Due to the extraordinary generosity of our donors, the Wheelchair Foundation has delivered over 700,000 wheelchairs to children, teens and adults in 152 countries around the world since our establishment in June of 2000. Our program of delivering wheelchairs to developing countries has been accomplished in part by volume purchasing from competitive manufacturers at a rate of up to 10,000 wheelchairs per month. Despite rising costs of transportation and other expenses, we have worked very hard to keep the donation amount needed to sponsor a wheelchair constant over the past seven years. Several factors now necessitate a revision to our wheelchair sponsorship structure. Grant monies that were a major source of our combinable funding have been exhausted. The expense of delivering wheelchairs by ocean freight has sharply risen due to the enormous increases in fuel and other costs. The revised sponsorship structure is now comprised as follows:
- Sponsor 110 Standard Manual Wheelchairs or
100 All Terrain Wheelchairs: $16,500 - Sponsor 280 Standard Manual Wheelchairs or
260 All Terrain Wheelchairs: $42,000
Questions and Answers
Q: What are the advantages of offering the smaller container? A: For our donors, the cost of a smaller container represents a shorter fundraising timeframe and effort. Containers of 110 wheelchairs provide the opportunity for smaller organizations, companies and individuals to become involved in this humanitarian effort. For our partner NGOs in destination countries, smaller containers offer more options for storage and distribution of wheelchairs. Q: Why are the prices changing A: Since the establishment of the Wheelchair Foundation in June of 2000, we have worked diligently to keep the cost of the wheelchairs we deliver constant. Our website and promotional materials have solicited $75 donations, but also always stated that the average cost to purchase, ship and deliver a wheelchair worldwide is $150, and we have combined gifted funds with each new $75 donation to deliver a wheelchair, until those funds would be exhausted. We have now exhausted our government granted assistance, and costs such as raw materials and labor have increased to the wheelchair manufacturers. We have experienced dramatic increases in ocean and overland transportation costs because of fuel prices. In September 2007 we implemented a sliding sponsorship rate by region of the world and offered smaller containers to help deflect the additional costs. This was designed to service donors who could not provide the larger containers. The entire cost of worldwide distribution of a wheelchair from start to finish is $150. If you, your organization, or your corporation would like to sponsor a full container of wheelchairs to a specific country, you have the choice of two container sizes. Regardless of the size, all shipments include spare parts; custom logo embroidery; and Wheelchair Foundation’s legendary commitment to provide hope, freedom, and mobility to individuals in need and without access to wheelchairs.
Each donation we receive helps us deliver a wheelchair and supports our humanitarian mission. For each new $150 donation, the donor will receive a beautiful presentation folder with the photograph of a wheelchair recipient, and a certificate which thanks the donor for the gift made in the name of, honor of, or memory of a special person in their life. If you are interested in a specific country and/or wish to participate in a distribution trip, consider sponsoring an entire container of 100 to 280 wheelchairs. For those details, please contact our Operations Staff at (877) 378-3839 or in**@wh******************.org.
Welcome to our Winter Newsletter.
Hi there! My name is Austin Whitney. I am 18, an active athlete, student, and also a new paraplegic. I just graduated from high school in June, and was supposed to be attending the University of Michigan this fall. However on July 21st I was in a bad car accident that severed my spinal cord and left me permanently in a wheelchair, with no sensation or movement from the waist down. I now attend my local community college and am on my way to attending UC Santa Barbara in January. I am so excited for that. I also am speaking at almost two dozen high schools throughout Southern California. I talk about my accident, the mistaken belief many teenagers have in their own invincibility, the choices I made that led to my accident, and the horrible dangers high school students face. I also speak about my recovery and the many lessons I learned about attitude in the 41 days I spent in hospitals this summer. I also talk about wheelchair awareness, as I never knew anyone in a wheelchair before my accident, and I seek to clear up any confusion about handicapped living. One aspect of wheelchair awareness that gives my accident meaning for me has been raising money for the Wheelchair Foundation. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the organization, they send wheelchairs to people around the world who are in desperate need. Current estimates say between 30 and 100 million people are constrained by mobility limitations and would benefit from a wheelchair. You know, six months ago I had never heard of the Wheelchair Foundation, and I could never have imagined the value of a wheelchair. With one, I can be completely independent and a full contributor to society. Without one, I would be constrained to a bed for the rest of my life. My life expectancy is the same as yours, but currently the average life span of a paraplegic like me in a third world country is just three years! A wheelchair is truly a liberator and it gave me my life back. The amazing thing is it only takes $150.00 to send a wheelchair to a developing country and thus give someone back the basic right of mobility. This is a way you can really change the world for someone less fortunate. I have gotten in touch with the Wheelchair Foundation and am trying to raise money to buy as many wheelchairs as possible. My goal was to raise $3,000 before I go off to school in January. I reached that goal recently, so now I am trying to raise $10,000 or 130 wheelchairs! If you are interested in donating, please see their website. Thank you so much for your support. Austin Whitney
When Tyson Elementary Gifted and Talented teacher Cathy Crouch got the idea to do a fundraiser for the international Wheelchair Foundation last year, she hoped that each grade at the school would raise at least $75. The Tigers ended up raising over $5,000 enough to purchase 33 wheelchairs what would be sent to the disabled in Mexico. So when Crouch began planning this years wheelchair fundraiser, she knew that the sky was the limit. Even so, Tyson students managed to exceed her expectations. “My goal this year was to be able to buy at least as many wheelchairs as we did last year”, says Crouch. This year they raised enough to buy ninety-five wheelchairs. Enough to buy ninety-five wheelchairs equates to roughly $7000. Each wheelchair costs $150, but the International Wheelchair Foundation matches every $75 raised with another $75. So for every $75 students at Tyson raised, a wheelchair was gained. While she still incorporated economics into the fundraising effort, Crouch took a different approach to the project this year. “It was different because we didnt sell anything. We focused on human capital”, says Crouch. Human capital involves the valuable things everyone has to offer that don’t cost anything like knowledge and acts of service. The best thing was that they learned from adults is that they have to work to make money. This time they couldnt just ask grandma. What’s great is that income level was not a factor in this project. Students who wanted to do it found a way. Acts of service are what the Tigers utilized when they went to work to raise money for the Wheelchair Foundation. Students cleaned bathrooms, raked leaves, took out the trash anything for a little cash to go towards purchasing a wheelchair. “Even though you’re giving stuff away youre gaining something”, says Stephanie Grace, a Tyson fifth-grader. “It’s just knowing that you helped someone, and youre gaining self-respect”. Natasha Raezer, another fifth-grader added, “Plus parents are happy because they have a clean bathroom”. Also, to prepare for the fundraising effort, Tyson GT students created display boards detailing the problem, alternate solutions and the options available for accomplishing their money-raising goals. As a reward for their efforts, students who raised any money at all got their name on the front of the stage in the cafeteria. Students and teachers who raised $75 or more got their names placed on the wall in one of the schools hallways. In addition to the money raised by the Tigers, Tyson Foods donated $400 dollars towards the cause and Weyerhaeuser gave $300. To celebrate the remarkable fundraising effort, the entire student body along with many parents recently walked to Tyson Cooperate headquarters where they were presented with the checks from Tyson and Weyerhaeuser. Another $500 was added when Crouch won an award for an economics fair project. “I told my students, ok, if we win this Im going to donate the $500 prize to the Wheelchair Foundation”, says Crouch. The recipients of the wheelchairs in Mexico are hand-picked by the international Wheelchair Foundation as those who have the most need of a chair and no way of getting one. “Before they receive the wheelchairs many of them can only get around by crawling or having someone carry them”, says Crouch, who traveled to Mexico last year to deliver the chairs. Another touching aspect of the project is that chairs can be dedicated to someone special. During last years Wheelchair Foundation fundraiser at Tyson, a chair was dedicated to one of the school’s students who was killed in a four-wheeler accident. As a follow up to the fundraiser, Crouch talked with students about the character traits they learned from the project. The most important thing the Tigers learned was service above self, which also happens to be Rotarys motto. The Tyson Tigers are always “Roaring With Pride”, but during this years Wheelchair Foundation Fundraiser, they were “Rolling With Pride”. Raising enough money to change the lives of nearly 100 disabled people is definitely something to be proud of.
April 2007 marked several historic events for the Knights of Columbus wheelchair distribution program.