Alex Elegudin & Yannick Benjamin PEOPLE OF THE YEAR
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INTRODUCTION Alex Elegudin and Yannick Benjamin launched Wheeling Forward in 2011, eight years after sharing a room in rehab at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital. In recognition of their contributions to the disability community through Wheeling Forward, we are proud to honor Alex Elegudin and Benjamin as our NEW MOBILITY People of the Year.
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AXIS PROJECT Alex Elegudin leads a support group, and Benjamin leads a spin class, while other members of Axis box, lift weights, use standing frames or take cooking classes.The Axis Project is just one of the many programs of Wheeling Forward, a New York City nonprofit founded by our People of the Year, Alex Elegudin and Yannick Benjamin.
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SUPPORT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE Alex Elegudin and Benjamin first met in 2003 as roommates in the rehab unit of Mount Sinai Hospital, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Elegudin had C6 quadriplegia the result of a car accident. Benjamin had T6 paraplegia, also the result of a car accident. Benjamin was a sommelier, who, at 25, had already been working at some of the finest restaurants in New York.Elegudin was a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh studying biomedical engineering. They bonded quickly since they were both young people from immigrant families — Elegudin moved from Russia when he was 4, and Benjamin’s parents both immigrated from France just before he was born.
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ALEX ELEGUDIN REPRESENTS AXIS AND WHEELING FORWARD AT THE DISABILITY PRIDE PARADE.
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Both Alex Elegudin and Benjamin realized that their personal stories were too often the exception and not the rule for people with disabilities. They were young, smart, motivated, hardworking and resilient, all of which are extremely helpful when trying to rebuild a life after paralysis. Elegudin and Benjamin had everything going for them, and still it was incredibly tough. They wanted to build a support system for all those who weren’t so lucky.
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FIGURING IT OUT In 2010, Alex Elegudin was mentoring a young man in a nursing home whose insurance wouldn’t buy him a power chair, a situation that is all too commonplace. If the man was going to transition out of the nursing home into independent housing, he would need a wheelchair. So, Elegudin got on eBay, found a used wheelchair and drove to Delaware to get it.
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It was a simple thing — getting a wheelchair for someone who needed it — that made a big difference in that man’s life. But when Elegudin approached established nonprofits about doing this, they balked. Too much liability. Sorry, not something we can do. Alex Elegudin says, “The thing that took me a while to realize about advocacy is that you don’t need any special training to start helping people.”
WHEELING FORWARD In 2011, Alex Elegudin and Benjamin started their own organization, Wheeling Forward. Benjamin and Elegudin held their first fundraiser for Wheeling Forward in 2012 and immediately churned that money into their wheelchair giving and scholarship programs.
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THE OUTINGS LED BY WHEELING FORWARD TRANSLATE INTO TRUE COMMUNITY INTEGRATION — AND A LOT OF FUN.
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FOR YEARS, BENJAMIN AND ALEX ELEGUDIN HAVE BROUGHT A LOT OF HEART TO THE GREAT INDEPENDENT LIVING ENDEAVOR, AND THEIR NEW YORK COMMUNITY KNOWS IT.
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WITH THE FULL SUPPORT OF NEW YORK’S WINE COMMUNITY BEHIND THEM, BENJAMIN AND ELEGUDIN RAISED $300,000 FOR WHEELING FORWARD IN A YEAR.
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REFERENCE https://newmobility.com/2017-people-year-benjamin-elegudin/