Raise Up! Wheelchair Project

My middle school in America is fundraising to purchase and send wheelchairs to Ghana for people who are disabled. Below is an article that ran in the Seattle Times last Sunday: (Here's the link, too, if you'd like to see a few pics: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/southeastkingcountynews/2004033574_wheelchair25s.html

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School pushes wheelchair fund
By Karen Johnson

Getting to Ghana takes two days and costs well over $1,000, but a group of students at Nelsen Middle School in Renton has found another way to reach the country.

This month, Nelsen students launched a fundraiser to provide 550 specially made wheelchairs to residents of the West African country.

"It's so easy to forget so many things are happening in other parts of the world," said Brittany Insixiengmay, 14, one of the organizers of the fundraiser.

Nelsen counselor Scott Jones said students decided to raise money for the wheelchairs after watching a movie that featured a wheelchair built by the Free Wheelchair Mission, a California-based nonprofit that makes wheelchairs for about $50 each and sends them to other countries.

Groups from around the nation have raised money for the affordable wheelchairs, which are made from with a lightweight metal frame, a plastic lawn chair and mountain bike tires. Nelsen students believe they are the first group of middle-school students to join the effort.

Students selected Ghana as the recipient of their donation because social-studies teacher, Sarah Cockle is teaching in the country this year.

Cockle has kept students posted on her activities in the country through a blog that she updates about once a week, students said.

So far, Nelsen students have pitched their fundraiser to local churches, service groups and even other schools. They've even gone to the Web to get the word out. Earlier this month, one student posted an online petition that has been pasted to hundreds of pages on MySpace.com.

"Students are saying they've caught the vision," Jones said. "They're bringing the school together by doing something for others."

Students said they were drawn to the cause because its unlike anything else they'd raised money for.

"This isn't like selling cheesy magazines for prizes," said eighth-grader Cherise Wade, 14. "This is a real cause."

In little more than two weeks, the school has collected $1,000, Jones said. But the students will have to raise much more to meet their goal of $26,600.

For more information on Nelsen Middle School's wheelchair fundraiser, call Jones at 425-204-3013.

Karen Johnson: 253-234-8605 or karenjohnson@seattletimes.com

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The local newspaper, the Renton Reporter, also ran the following article explaining the fundraiser.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Nelsen students raising money for wheelchairs for Ghana
By Emily Garland

During a visit to his native India a few years ago, Bikram Thind saw people crawling on the ground. Not because they wanted to, but because they were crippled by malnutrition and other disabilities.

“When I went to India I felt bad for them,” Thind says. “I don’t want to see that many people suffering.”

But Thind, an eighth grader, won’t settle simply for not seeing human suffering. He wants to lessen it. And he is — along with his fellow Nelsen Middle School students and counselor Scott Jones.

Jones and Nelsen Middle School students are raising money to send wheelchairs to Ghana, Africa. Their goal is one container, or 550 wheelchairs. At $50 a chair, that’s $27,500.

A hefty sum, but one Jones is confident his students can raise.

“We can tell by talking to students in each of the three lunches that there’s a large group of kids real interested in what’s going on, and that’s encouraging,” he says.

“Raise UP!” Wheelchair Donation Drive is just getting started. But Jones and his students plan to seek help from other district schools and community organizations.

“I want them to realize if everybody does something, working together, real big things can happen,” Jones says.

Jones was inspired to start the wheelchair drive by the movie “Emmanuel’s Gift.” The movie tells the true story of Emmanuel, a boy abandoned by his father at birth because he was born with a deformed leg. His mother raised him with pride, but society spurned him when she grew ill. Still, Emmanuel’s struggle was not a deterrent, but a motivation. He went on to ride a donated bicycle across Ghana, shattering negative stereotypes about the disabled. He has since helped his country’s disabled with grant money and friendlier laws.

In the movie, Jones says Emmanuel is seen distributing wheelchairs. Not standard wheelchairs, but chairs fashioned from plastic lawn chairs and mountain bike tires. These are the wheelchairs Nelsen students want to buy.

Designed by mechanical engineer Don Schoendorfer in 1999, as of Aug. 22, 262,273 of the wheelchairs had been delivered to 72 countries in Central and South America, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia.

The wheelchairs are manufactured in China. Shipments are organized by the Schoendorfer-founded Free Wheelchair Mission.

Schoendorfer was inspired to create the simple, inexpensive wheelchairs after seeing a crippled Moroccan woman crawling across a dirt road.

The chairs are free to those in need. Other organizations ship wheelchairs to needy people, but the bulkiness of traditional wheelchairs makes the process expensive and inefficient. Plus, these organizations can’t even begin to reach the 100 million disabled adults and children that exist, according to Free Wheelchair Mission’s Web site. The organization aims to deliver 20 million wheelchairs.

A worthwhile goal, says Nelsen eighth-grader Brittany Insixiengmay.

“It’s really important, not just to our community, but to the rest of people around the world,” she says of Nelsen’s drive. “If we keep on telling kids, they can spread the word to other people, to spread awareness and donate to a good cause.”

“We want to help people in Ghana because more than 10 percent are disabled,” she adds.

Insixiengmay also wants Emmanuel to visit Nelsen, a lofty goal Jones takes as a positive sign.

“These kids kind of dream big, too, that’s why I’m confident this is going to take off,” he says. “‘Why can’t we have him come here? He was on ‘Oprah.’ Why can’t he come here?’”

Schoendorfer is visiting Nelsen Dec. 10. Jones is hoping he and Emmanuel will serve as role models for his students.

“These are two real inspiring people,” he says. “That’s what I want students to aspire to. These are people who made use of their own unique talents, but didn’t just use their talents for themselves — they used them to help others.”

Jones says the goal of “Raise UP!” Wheelchair Donation Drive is twofold: to raise awareness of a serious problem in Ghana and to raise awareness of the goodness and strength of Emmanuel and Schoendorfer.

“The theme of what we’re doing is to raise up awareness about the problem, raise up people off the ground, raise up the community to create a solution to this problem,” he says. “Then kind of after raise up, ride on. A real big focus of ours is to get people off the ground, raise up off the ground and ride on in wheelchairs.”

A focus Jones is confident his students will make clear.

“I’m real excited about it,” he says of the drive. “We’re just getting started on this, but I think a lot of people will get behind this. I have a feeling it could really take off.”

Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@reporternewspapers.com

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I am so proud of all the students and staff at Nelsen for what they are doing. I wish I could be there on December 10, to hear the guest speaker's speech. I am honored to be involved in this project in any way that I can.

If you are interested in donating, you can visit Nelsen's webpage at http://www.renton.wednet.edu/nelsen/default.html and click on the "Raise Up! Wheelchair Donation" link.

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