Surfing + Giving = Mobility

Our Pastor of Church Development got a letter last week from some of our ambassadors who decided to combine two things they love: surfing and giving... FULL STORY

 Check out this post on the official Free Wheelchair Mission blog about a group of Ambassadors for Mobility who decided to combine two things that they love - surfing and Free Wheelchair Mission - to take a trip to Nicaragua to distribute wheelchairs AND catch some killer waves!

 

Paddle for Wheelchairs

Paddle for Wheelchairs

Team Mobility Athlete: Tim Lukei (second from the right)

Location: Newport Beach, CA

Background: A staff member at Mariner’s Church, Tim has been a supporter of FWM for years. He’s also the owner of an up-and-coming paddleboard company, Pirate Coast Paddle Company.

The Story: He created and held an event called Paddle for Wheelchairs on August 25, 2011 in Newport Beach, inviting people to donate the price of a wheelchair in exchange for a a free dinner (donated by Bluewater Grill), an entry to win raffle prizes, and a chance to paddleboard for free. About 30 people attended the event, along with FWM staff Sandi, Claressa, Jessica, and Mike. Most of the funds were collected online via their Team Mobility fundraising website, and the rest was given on event day for last minute additions. Tim publicized his event on his company’s webpage, and by word of mouth.

Lives Transformed to Date: over 30

The crew

FWM Staff Jessica, Claressa, and Mike at the event

Take-Away Tip: Use the resources you already have (like Tim did with his company and professional network), and leverage them for a good cause. 

CHECK OUT MORE OF OUR ATHLETES FOR MOBILITY AT OUR SISTER BLOG, FACE OF THE RACE

Powderpuff Football

Ambassadors for Mobility: Converge Church’s Women’s Football Team

Location: Fountain Valley, CA

Background: “We love what Free Wheelchair Mission stands for. To be able to give the gift of mobility to those who are the poorest, the least and the forgotten in this world is amazing. The ladies of the Converge football team decided that Free Wheelchair Mission was what we wanted to play for. This is the second year we have adopted FWM as our charity. We want to help raise awareness that over 100 million people in this world cannot walk, needing a simple wheelchair to be able to simply function in life. We decided to fight for these people on the playing field by using the fellowship of competition as a means to raise money for a valuable cause!” 

The Story: “The 4th Annual SoCal Charity Bowl is an annual women’s 7-7 flag football tournament that has teams from churches all over Southern California. Each church gets to play for their charity of choice, and the winner of the tournament gets a purse prize of $500. Every church is also encouraged to do their own fundraising on the side and create awareness for their local or global cause. In the end, all teams win!! What makes this tournament different from the others is that the focus is bringing awareness and funds to the represented charities.

The Converge Family Church girls football team took to the field on Saturday, 11/21, going 3-0 into the Final game. We were pumped and ready to take the championship title for the second year in a row. Unfortunately our team didn’t have enough energy to bounce back and win it in the championship title match. We lost, but still had fun knowing that we’re still winners as we raised the most amount of money out of all the charities represented – our fundraising total was higher than all the other teams combined!” 

Lives Transformed by the 2011 Converge Team: 57

Coaches and players from left to right: Eric Lee, Connie Aboubakare, Stephanie Velarde, Christina Pao, Stephanie Hong, Angela Lee,

Bao Le, Amy Lee, Jennifer Pham, Sandy Ng, Marlene Luu, Kristel Bedford, Pam Grenas, Sabrina Nguyen, Pam Grenas and Hieu Nguyen.

 

Model Airplanes

Ambassador for Mobility: Ed McGugan

Location: Kincardine, Ontario Canada (on the Canadian side of Lake Huron, Michigan)

Background: Ed first discovered Free Wheelchair Mission in winter 2010 when he was helping to design a wheelchair for a missionary friend. After researching different chair designs, he ran across the Free Wheelchair Mission website and it “really shook me to the core.” Whenever Ed showed anyone the video they all seemed to think it was a good thing but didn’t know how to get involved.

The Story: Ed and his wife searched for ways to get involved with FWM. They decided to bring the mission into their church through their Sunday school program. Recently Ed, his wife, and the children of the Chalmers Community Church Sunday School hosted a day of engineering for a cause. The group got together to sell model airplane kits to raise money for Free Wheelchair Mission. “There were boys chasing the airplanes all over the arena that day and we seemed to get a great audience, but we only sold three kits. I was feeling very disappointed. However, people started handing us money directly for Free Wheelchair Mission! We were kind of shocked how this has just taken off. Although we still have lots of airplane kits left over, I'm convinced the people are more gratified by transforming lives with wheelchairs instead!” Ed plans to continue his efforts through his projects, the Sunday school group, and by utilizing FWM’s annual Christmas gift card program.

Lives Transformed to Date: 35 and counting (his original donation was doubled due to our Match Campaign)

“This young fella is Luke McBride who is 9 years old. He was the airplane pilot extraordinaire that day. His Dad, George (with the hat) was a big help in making this work.”

Walk 4 Wheels

Ambassador for Mobility: Lila Lehtola (pictured right, her friend and co-organizer Ally Ryder in the bandana on the left)

Location: Dallas, Texas

Background: Lila has been an active collegiate Ambassador for Free Wheelchair Mission since September 2009. She discovered the issue of global disability after her mom told her stories from a medical mission trip she went on to Honduras. She told Lila the sad stories about people crawling to the hospital, and women at the clinic with back problems from carrying their children vast distances to the clinic because their child didn’t have the wheelchair they needed. After a friend mentioned Free Wheelchair Mission, Lila and her mom researched Free Wheelchair Mission together. They felt the chairs seemed practical and cost efficient, and they decided to create a project to fund a container for Honduras and to help distribute them.

The Story: Lila is an avid athlete and runner, so she decided to hold a Walk 4 Wheels to benefit FWM. The event was held on September 17^th. Participants paid $10 to register and $15 for a t-shirt to join in the walk. There were about 40 participants, and together they raised $1,800.

Her fundraising activities have included “countless bake sales, garage sales, and what we call dress down days at our school where we pay a small fee to wear non-uniform clothes to school and the donation is then given to FWM”. In April 2011, Lila and her mother organized a golf tournament, and was highlighted for her work for FWM. The golf tournament raised $11,600.

Lila’s Passion: “My mom told me of people she saw crawling to get to the hospital because they couldn't walk. This utterly broke my heart because, right before I had this talk with my mom, I had gone on a run and I realized that these children could never run, even if they wanted to.”

Lives Transformed to Date: over 325

Bonus: all Walk 4 Wheels donations came in just in time to be included in FWM’s October Matching Gift Challenge! 

I Run 4 Wheels

Ambassador for Mobility: Jacqueline Anzalone

Event: Long Beach Marathon

Location: Long Beach, CA

The Story: One of the first official local Team Mobility events, the Long Beach Marathon brought Free Wheelchair Mission in front of thousands of people new to us. The two-day Health & Fitness Expo on Friday and Saturday allowed the 50,000 expo visitors to stop by and learn more about the special wheelchair that has changed the lives of so many. As an official featured race charity, FWM was highlighted throughout the day by the expo announcer, and had a prime location in the heart of the expo.

Jacqueline Anzalone was the top FWM runner-fundraiser for this event. This was her fourth time running and fundraising on FWM’s behalf, previously participating in the annual Run for Mobility event at the Surf City Marathon. She was thrilled to learn that FWM was coming to her hometown of Long Beach, CA. She even personalized her official race bib to say “IRUN4WHEELS”!

Jacqueline’s Fundraising Tip: “The key to fundraising is to ask a lot of people for a little bit of money,” she explained. Spreading out the ask to a lot of people means that no one feels obligated or financially uncomfortable about donating, since it’s just a small amount. Her last donation was received when she reached out to her roommate, who hadn’t donated yet, by explaining that she was only $5 shy of her fundraising goal. When Jacqueline woke up the next morning, a crisp $5 was waiting for her on the counter. “A lot of people working together can have a big impact”, she said, which just shows that together, we can lift lives around the world.

Lives Transformed by Jacqueline to Date: over 23 (so far!)

20th Annual Pier to Pier Run

Ambassador for Mobility: Bob Longman

Location: Newport Beach, CA

Background: Bob first discovered Free Wheelchair Mission from a fellow bible study member (and now current FWM board member) Jim Franklin. Jim told Bob about the story behind the wheelchair, and the vision of Free Wheelchair Mission to provide 20 million wheelchairs to people around the world. Moved by the mission, Bob quickly got involved directly with FWM and going on a mission trip to Chile. He has since visited Tanzania and Peru, and has also returned to Chile for a second visit. He has shared his passion for the organization with his family by encouraging his children and grandchildren to get involved as well.

The Story: The 20^th Annual Pier to Pier run was held on October 8^th, 2011 in Newport Beach. This event was started years ago when Bob and his sons decided to run the 5 miles along the beach between the Huntington Beach Pier and the Newport Beach Pier. Since then, the run became an annual event for Bob and his family, with the number of participants growing annually. Now, the event includes a chartered bus to transport all the participants and their bikes from Bob’s home to the starting area (and then from the finish area back to Bob’s house), a catered post-run meal, and specially designed event t-shirts! The event logistic responsibilities are shared by the Longman clan, rotated between Bob’s children each year. The event had more than 50 people who ran, biked, jogged or walked the 5 miles before joining Bob back at his home for a post-race meal. To commemorate the 20^th Annual event, the family decided to make their miles matter by donating all proceeds to FWM!

Lives Transformed by Bob’s 20^th Annual Pier to Pier Event: 23