Noel Morris’ favorite part of distributing wheelchairs to those in need is “seeing the look on somebody’s face that has not been mobile before.”

Rotary Club of Springdale members and Rotarians from other clubs in District 6110 will deliver 280 wheelchairs to Mexico in February.

The donation drive for the club’s wheelchair mission continues through the end of December.

About 11 years ago, Morris, a member of the Rotary Club of Springdale and a board member for the American Wheelchair Mission, traveled to a Rotary International convention in Barcelona, Spain, and saw a presentation about delivering wheelchairs to those in need. He was going to be president of the Springdale Rotary club that year, and he changed his emphasis for the year to the wheelchair mission.

“The club got excited about it and has remained excited about it for 11 years,” Morris said.

The Rotary Club of Springdale has been working with the American Wheelchair Mission for the past few years, Morris said.

The American Wheelchair Mission is led by President Chris Lewis, son of actor and philanthropist Jerry Lewis, and is a nonprofi t organization with the goal of delivering 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, according to the American Wheelchair Mission website.

Rotary clubs around the world are involved with the American Wheelchair Mission. Each year, the Rotary Club of Springdale chooses a location to deliver wheelchairs. Morris said the Springdale club is the main one involved in this mission, but there are also Rotary club members in Rogers, Mountain Home, Bentonville and Tulsa, Okla., who participate as well. The container of wheelchairs delivered to an area includes 280 brand new wheelchairs, spare parts in case some of the chairs need repairs over the years and also walkers, crutches and canes. Rotary members get a chance to go on this annual trip to see what the experience is like, Morris said, paying their own expenses for the trip.

Earlier this year, a container of wheelchairs was taken to the Teleton Rehabilitation Center for Children in Guanajuato, Mexico, and 200 chairs were distributed to children. Morris said many of theyoungsters had always been carried by their mothers.

“Some of these kids are too big to be carried, but these moms just do it,” he said.

The Rotarians had to show a couple of the kids what to do with their hands and how to push themselves, and Morris said then a “smile comes up” on the children’s faces.

“You change somebody’s life. They’ve not been mobile, then all of a sudden they are,” he said.

Morris said funds from this mission also help provide wheelchairs to other places in need during the year, but those gifts are not accompanied by Rotary members.

A donation drive for next year’s distribution began Oct. 1, when Lewis came to speak at the Rotary Club of Springdale meeting andshowed a video from the previous distribution. About $50,000 has been raised so far, Morris said, and the drive will continue through Dec. 31. These funds go toward the container of wheelchairs that will be delivered to a Teleton center an hour outside of Cancun, Mexico.

The rest of the funds raised will help provide wheelchairs to people all over the world. Morris said they work with the Red Cross and Red Crescent to deliver the chairs to places when Rotary members are not accompanying them.

Some 10 to 12 Rotary members are planning now to take the trip in February, but Morris estimates there will be 25 to 30 total. Therewere close to 30 people on the last trip, including members from Rotary clubs in Springdale, Rogers, Bella Vista, Tulsa, Mountain Home and a few other clubs in Oklahoma. He noted the trip is open to anyone who wants to go, though, not just Rotary members.

“You could almost say it’s kind of like a vacation, but it’s not like any one you’ve ever had,” he said.

After a travel day, the participants will work for two days in various locations to make sure people are getting wheelchairs, sometimes traveling to individuals’ homes.

“After you’ve been doing that for a couple of days, it can be emotionally draining,” Morris said.

“We’ve got people that cry for two days solid.”

The participants will then have a day of rest before traveling home.

Morris said giving a wheelchair is instant gratification. During the Springdale club’s fi rst trip, they put a man in a wheelchair who’d been lying in bed for nine years.

“It changed his life,” Morris said.

Life, Pages 9 on 12/05/2012