in obtaining employment.
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 And then there was Maria…the sweet old lady, nursing a broken hip who
desperately wanted to regain her mobility.
Our collective jaws dropped when we glanced at her paperwork and noticed
that she was born in 1895…she’ll be 110 years old on her birthday, December
12th!!
The
photos of the assembly line on this
page show the teamwork that goes into one of our
events. You’ll notice that we even had a couple of guys from the local police
force stop by to help!
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