I was watching NBC Nightly News on Tuesday, when a segment aired about recipients of a new award. It’s called the “Above and Beyond Citizen’s Honor,” and it’s only being bestowed upon three people this year. My ears perked up when Brian Williams announced that one of the recipients was Donald Schoendorfer, the president and founder of Free Wheelchair Mission. I have had a love-hate relationship with this man and his organization for three years now. Allow me to explain why.
I first read about Free Wheelchair Mission in Reader’s Digest back in July of 2005. The article which described how Schoendorfer, a mechanical engineer, set out to create the world’s cheapest wheelchair, for use in developing nations, immediately resonated with me. I’m a wheelchair user myself. Although I don’t rely on my Quickie GPV for everyday use, I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I couldn’t access it when I need it. Millions of people are not so lucky. According to the Free Wheelchair Mission website, there are 100,000,000 adults and children who are disabled and could benefit from a wheelchair.
My wheels: watch your ankles folks
The cost of the wheelchair that Schoendorfer has produced is $50 (incredibly cheap, especially for a well designed product). What’s the problem then? Why can’t I just dig into my wallet and donate a wheelchair? Well I did donate, but I had misgivings for an unlikely reason. Free Wheelchair Mission is a Christian organization, and they proselytize when they distribute the wheelchairs. I can’t think of anything more disturbing than that. Well maybe I can, but still. People are in a desperate and vulnerable situation when they come seeking a wheelchair that could completely change their lives, and Free Wheelchair Mission is going to use that as an opportunity to push Jesus on them?!
Plenty of charitable organizations have a religious affiliation, and donors can usually make a choice about whether to give their money to those groups or to similar secular organization. The problem here, is that Free Wheelchair Mission is essentially the ONLY organization that has tackled this particular problem in an innovative way, with proven results, and on a large scale. To date, they have distributed 302,653 wheelchairs, at no cost to recipients. That is simply amazing.
I donated a wheelchair three years ago after reading the Reader’s Digest article. I received a card stating that the chair was slated for shipment and distribution to a person in Ghana. It was one of those situations where you donate and know that you will never physically see the benefits of your donation, but you really believe that the cause is important and could be life changing for someone else. A year-and-a-half later, I was teaching in Ghana, when I saw a man confidently rolling his wheelchair down the street. It was obviously a Free Wheelchair Mission wheelchair-there’s no mistaking that white lawn chair seat. I cannot tell you how happy I was at that moment.
Despite my feelings about the way that Free Wheelchair Mission conducts itself, I know that their work is irreplaceable and incredibly important. Without them, the man I saw in Ghana might be resigned to crawling on the ground, a situation that I have seen many times before in developing nations. I guess the conclusion that I have come to, is that I’ll continue to support FWM until a similar, secular organization comes along.
