Knights of Columbus Newsletter Vol. 4

this issue • • • • • •

Veterans / USA Philippines Mexico Vietnam American Samoa Sierra Leone

Answering Prayers with the Gift of Mobility

Azul Juarez, 3, loves her new wheelchair in Pachuca, Mexico

Left: A young father joining the Knights with his four sons looking on Right: Brian joined the Knights in Novato, CA

SAVE LIVES - GROW MEMBERSHIP Wheelchair Sunday

Our Mission The American Wheelchair Mission is a non-profit organization with a goal to deliver brand new, free wheelchairs and mobility aids to physically disabled children, teens and adults throughout the world who are without mobility or the means to acquire a wheelchair. The American

The most successful fund raising event for the delivery of wheelchairs is a “Wheelchair Sunday” parish drive.

Please visit the Knights of Columbus page of our website at www.amwheelchair.org to download the “Wheelchair Sunday” booklet for the complete instructions on how to conduct a “Wheelchair Sunday” parish drive.

You can help make a difference in someone’s life.

Wheelchair Sunday “Easier than a pancake breakfast!”

We are changing lives, and answering prayers!

These parish drives are also the most successful membership tool you will ever experience. After seeing our video during Mass and hearing our presentation, parishioners will have a new understanding of the charitable work being done around the world by the Knights of Columbus. We then invite the gentlemen to join us, and the rest is done by personal contact outside at the information tables.

Wheelchair

Mission will continue to change the lives of entire families with the gifts of hope, dignity, freedom and independence.

The Need We estimate more than 100 million people worldwide are in need of a

You will change lives with the delivery of wheelchairs, and you will increase membership in your council.

It is easier than a pancake breakfast!

Since 2007, Knights across the U.S. have been having “Wheelchair Sunday” parish drives to raise funds for the delivery of wheelchairs. These drives have sponsored tens of thousands of wheelchairs to the Bahamas, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, the Holy Land, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam, and to Veterans across the United States, while adding hundreds of new Knights to the councils involved.

wheelchair but cannot afford one.

Our gift

immediately changes the lives of entire families by answering prayers and making true.

dreams

come

Please visit our website to watch videos of Knights delivering wheelchairs around the world, read articles or donate.

For more information or to mail donations: Dan Moberg Director of Public Education 2600 E. Seltice Way, Suite A-172 Post Falls, Idaho 83854 USA dmoberg@amwheelchair.org (208) 457-0745

American Wheelchair Mission

$150 Sponsors the delivery of a brand new wheelchair The

Our Program

wheelchair

deliv-

ered by the American

The American Wheelchair Mission is a non-profit organization that delivers free wheelchairs to children, teens and adults without mobility or the means to acquire a wheelchair.

Since 2003, Knights of Columbus have sponsored the delivery of more than 50,000 wheelchairs around the world to people in dire need of mobility.

We deliver brand new, high quality wheelchairs by entire sea containers.

The wheelchairs we deliver in 5 sizes (12, 14, 16, 18 & 20 inch seat widths) would sell for over $500 in a medical supply store, but because we purchase them in bulk and ship them by 100 to 280 wheelchair containers from the factories, directly to the country of destination, we can do this at an average price of $150 each.

For entities interested in delivering an entire container of wheelchairs to a specific country or local destination, a gift of $16,500 will deliver a shipping container of 100 pneumatic, mountain bike or 110 solid tire wheelchairs to a country specified by the donor, from our list of approved destination countries. A gift of $42,000 will deliver a container of 260 pneumatic, mountain bike tire or 280 solid tire wheelchairs. A logo or short text of the donor’s choice will be stitched onto the back of each wheelchair when sponsored by container. At retail, these containers of wheelchairs are valued at $55,000 and $140,000. (For special sizes or delivery locations, costs may vary)

Wheelchair

Mission

would sell for more than $500 in a medical supply store.

Yet because

we purchase wheelchairs directly from the manufacturer, and ship them 100 to 280 wheelchairs at a time by ocean freight containers

directly

to

the country of destination, we can deliver this $500

wheelchair

with

each $150 donation we receive.

VISIT OUR SITE Amwheelchair.org On our website you will see videos of wheelchair

The Wheelchairs we deliver allow children to go to school for the first time, adults to go to work to provide for their families and the elderly to get out of a bed they may have been confined to for years at a time. We are answering the prayers of entire families.

distributions around the

Over 100 million people worldwide need a wheelchair but cannot afford one!

by the gift of a wheel-

Our gift delivers Hope, Dignity, Freedom and Independence.

world, photos of people and their families who had their lives changed chair, and stories of our mission

that

touches

lives in a very tangible

We estimate that each wheelchair delivered changes and improves an average of 10 lives!

and immediate way.

Since 2007, Knights across the U.S. have been having “Wheelchair Sunday” parish drives to raise funds for the delivery of wheelchairs. These drives have sponsored tens of thousands of wheelchairs around the world, while adding hundreds of new Knights to the councils involved.

Join Us!

For more information, to watch videos and download the “Wheelchair Sunday” handbook, please visit the Knights of Columbus page of our website at: www.amwheelchair.org.

1

email Dan Moberg at:

www.amwheelchair.org

Join us on a wheelchair distribution trip – Please dmoberg@amwheelchair.org for details.

Being There for Our Veterans and Neighbors Flight and WWII veterans like me visit Washington, DC in the wheelchairs we need to get around.”

Knights of Columbus councils across our country work tirelessly to help our nation’s veterans and needy families in their own communities, any way they can.

Over the course of twelve months, 2,350 wheelchairs were ordered or delivered for veterans and local communities in Alabama, California, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Utah & Washington.

Many states are collecting funds for local distributions in the future, as well as numerous containers destined for developing countries around the world.

Knights in Ft. Worth, Texas delivered wheelchairs to the Cook Children’s Hospital, Catholic Charities, and the Honor Flight, which brings WWII, Korea and Vietnam Vets to Washington, DC to see the monuments memorializing their dedication to the freedom of our country.

In a ceremony at a Ft. Worth KofC council hall, SK Ed Boenisch addressed the 4th Degree Color Corps and the Knights on Bikes in attendance. Mr. Boenisch said “I am so proud to have been a Master of the 4th Degree, and of all of you for helping the Honor

2 American Wheelchair Mission

In San Antonio, Knights sponsored the delivery of 280 wheelchairs to the new Teleton USA Rehabilitation Center for Children, and 115 wheelchairs for veterans and local needs. The Knights from Holy Trinity Church sponsored the delivery of 115 wheelchairs to the Edmundite Missions in Selma, Alabama, for distribution to the immobile residents in three Alabama counties.

The Washington, DC VA Medical Center always has a need for wheelchairs to transport patients, and send home with the vets who are in need of additional mobility.

During a recent visit to the center, Knights sponsored wheelchairs could be seen in every part of the facility. Going back to the first donation in 2007, the wheelchairs provided by Knights are a great asset to the care and well being of our nation’s heroes.

Wheelchairs allow veterans easier access to VA facilities

Texas State Wheelchair Coordinator Sam Szalwinski and the San Antonio Knights delvier wheelchairs to Catholic Charities

The Wheelchair Sunday parish drives and numerous outreach activities coordinated by Knights across the country are translating into more wheelchairs than ever being delivered to veterans and needy recipients in many states.

The prayers offered by wheelchair recipients and their families are in thanksgiving for the very tangible and meaningful gift of mobility that allows a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

Ft. Worth Catholic Charities was very grateful for the gift of wheelchairs

SK Ed Boenisch, 92, former 4th Degree Master and WWII Honor Flight recipient in Ft. Worth with the Color Corps and Knights on Bikes looking on

Veterans and volunteers in our nation’s VA Medical Centers put Knights sponsored wheelchairs to good use

The Knights of San Antonio and Catholic Charities work together to change lives

Dylan, age 16, at the Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, TX

Fr. Bob Leonhardt is a veteran and a retired member of the Texas Knights on bikes

Richard Moken of Holy Trinity Parish in San Antonio, TX greets a wheelchair recipient in Selma, AL

The Veterans, staff and volunteers at the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC, are very happy to have their new wheelchairs

3

www.amwheelchair.org

Sharing Blessings in the Philippines families in an immediate and tangible way.

There are many wonderful things that can be said about the people of the United States of America, but probably the most notable is the generosity shown when helping people in need throughout the world.

The needs of the poor people of the world are often overlooked by their own governments, and the issue of immobility is one that most have no idea how to handle. Step forth the Knights of Columbus.

In a period of only 11 months, Knights councils in California, Nevada and Texas raised the funding and delivered 1,470 wheelchairs, 300 canes, 300 pairs of crutches and 150 walkers to immobile residents of the Philippines.

4

Working in conjunction with the dioceses of Paranaque and Kalookan on the island of Luzon, the California and Texas Knights delivered 630 wheelchairs 100 canes, 100 pairs of crutches and 50 walkers to children, teens and adults in dire need of mobility.

Changing the lives of entire

American Wheelchair Mission

In Cebu City on the island of Visayas, the Sacred Heart School / Ateneo de Cebu became the newest distribution partner for the California Knights to deliver 280 wheelchairs, 100 canes, 100 pairs of crutches and 50 walkers in the local communities. Fr. Manny Uy, President of the school said, “This is such great evidence of the love that is shared by the Knights of Columbus and Catholic parishioners throughout America who have sent these wheelchairs to our needy families.”

The container of 280 wheelchairs, 100 canes, 100 pairs of crutches and 50 walkers that was delivered to the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City on the island of Mindanao, represents the third shipment of wheelchairs distributed by the school in association with the California Knights of Columbus, and the Lewis Greenwood Foundation.

On the beautiful island of Mindoro, 280 wheelchairs, 100 canes, 100 pairs of crutches and 50 walkers were sponsored by the Knights and parishioners of St. Francis of Assisi in Henderson, Nevada, for distribution by the diocese of Occidental Mindoro. This was the second shipment by the St. Francis of Assisi commu-

nity to the island of Mindoro.

St. Francis Parochial Vicar Fr. Vic Panaligan spent 13 years as a priest in San Jose, Mindoro and said, “When we look into the eyes of the people receiving a wheelchair, we see the face of Jesus. We are living the Gospel by loving and helping the people in need wherever they may live. It enriches our lives and our souls to share our blessings.”

California Knights Jeff Lambert and Burt Mones carry this young man to his wheelchair in Davao City

Deputy Supreme Knight Logan Ludwig meets a wheelchair recipient in Davao City

Salve Rollenas, 7, is so happy to have her new wheelchair in Paranaque

Antonio Aligeay cries during mass over the joy of receiving a wheelchair in Cebu City

Fr. Manny Uy hosted the wheelchair distribution at the Sacred Heart School in Cebu City

California Knight, Eric Watson, lifts 8 year-old Julifer into her first wheelchair in Davao City

Jonah Suson celebrates his new mobility in Davao City

Recipients in San Jose, Mindoro receive a special blessing after mass

5

www.amwheelchair.org

A Better Future for Children in Mexico growing they go.

The Teleton Rehabilitation Centers for Children throughout Mexico are saving the lives of children who have been disabled by diseases from birth or injury.

Through their televised “Teleton” each year since 1996, they have raised the funds to build 23 of the most advanced and beautiful rehabilitation centers in Mexico, and have established their first “CRIT USA” center in San Antonio, Texas.

The combination of medical and holistic therapies are allowing children to live happier and more productive lives. Parents are directly involved in the therapies at the CRIT centers, and continue the process at home. This approach is allowing children with afflictions such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other conditions to live better lives, and makes it easier for parents to care for them.

6

A wheelchair is one of the most common needs of the patient families, but they just cannot afford it. Since 2005, CRIT centers have received thousands of wheelchairs donated by Knights of Columbus, allowing children to go to school, and relieving the parents of the need to carry their

American Wheelchair Mission

children

everywhere

The ability for a child to go outside and play with their siblings is also a very important part of their mental well being, and going to school for the first time after receiving a wheelchair is a life changing experience.

The ease of transport a parent gets with a wheelchair means that children can go more places like church, the market, or just on errands because they are easier to move around. During many conversations with parents carrying large teenagers, we have been told the wheelchair is an answer to their prayers, and the smile on their child’s face is priceless to them.

The Knights and parishioners of Prince of Peace in Plano, Texas have sponsored the delivery of three 280-wheelchair containers in the past three years to the CRIT centers in Guanajuato, Mexico City and Chiapas, MX. Prince of Peace Wheelchair Sunday coordinator, Bill Weber said, “We are blessed to be able to improve the lives of so many children, and help the parents in a way they could never have imagined.”

California Knights sent 280 wheelchairs to the newest CRIT in Tijuana, MX and another to the Guanajuato and Aguascalientes, CRIT’s with the help of Texas Knights.

Fr. John Neneman of Santa Ana, California said, “A Wheelchair Sunday allows us to present the charitable work of the Knights to our parishioners, and get everyone involved. We can make a better future for the children, all over the world.”

Camila Cruz, 4, will have a much brighter future with her wheelchair

Layla Estrada, 9, brightened everyone’s day with her beautiful smile in Mexico City

Msgr. Eduardo Chavez welcomed our group with a tour of Tepeyac Hill at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Adriana Ortiz, 7, can now start going to school because she has a new wheelchair

Bill Weber and Chris Rodriguez share a happy moment with Arturo

Lifting a child into a new life of mobility is a very spiritual and rewarding experience

Luis Garcia, 3, is so excited to move himself in Mexico City

Arturo Martinez, 9, can’t wait to race his friends

Bill Weber of Plano, TX hugs Francisco Guzman, 17, in Pachuca, MX

7

www.amwheelchair.org

Lifting Bodies and Souls in Vietnam For the past three years, Knights and the AWM team from Texas, California, Florida and Arizona have traveled to Vietnam, delivering wheelchairs and a bit of themselves to the people they meet.

Knights of Columbus have sponsored the delivery of many thousands of wheelchairs to people throughout Vietnam. Through Caritas Vietnam, people in need of mobility in all 26 Catholic dioceses of the country have been helped.

Fr. Vincent Vu Ngoc Dong is the Secretary General of Caritas Vietnam. He and his staff coordinate with Caritas offices and parish volunteers throughout Vietnam to provide wheelchairs and humanitarian aid to the poorest of the poor.

8

The stories of lives changed for entire families ranges from the children who can now go to school in their new wheelchairs, to the teens and adults who can go to work because of their newfound mobility, and the elderly who can get out of a bed or a hammock for the first time in years to attend church, socialize with neighbors, or just go outside by themselves to tend their garden. The simple gift of mobility changes lives of entire families, and answers their prayers.

American Wheelchair Mission

Two of the travelers are veterans of the war in Vietnam, and have had the privilege to put former enemies and comrades into wheelchairs. There have been visits to homes in Hanoi where the recipients were former army officers, soldiers and citizens who hated the Americans. But four decades later, the warmth of their embraces and appreciation of mobility are expressed with prayerful thanks and friendship.

Several men who fought alongside American troops in Hue and Dong Ha for the ARVN Forces (South Vietnamese Army), our returning vets were able to give them their first wheelchairs since their loss of limbs in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.

communities with large Vietnamese populations in California and Texas provided the majority of the wheelchairs being sent to the Catholic communities of Vietnam.

Fr. Vincent Au of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Corona, California said, “When you see these people crawl on the floor to get their wheelchair, and when you lift them up, you are lifting their soul to a place it may never have been before. We are very blessed.”

Dao Van Tieu, 60, receives a blessing from Fr. Joseph in Hanoi

In the span of one year, Knights have sponsored the delivery of 1,120 wheelchairs, 400 canes, 400 pairs of crutches and 200 walkers to the Catholic Dioceses of Saigon, Danang and Hanoi, to be distributed by local Caritas staff and volunteers.

Wheelchair Sundays held in

Receiving a new wheelchair deeply touches the hearts of those in need of mobility

A fishing village on the Song Thach Han River, Quang Tri Province, from the Le Duan Highway

Nguyen Chanh, 64, is so happy to have his own wheelchair

A blessing for the wheelchairs in Dong Ha

Phan No, 66, lost his legs while fighting alongside US troops in 1971, the same year that Paul Fehmel from Dallas, TX was also in Hue

Nguyen Thi Can, 94, is very thankful and praying for all of us

Le Thi Ngoan, 25, was able to start her own business in Haiphong fixing cell phones to provide for her son, thanks to the mobility provided by her wheelchair

Knights of Columbus and Caritas Vietnam changing lives at Catholic pairshes in Hanoi

9

www.amwheelchair.org

Project Sa’olotoga (Mobility) for American Samoa Diocese of Honolulu to expand charitable participation of the Knights and their parish communities in Hawaii with the people of the Pacific Islands.

The American Wheelchair Mission has delivered 840 wheelchairs and mobility aids to the people of American Samoa since 2010, sponsored

by AWM board member Dan Danielson, the Direct Response Television Industry, and the Knights of Columbus.

Dan’s ancestry has roots in American Samoa and his family has participated in the hands on delivery of the wheelchairs on three occasions.

The most recent trip involved greater cooperation with the Catholic Diocese of Samoa Pago Pago and Bishop Peter Brown, who is the President of Hope House, an assisted living and charitable outreach facility on the grounds of the cathedral.

Many precious lives were touched and improved by the gifts of mobility, prayer, and friendship.

But just being there to grasp a hand, give a hug, or share a bit of yourself with a person in need, can mean more to them than any gift you could ever deliver.

Penelope Fuiava, 73, can go to church again in Pago Pago, American Samoa

Bishop Peter Brown welcomes the American Wheelchair Mission team to the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago

Annabelle, 7, loves being able to move herself around her classroom in Pago Pago, American Samoa

280 wheelchairs, 100 canes, 100 pairs of crutches and 50 walkers were delivered to Pago Pago and distributed under banners that read “Project Sa’olotoga.”

Bishop Brown welcomed the sponsorship participation of the Knights of Columbus on the mainland, and took steps to connect the AWM with the

10 American Wheelchair Mission

Aunu’u Island Chief Avaloa Fuiava and his wife both received wheelchairs

Helping Their Own in Sierra Leone per month, and put more ablebodied people with physical disabilities to work making the wheelchairs and crutches, for the huge numbers of residents in need of them.

Troy Chesnut, Ph.D. is a member of the board of directors of the American Wheelchair Mission, and Co-Founder of the Vrdur Foundation.

Troy participated in delivering wheelchairs to people in Koidu, Sierra Leone in 2011, and said it was an extremely emotional experience.

“Sierra Leone contains perhaps the greatest number of people maimed and mutilated as the result of a brutal civil war, that now has thankfully ended.”

Troy continued, “I saw a video of a physically disabled young man in Bo, SL who had built a 3 wheel wheelchair for himself.

I saw the name of an organization called ‘Mobility Sierra Leone’ on the wheelchair, looked them up online, and emailed them the same day. To date, their small shop has manufactured and delivered 40 wheelchairs and 30 crutches to Koidu and Freetown medical clinics for us.”

The plan is for the American Wheelchair Mission and partnering Knights of Columbus state councils to help expand the small facility in Bo, to increase the production of wheelchairs to more than 20

Videos can be seen of Vrdur/ AWM wheelchair distributions in Sierra Leone by visiting http:// tiny.cc/sierra-leone or searching YouTube for “Amina’s Community Health Center 2.”

This young man thanks God for the people who gave him a wheelchair

This man has waited years to receive a wheelchair

Thousands of young men and women have lost legs because of civil war and violence

All three of these girls will be able to attend school in Freetown because they now have wheelchairs

11

www.amwheelchair.org

Photo Gallery

Parish priests work hand-in-hand with Caritas delivering aid throughout Vietnam

Laura Romero at the St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic in Green Valley, Arizona

12

Rogelio Angelo, 62, received his first wheelchair from CA Knight Jeff Lambert, with CA State Deputy Abe Doliente looking on

Project Sa’olotoga (Mobility) delivery of 180 wheelchairs, canes, crutches and walkers at the Fatuoaiga Cathedral, American Samoa

American Wheelchair Mission

Now she can go to church again in her new wheelchair

High school students in Cebu City helped deliver wheelchairs at the Sacred Heart School

Sr. Bennie of the Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor cradles a young wheelchair recipient in Paranaque, Philippines

Holding her grandpa’s new pair of crutches

Holy Eucharist Parish, Paranaque, Philippines

Thumbs up for a new wheelchair and a new life!

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller visits CRIT USA in San Antonio with the Knights who sponsored 280 wheelchairs to the facility

Metotisi Sili, 57, is very happy to have a new wheelchair

13

www.amwheelchair.org

Knights of Columbus and Wheelchairs Since 2003, Knights of Columbus have sponsored the delivery of tens of thousands of wheelchairs around the world, and right here at home to veterans and their families in need of mobility.

Since

2007,

Knights

across the U.S. have been having “Wheelchair Sunday” parish drives to raise funds for the delivery

of

wheel-

Assumption Blessed Church

of

the

Virgin in

California,

Mary

Pasadena, where

Fr.

Gerard O’Brien coined the phrase “Wheelchair Sunday,” this program has spread across the country and sponsored thousands

of

wheel-

chairs.

The first 5 parish drives in Southern California raised enough money to sponsor the delivery of

US and Vietnamese veterans work together to deliver wheelchairs throughout Vietnam

Please visit our website to watch videos of Knights delivering wheelchairs around the world, read articles or donate.

1,000 brand new wheelchairs and added more than 150 new Knights to the local membership.

Please visit the Knights of Columbus page of our website to learn how you can host a “Wheelchair Sunday.”

For more information, please contact: Dan Moberg Director of Public Education 2600 E. Seltice Way, Suite A-172 Post Falls, Idaho 83854 USA dmoberg@amwheelchair.org (208) 457-0745

Chris Lewis President 2505 Anthem Village Dr., Suite E-602 Henderson, Nevada 89052-5505 USA clewis@amwheelchair.org (702) 580-0705

© Copyright 2015 American Wheelchair Mission | Photos by: Randy Hale, Chris Lewis & Contributing Photographers

chairs. Beginning with