California Based Wheelchair Foundationand The Rotary Club of Pleasanton, California Bring 270 Wheelchairs to Saint Lucia

For more than 15 years, the Wheelchair Foundation, established by Danville, California entrepreneur Ken Behring, has been fulfilling its mission to distribute as many wheelchairs as possible to those who otherwise could not afford to buy one.  This is a significant undertaking that has just recently achieved the milestone of having delivered one million  wheelchairs worldwide

 

Rotary Clubs have been major players in the Wheelchair Foundation's global effort from the beginning.  Rotary International's network of clubs throughout the world make the Rotary organization well positioned to help raise funds and to facilitate the distribution process. 

 

The Rotary Club of Pleasanton, California has been involved in the wheelchair program since 2003 and has sponsored the delivery of over 5,000 wheelchairs to countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America. The club of about 85 men and women was founded in 1965 and has made wheelchairs a major focus of it's International Service activity.

 

“We are very much a hands-on group,” says Nancy Pennell, Chair of the Pleasanton Rotary Wheelchair Project. “We like to get involved in each distribution to help the local Rotary Clubs, to experience firsthand the life changing impact that getting a wheelchair has on recipients and to make new relationships that build momentum and gain support for future projects.”

 

Identifying and selecting recipients for the wheelchairs is a major task. That will be managed by the Saint Lucia Ministry of Health with the support of two Saint Lucia Rotary Clubs.

 

This is indeed an exciting project that will give many in need the gift of mobility and with that - dignity, hope and the opportunity for 

a better life.