Wheels for the World
Imagine that you have a disability and need a wheelchair, but no wheelchairs are available. You're either confined to your house, you have to hobble on your hands and knees to get around, or rely on friends to lift you just to go outside. Now picture the face of parents seeing their child with spina bifida sitting in a wheelchair for the first time and having the wheelchair fitted by a physical therapist specifically for that child, and having the love of Christ shared with all of them. This is the mission of Wheels for the World, a portion of Joni and Friends (JAF) Ministries, founded by Joni Eareckson Tada.

In the past few years, Wheels for the World have distributed thousands of wheelchairs in Albania, Chile, Ghana, Poland, Rumania, Russia, and the Ukraine, while distributing Bibles, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, and converting hundreds of people to Christianity by showing Christian love by example. People take two weeks out of their lives to go to these countries to distribute wheelchairs, and they are making a difference. But they also have to turn people away because they don't have enough wheelchairs for all the people who come to the distribution centers. Where do all the wheelchairs come from, and how do they reach their final destination?

Used wheelchairs are collected from all over the United States and sent to restoration facilities for repair. One such center is located at a Department of Correction facility in Colorado, where inmates make the needed repairs. Shipping companies and airlines transport the wheelchairs to their final destination free of charge. Volunteers travel to foreign countries to distribute the wheelchairs and individually make adjustments so that the wheelchair fits each recipient. Then the love of Christ is shared with many people, by radio, by newspapers, and by one-on-one sharing, and many people are converted.

What can you do to help this mission effort? You can contribute an unused wheelchair that is sitting in your garage. You can contribute a walker that is no longer needed. You can pray that this missionary effort be successful in meeting not only the physical needs, but also the spiritual needs of thousands of people with disabilities throughout the world. If you have a wheelchair, wheelchair parts that can be repaired, walkers, or other orthopedic equipment that is no longer needed, or want more information, contact Art Larson at 265-9539, and he will arrange to get the equipment to Wheelchairs for the World through the JAF Bay Area Ministries.

Seeing a picture of a man in a wheelchair for the first time, smiling, with a Bible in his hand, is all it takes to know how much impact this ministry is making in the world.

Wheels for the World Trip to Vietnam
Three members from Holy Cross went to Vietnam at the end of August 2003 for two weeks to distribute 200 wheelchairs to people in areas around the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. This was part of the Wheels for the World program under Joni and Friends. We not only gave people in need a wheelchair, but we also offered them the gift of a Bible to share our Christian faith with them. We have been blessed by being allowed to offer the Bibles by the Vietnamese government, and we praise God for that. We hope to make this an annual trip. Please pray for us as we make this journey in faith to a country that thinks of people with disabilities as second class people, and, for the most part, do not know the love of God.

Wheels for the World Trip to Thailand

Craig and Annie Garner, Holy Cross members for many years, went with a team from Wheels for the World to Thailand on January 30, 2007.  400 wheelchairs were shipped to Thailand and were waiting for the team when they arrived.  The goal was to custom fit 300 people with wheelchairs and share with them the good news about Jesus Christ with the gift of a Bible in their own language.  The remaining 100 wheelchairs were left with a rehabilitation facility in Thailand for future needs of patients.

The team went into some of the more remote areas of Northern Thailand to distribute wheelchairs.  Especially in these areas, people with disabilities are unable to get out of their homes and are often thought of as less than whole people.