Material Allocation

This past November, I sat beside my friend Ken as he left this world and went on to his eternal home. As he requested, I received a few of his positions, table, computer, and his nearly new power wheelchair.

Over the winter I contacted several people I work with to see if they know of anybody that was in need of such a chair. Unfortunately, none of these leads worked and my hunt continued. I knew that the organization Joni and Friends took used chairs, but the Iowa affiliates said they don't take power chairs, only manual. Fortunately, one of these contacts gave me a number to someone that may take them.

That connected me with Mission Mobility in eastern Iowa. I found out they are a group that collects power and manual wheelchairs and then brings them to Guatemala. Once their, a group of volunteers, who also use wheelchairs, repair the equipment and distribute it to people that would otherwise not have mobility. On Friday, my parents delivered Ken's chair to the collection point in Iowa and it will be shipped, along with 300 other chairs, in a container next month.

Ken and I talked about what I would do with his equipment if they were given to me. We discussed the need for chairs and agreed donating it would be the best option. I'm disappointed in that it took over seven months to get it to an organization and will likely be close to a year after I received it that someone will start using it. Unfortunately, rules in the U.S. make it very difficult to find individuals with the need and then used personal equipment such as a power chair are often not able to work.

In April, I started on a new insurance plan and worked toward seeing if it would cover an FES bike for me like I use in Des Moines. Unfortunately, in late May I learned that they would not cover the system as it's not deemed necessary. After working to a place for Ken's chair though, it is somewhat of a relief.

I've been using the bike for nearly two years now and travel to Des Moines every time to take my ride. However, scheduling a time is now getting difficult as more people are using it. That means one bike is helping many people and not just sitting in my house serving only me. I've been blessed to have wheelchairs that work very well for me and I currently have my old chair and what I currently use. When my time is up with them, I'm glad to know a resource is available that other people may be able to benefit.

God has given us many blessings, and I'm very happy to see when multiple people can get benefit from just one item. I hope to continue to use what I've been given in the quad life to help those in any way possible.