The Mill Creek Rotary sent three representatives to Guatemala on April 18 to help distribute wheelchairs to handicapped in Guatemala City and Antigua.
The wheelchair project turned from idea to reality with the help of contributions from the Mill Creek community at the annual Rotary Auction held in April, 2003. Rotarians, Krikor Geulemerian, Chris Kuehnert, and Gerald Yorioka joined three others from the Mercer Island Club, which matched further funds to purchase the container, which was shipped directly to Guatemala.
The container held 280 cartons of a mixture of two of the smaller of six available sizes of wheelchairs. It was shipped from China, where they were manufactured under the guidance and support of the Wheelchair Foundation, whose founder is former Seattle Seahawks owner, Ken Behring. To date, the Wheelchair Foundation has distributed 225,614 wheelchairs throughout the world.
The Mercer Island Rotary Club sent two adult members along with 18-year-old Kyle Bain, who is a president of the Mercer Island High School Interact club for teens 14 to 18. Mill Creek did well to financially match the Mercer Island Club that has about three times the number of members of the Mill Creek Club.
During the four-day trip, wheelchair distributions were made in Guatemala City and also at a Franciscan hospital-orphanage in Antigua. Almost all of the recipients were disabled. Infants with birth defects are frequently abandoned at the orphanage in Antigua. Births are not recorded until 30 days after delivery, so the orphans have no name or identity. The Guatemalan Rotary Club estimates that within 30 to 60 days after the initial distribution, all of the 280 wheelchairs will have been given by their club to the new recipients.
The wheelchair program worked because of many players doing their role efficiently. The Guatemalan Rotary Club, which is one of 10 in Guatemala City, determines priorities for where the distributions will be made and even in letting those in the United States know what size and how many chairs to order.
The Franciscan priest, in turn, has a repair and maintenance program as part of his 250 member staff. The bed capacity for the Obras Sociales “Hermano Pedro” is 250. The high 1:1 staffing ratio reflects the high intensity of care required at this facility.
Father Giuseppe Contran, who has been in charge of this program for 10 years, says their greatest financial need is medications, which consumes a large share of the operating budget.
There is also an outpatient medical clinic at the Antiqua facility which serves the poor. There is no state welfare system, so that leaves charitable work to be provided by the private and church-based organizations, including the order of nuns associated with Mother Teresa.
The evangelical church has grown in influence and may now account for 30 percent of the population in Guatemala City.
There are many church-based charitable organizations from the United States that bring help to Guatemala. One such organization is Healing the Children, whose new executive director, Rebecca Snyders, is a member of Mill Creek Rotary.
More funds have already been generated from this year’s Rotary auction as a start to assemble another container for shipment next year.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
