Wheelchair Bound: From Warren Township to the World

by Jill Darling

Little did Bud Wheaton realize that a visit to the Wilkes-Barre Veterans Hospital would turn into a world-wide missions venture. Warren Center residents, Bud and his wife, Ruth, were leaving the hospital parking lot when they spied an enclosed area full of junked medical equipment that include a pile of wheelchairs. "Some of the wheelchairs were in almost perfect condition. There were all kinds of chairs with all kinds of configurations - one-handed, right-handed, left-handed, motorized," said Bud.

The Wheaton''s knew of Joni Eareckson Tada's Wheels for the World program, an outreach of Joni and Friends Ministries (JAF). JAF is an organization accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community. Wheels for the World collects, restores, and distributes wheelchairs to people in need around the world.

The Wheaton's wanted to retrieve the hospital's wheelchairs for the Wheels program. They spoke to officials about how to acquire them, and posed the idea to their church, the South Warren Community Church, to help finance the project. Rev. George Jatko and his congregation were excited about the plan. They put in a sealed bid and got the chairs for $1.00 a piece. "The Lord just opened up this possibility," said Bud. They rented a truck twice to haul nearly 50 home.

Before Bud and Ruth took the chairs to a pick up point in Clarks Summit, they distributed some to people they knew could use them. Edna Lee from Rome received a motorized wheelchair and Ronald Dewing of Warren Center got a tilt-back chair, which is just what he needs for his back. Marilyce Gross, owner of Allyn's Hillside Personal Care Home in Warren Center, was pleased to receive two chairs for her facility. Five chairs were donated to the Oxford Veterans Home in Oxford, NY, and a couple of wheelchairs went to Florida. Thirty-six chairs were left to donate to Wheels.

Wheels for the World is especially in need of children's chairs. Ruth called a few young people she knew to see if they had chairs which they had outgrown and could donate. Keith Darling, 18, contributed his first "Quickie" wheelchair. The chair is tagged with his name and address, so eventually he'll receive a reply with a picture of the boy or girl recipient.

Joni is herself a quadriplegic as the result of a diving accident at the age of seventeen. Her first name is recognized in many countries due to her best-selling books, including the autobiography Joni, and the full-length feature film Joni, a re-creation of her own life. Through her work with JAF Ministries, she records a five-minute radio program, "Joni and Friends," which is heard daily on over 700 station outlets.

Joni's role as advocate for disabled persons led to a presidential appointment to the National Council on Disability for three and a half years, during which time the Americans with Disabilities Act became law.

In many areas of the world people with disabilities are often neglected and forgotten by society. A man pulls himself through the mud with only his hands. Another scoots along on a makeshift cart with his legs folded under him. A husband pushes his wife down the road in a wheelbarrow. A women crawls across a highway.

Wheels for the World began in 1993 and its director, John Wern says, "Eighteen million chairs are needed around the world. In Ghana, West Africa it takes one year's wages to buy one, and in Russia it can take five to ten years to get a chair." In these countries, if a person's wheelchair breaks or loses parts they must make do because repairing them or getting replacement parts is impossible.

Through Wheels and the help of churches, corporate sponsors, ministries, and service organizations, thousands of people each year receive the life changing equipment. Wheels' teams of disability specialists help fit the recipients to the chairs and train church members on how to reach out to the disability community.

The chairs are collected at pick-up points around the country through Wheels' Chair Corps volunteers, local JAF staff teams and partner Christian radio stations. They are shipped by volunteer truckers to several prisons for repairs if needed. Participating prisons are Buena Vista, Colorado, sponsored by Chuck Colson's prison ministry, Hope Haven International in Iowa, and Nashville, Tennessee. Supervisors of the Chair Corps train prisoners for the job. Only prisoners who have a heart for the project are allowed to work on the chairs. Inmates take the restoration project seriously and put their names on completed chairs.

Hundreds of thousands of unused wheelchairs are discarded each year in the United States and Western Europe. Wheels for the World takes what is one person's castoff and transforms it into another person's treasure. Chairs are individually boxed and shipped free via SeaLand Corporation to Poland, Romania, Albania, Ukraine, Chile, and Kenya. Joni says, "Wheels for the World is a wonderful opportunity to meet the practical needs of persons with disabilities in other countries. It provides us a way to show God's love in action. As a result, hearts are open to receive the Biblical message and the love of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

Last year 4,500 chairs were distributed through Wheels, and they hope to ship 6,000 this year. They are looking for wheelchairs of any kind, preferably modern, but will take anything and use them for parts.

If you would like to donate a used wheelchair to Wheels for the World contact Bud Wheaton at 717-395-3180. For more information on the Wheels for the World organization contact JAF Ministries at P.O. Box 3333, Agoura Hills, CA 91301, e-mail: jafmin@jafministries.com, or call 818-707-5664.