Wheelchair Foundation Responds to Need

Responding to urgent calls for assistance, the Wheelchair Foundation announced it is delivering some 3,200 wheelchairs to victims of Hurricane Katrina. 

“We are shipping every available wheelchair in our inventory to Louisiana, Mississippi and other states to help our fellow Americans in this time of crisis,” said David Behring, president of the Wheelchair Foundation. “We are also seeking contributions to speed orders for additional wheelchairs from our suppliers.”

The Foundation has shipped 280 wheelchairs to Houston, Texas, to aid evacuees.  “We’re in desperate need of wheelchairs,” said Linda Beason from the Houston Center for Independent Living. “The people of Houston have adopted the evacuees of New Orleans and we want to help them as much as we can, including the ones with physical disabilities and the senior citizens. Thousands had to leave their wheelchairs in order to escape the devastation of the flood.  We are very grateful for the 280 wheelchairs we received, but are in immediate need of hundreds more.”

Through the American Red Cross, wheelchairs sponsored by the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriot Family Foundation were donated to sheltered evacuees in Washington, D.C.  Additional wheelchairs have been sponsored for people in several states by Wheelchair Foundation Southeast in Florida, Intermountain Health Care and the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation in Utah, and over 2,500 by the Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas through Wheelchair Foundation Nevada.

Approximately one million residents have been displaced because of the hurricane and resulting flood; tens of thousands of them are physically disabled and senior citizens. Many were forced to leave their wheelchairs behind as they boarded overcrowded buses headed to Houston and San Antonio. With thousands of evacuees being sheltered in Texas and many more waiting throughout Louisiana and Mississippi to be transported to safety, the need for basic mobility wheelchairs is overwhelming.

As the country watches the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in horror, numerous organizations and government agencies are doing what they can to help. The Wheelchair Foundation is joining in these relief efforts and is seeking your help. For each $150 donation the Wheelchair Foundation can ship and deliver a brand new wheelchair to organizations assisting the victims suffering from this disaster. To make an online donation to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina, please click below: 

To make a donation by mail or by phone, please click here. Please make checks payable to “Wheelchair Foundation Katrina Relief”.

The Wheelchair Foundation is a nonprofit organization leading an international effort to deliver a wheelchair to every child, teen and adult in the world who needs one, but cannot afford one. For these people, the Wheelchair Foundation delivers Hope, Mobility and Freedom. For more information please visit our website at www.wheelchairfoundation.org or call (877) 378-3839.