a
Greetings and Happy Friday!
a
          SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
  • Our First containers arrived in Comoros Islands and Liberia! We also had containers arrive in Uzbekistan, the Philippines and India.
  • Nine containers in route (4950 wheelchairs), twelve waiting to ship (6600 wheelchairs) , twenty two (12,100 wheelchairs) in production.
  • Next week we launch our end of the year campaign to raise funds.  We are so blessed to have events already planned for Boise, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Wheeling, Santa Barbara, plus many in Orange County.  We hope to do more.  Please let us know if you want to get involved.
  • DID YOU KNOW: We now distribute wheelchairs to over 70 countries worldwide!
THE FRIDAY STORY
This story comes from a very dear supporter, Susan Shaw.  Susan’s heart is with Fiji.  A few years ago she pledged to completely satisfy that country’s needs for wheelchairs.  She helped bring 2760 wheelchairs there so far, possibly satisfying 15% of the need in Fiji!  Susan just returned from leading a mission team there, and here is one of her many stories:

I just returned from my 5th trip to Fiji. Every journey teaches me new lessons and only reinforces my commitment and desire to continue helping and changing the lives of so many deserving helpless people in Fiji.

Villiame crawling into his houseBill, the boat captain of our dive boat, came to me one day asking if we could visit a home nearby. We showed up at their home unannounced on a rainy day and after the mother showed us in, she took us to the outside patio where her son, Villiame was lying in the drizzle. The site of this large 28 yr. old young man unable to walk or talk took my breath away. He was crippled at birth and could not speak. He started to crawl into the home to see what all the excitement was about. He only has his mother to look after him while the father is away working. She literally lifts him up by herself to attend to his needs.I have no idea how.

She had tears in her eyes when we showed up with Villiame's new life changing wheelchair. He was lifted up and for the first time in his life, he had mobility under his own power - without crawling! Not only did he have a new life, so did his loving mother. 

Villiame in his first wheelchairWhat inspires me even more than the smiles on the family and recipient's faces, is the sense of pride that occurs in those who brought us there – in this case Captain Bill.  When we inspire others to give, they become heroes and are infected by that all-rewarding blessing of having served their fellow man. Every time I return, my heroes have found more and more people in need for me and the Free Wheelchair Mission. 

Serving and bringing these helpless people the gift of mobility is the greatest achievement of my life. 

Susan Shaw