The Wheelchair Foundation: Changing the World, One Life at a Time

Changing the world is a tall order. In fact, for most people, it is an impossible dream. But don’t try to tell that to Ken Behring or Jack Drury, the optimistic and deeply compassionate gentlemen of The Wheelchair Foundation. They change the world every single day, by dramatically improving the lives of others – one person at a time, one life at a time, one wheelchair at a time.

Jack Drury, president of he SE Region of The Wheelchair Foundation gets a hug from social workers at Imperial Point Hospital as he delivers three new wheelchairs.

The Wheelchair Foundation is not quite five years old but already this spirited and generous non-profit organization has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for success, having distributed 300,000 brand new, top-quality wheelchairs, free of charge, to children and adults in need in more than 100 countries, including the United States. Working through an international network of non-government organizations that includes the Rotary, the Latter Day Saints church and Sister Cities International as well as hospitals, churches and humanitarian organizations, the Wheelchair Foundation gives the priceless gift of mobility to people who cannot walk due to illness, injury or disability. And along with that mobility, the Wheelchair Foundation offers hope, greater self-sufficiency, renewal and freedom.

Jack Drury is the director of the South Florida office of The Wheelchair Foundation, which is based in Danville, California. Drury came on board after reading a newspaper article about his old friend Ken Behring, the former owner of the Seattle Seahawks and the founder of the Wheelchair Foundation. Behring recruited Drury to open the organization’s second office, in Florida, and before long, the former advertising executive became an articulate and passionate advocate for the mission of the foundation.

“There is a staggering need for wheelchairs throughout the world, especially in developing countries. At least twenty-five million children and adults need a wheelchair but cannot afford one. In some developing countries, the need is estimated to be as high as 6% of the total population,” he says. “There are many reasons for the need: polio, land mine injuries, birth defects, accidents, war injuries, old age, amputations due to diabetes and others. A wheelchair gives a person a new lease on life. Our motto is ‘We change one life at a time.’”

Receiving a wheelchair has an enormous positive impact on quality of life. Without one, a person who cannot walk is forced to live a life of confinement, restriction, dependency and often isolation. A wheelchair makes many things possible – attending school, going to work, socializing and simply being able to participate in the life of the community.

The Wheelchair Foundation purchases chairs from several manufacturers in China. According to Drury, these companies build a quality product that is designed for easy maintenance, especially in developing countries. Normally, the chairs cost approximately $400 each but because of the large quantity of chairs that the Wheelchair Foundation buys, they were able to negotiate a price of just $150 per chair. But the best part is that a donation of just $75 will purchase and deliver a chair for someone – the Wheelchair Foundation makes up the difference.

“Buying a wheelchair for someone is a very satisfying and rewarding thing to do. Your donation goes directly to the purchase and delivery of the wheelchair. We do not have a big bureaucracy to absorb the donations. Where else can you get so much value for such a small amount of money?” Drury asks. “It’s a personal gesture, one person to another, that reaches across oceans and continents, creating hope and building bonds of friendship.”

Businesses and corporations may want to consider making a larger donation with a bigger impact, and the Wheelchair Foundation suggests that they donate a “container” of 280 chairs, sent to the country of their choice. “The wheelchairs are shipped in containers of 280 chairs. A container costs $42,000 but we can do it for a gift of $21,000. The wheelchairs will have your company’s name on them,” Drury says.

The foundation’s goal is to deliver one million chairs in the next five years. Some of those chairs will certainly be delivered to residents of South Florida, where the large population of older adults means that there is a great need for wheelchairs. Drury has delivered chairs to many of the region’s hospitals and nursing homes and expects that the need will increase.

The Wheelchair Foundation may not be changing the whole world, but it is opening up the world to hundreds of thousands of children and adults by meeting one very specific and urgent need in a direct, practical and personal way.

For more information, call (954) 776-0722 or visit the website, www.wheelchairfoundationfl.org.

Other ways to help:

• Spread the word! Tell your friends and family about The Wheelchair Foundation
• Have a fundraiser for The Wheelchair Foundation
• If you know of a company that does business in another country, suggest that they give a gift of 280 chairs to that country.