This story comes from our great friend Lauren. She was on a vacation in Cambodia when this happened:

I was in Siem Reap doing too much shopping. Kurt and I stumbled across a man on the corner whose legs were not fully developed and were twisted up upon his lap. His knees were ashy from all the dragging he'd done over many years. I, like you, can NEVER pass up someone on the street like him and not give something. I looked into my wallet and saw that I had one dollar left. "GREAT JOB, Lauren," I thought, "you spent every dollar on material things and when you need it to make a difference in the world, and not in your closet, you missed the chance". I gave him the dollar and a smile and walked around the corner wishing I had something else or more to give. This is where the magic happened.

One block up we came upon an office that had four Free Wheelchair Mission wheelchairs outside. I was stunned! I ran inside asking a million questions in one breath, "Where did you get these? How did you get these? Why are they sitting here?" I was so excited to see this, a mission that I believe so much in and is so close to my heart, there right in front of me. The man turned around slowly and with a low delicate voice he replied, "I brought them here. I used to be the Cambodian Ambassador to the USA". He told me that he gives the chairs out when he sees someone in need of mobility.

I dropped my bags and ran down the street praying that man would still be where I left him. There he was! I approached him with so much excitement I perhaps took him off guard. I said with my now, out of breath broken English, and with sign language of wheel motions with my arms, “I have a wheelchair for you, I have a wheelchair for you. Come! Come!"

He followed me. He removed his flip flops from his hands that had dragged him for all his life and climbed into his new chair. He got a handle on how it worked and rolled around, enjoying every movement it made. It was touching to see how he was learning to roll himself around, just a few meters away from where he had lain on the ground. He looked at me and clasped his hands together with a smile in gratitude. I did the same and added an American “thumbs up”, hoping I had let him know that in some way the life change that he had just experienced was just as great for me.

Lauren wanted me to add this message:
"Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them he cried, "Great God how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?" God said, "I did do something. I made you" - Sufi Teaching