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Dec. 22, 2022
Disabled Lives Changed After Receiving A Wheelchair
Join host John Matarazzo as he interviews the Founder of Free Wheelchair Mission Don Schoendorfer with his story of how God gave him the vision to make wheelchairs to mobilize those with disabilities. Listen as Schoendorfer shares how lives are changed through the power of obedience to the Lord.
For more about Don Schoendorfer and his mission check out
https://www.freewheelchairmission.org/schoendorfer/
To donate a wheelchair today check out
Transcript
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Read more stories on spirit-led living when you subscribe to Charisma Magazine.
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Go to MyCharismaShop.com and enter in the promo code CPN to receive 10% off the price
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of the subscription.
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This is John Matarazzo for Charisma News, and today I have a very special guest with me
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to talk about the mobility issue of so many people around the world.
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I have been a missionary to 15 different countries, and I've seen people in all different walks
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of life that have had various needs.
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One of those biggest needs is the need to be able to use their legs and to be able to
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get around.
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Well, my guest today has had a stroke of genius, a God-inspired genius, to be able to help
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people in a way that most people think there's no way that they could be able to afford or
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be able to help people with these mobility issues.
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He's the author of this new book called Miracle Wheels, and we're going to be talking with
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Dr. Don Schoendorfer, and it is a pleasure to have you here today, sir.
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Oh, thank you, John.
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It's a beautiful Friday morning.
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I'd love to be on your show.
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Thank you, thank you.
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You're the founder and CEO of the Free Wheelchair Mission, and I've heard about this for a while,
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I've seen a few actually out on the mission field in different times, and it's just amazing
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to see how you were able to take this idea that God gave you and put it into something
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that's very practical for so many people, and you can really change their lives.
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Would you just mind just telling people how God spoke to you about this and what happened
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in your life that you wanted to put your experience into the kingdom?
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Well, I started off in graduate school deciding to become a biomedical engineer and wanting
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to do things for medical purposes, for hospitals, for doctors, and helping people, but from
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a very technical and commercial way, working for companies, doing that, was very happy,
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very successful doing that work.
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Very early in my career, my wife and I went on a vacation to Morocco, 1979, in a very
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crowded, very old part of a city, very crowded dirt road, almost like an alley, but it was
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lined on either side by vendors and people walking through, and we're just in awe with
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all the colors and the smells and the sounds and everything, but between people's legs
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crawls this woman using her fingernails for traction, dragging her limp legs behind her.
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They were no asset to her at all, and she was bleeding, she was filthy, her clothes
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were shredded, and she wasn't looking at anything but her fingers and taking these six-inch
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long sort of strokes at the ground and hoping nobody would step on her.
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That was shocking, but then we noticed how people were just stepping over her like she
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was something bad and not wanting to do anything about her, about her condition, which was
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bad too.
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We're new to life in the developing world, and it was later explained that that's just
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life, you just deal with it.
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All she wanted to do is get across that little alley without being stepped on, and then she
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disappeared.
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The whole thing took about 45 seconds, and it just stopped our hearts.
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What do we do?
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How do we fix this?
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Let's go find a wheelchair.
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It's impossible.
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All our traditional American ways of trying to fix the problem were not possible, and
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we just walked away.
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Went back home and carried on for 20 years on my career, developing my career.
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That image never left me though.
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Whenever you experience some things like that, they just really stick with you.
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Those are like heart imprint moments.
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I've seen some of those people too on the mission field.
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I know what it's like to see somebody and just feel compassion.
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I'm like, I don't know what I can do.
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There's nothing that I can do.
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I don't have the money to just buy them what they need to get around.
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I don't even know how to get a wheelchair for somebody.
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I've helped carry people to places they've needed to go, but that's not a long-term solution.
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That's just helping people in the short term with that need.
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With your biomedical engineer background, what inspired you to start making these unique
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wheelchairs?
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Well, as we advance in our careers and family and home and all that, we had three teenage
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daughters and they brought us to our knees.
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My wife was brought up a Catholic.
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I was brought up in a congregational church.
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Always gave God credit for creating the universe, but I didn't think he had time even to deal
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with an individual's life like mine.
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But then surrendering to him and then realizing that there are great benefits from surrendering
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and we didn't have to deal with a lot of the issues we couldn't solve anyway.
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I brought us back to church.
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I started off thinking I could do more than just go on Sunday.
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I could be a volunteer.
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I could mentor.
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I could tutor.
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I was enjoying it and I think the students were, but I wasn't really being very successful
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at either one.
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I did that for a few years.
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I like to compress the story into a phone call that I got from God.
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Now, I really didn't have this happen.
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But it's an easy way to tell the story.
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So this is how my story goes.
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The phone rings in the middle of the night.
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I answer it and the voice is, Don, I assume you know who this is.
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I said, yes.
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God, I think this is you talking.
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He said, I want to just talk to you about how you're spending your time.
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You thought you could help me by tutoring and mentoring high school students from Central
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America, but you're not any good at it.
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You know that.
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I know that.
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And I don't know why you just don't use the tools that I gave you to help my kingdom.
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And then he hung up.
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Well, again, it didn't happen like that.
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But it did over about a six-month period.
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I understood all the essence of that phone call had it happened.
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And he was dead right.
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I was not using my tools.
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So then this image that was now 20 years old about this woman crossing a dirt road with
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her fingernails, gee, what does she need?
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She needed a chair with wheels on it.
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And the name the wheelchair has the ingredients.
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And so I went.
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That's true.
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A wheel and a chair.
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OK.
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So I went to Toys R Us.
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And I saw bicycles for sale from China for $60.
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And I knew enough about engineering and manufacturing to figure that those wheels probably cost $3
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each to make in China.
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And they're made by the millions and the millions because bicycles are so popular even now.
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And then next to Toys R Us is Home Depot.
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And they had white resin lawn chairs on sale.
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And it was fall.
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And so I got a whole lot of those for $4.
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So I had $4.
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I figured I had $10, two wheels and a chair.
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So get a couple casters, get some steel, connect them.
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And OK.
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And now I had a prototype.
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And I knew the value of a prototype.
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If as an engineer, if you don't have something that people can get their hands on, it's really
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hard to convince them of anything.
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So I took this prototype to my church, Mariner's Church in Southern California.
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I had a meeting with the mission pastor and mission director.
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And he was kind of late for the meeting.
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He was tired.
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He had just got back from a mission trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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And I pushed a wheelchair out and showed it to him.
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He said, no, Don, I can't believe this, what you're showing me now.
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Because just two days ago, I saw people crawling on the ground in the Democratic Republic of
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the Congo.
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And I see that.
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And this is so simple.
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It's so basic.
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It's almost a primitive version of a wheelchair.
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But it'll serve the purpose.
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So let's go to the next step.
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And so he could have completely killed the idea right there.
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But he didn't.
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He expanded on it.
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And so I went and made 100 of them and wanted to do a clinical trial, because that's what
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I did for a living, getting things through the FDA.
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And then I had a chance not to bring 100 of them to India, but just four.
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And I literally saw a family's life, this very first wheelchair.
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Just incredible story.
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And here I am trying to get data.
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And I'm overwhelmed by the compassion of what was happening.
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I literally saw these families' life change from the moment they put their son in the
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wheelchair.
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And they could both work now.
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They did one of them had to stay home.
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They were living in a situation where it was a break even for them.
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They were just making enough money to put a roof over their head.
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Very poor.
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And so this is all happening in a suburb of India.
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On a Sunday afternoon, we drive through their village.
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We give them the wheelchair.
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The crowd gathers around.
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And under the circumstances, the man who was our guide didn't ask for permission from the
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elder to enter the village.
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And the elder came in the middle of this, now 30 or 40 people watching what was going
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on.
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And he was embarrassed.
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And he was mad.
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And so the elder, I mean, our guide whose name was Moses said, Don, we have to leave
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right now.
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I did a really bad thing, a discourteous thing to the elder.
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And he doesn't look very happy.
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And I agreed.
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He didn't look happy either.
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But I said, OK, Moses, that was my guide's name.
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I did my job.
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It's your turn.
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And he said, what do you mean?
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And I said, well, I brought the wheelchair.
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I opened the doors for you.
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I noticed you've got a Bible in your pocket.
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Tell them why we're here.
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And he opened the Bible and read to them in this Hindu village.
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And they all listened to him because they thought they're getting an explanation from
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the words of Jesus why he was getting this wheelchair.
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This boy, this young boy was getting this wheelchair.
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And as we tried to leave as quickly as we can, not to refer to the elder, we got in
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a bus, started to try to drive down the road.
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The bus driver was in a hurry to get home.
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The elders ran.
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I mean, the villagers ran after us.
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Oh, no.
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I need to stop the bus pounding on the side of the bus.
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And finally, they got in front of the bus, put their hands on the windshield.
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That driver was going to have to run over them.
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Oh, no.
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If they didn't stop the bus.
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And we're all thinking this was in 2001.
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We're all thinking we're going to be kidnapped now.
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We're going to be held.
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Right.
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Those pretty dicey situations.
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Yes.
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They could be.
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I mean, our imaginations are pretty creative, too.
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But we turn around and here comes the mom carrying two glasses of water.
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And she felt she had, at that point when we left, we were leaving without the wheelchair.
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She understood, even though we told her, she really understood that she gets to keep the
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wheelchair.
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And she felt she had to give us something because she realized what it had done for
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her life and the life of her family.
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And that was the only thing she could afford to give was water.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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So you're able to help people that have just this extreme need.
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And I mean, whenever somebody's, they're crippled, if they have a family, not only are they taken
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out of the picture, but somebody else has to then give a good portion of their life
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to take care of that person.
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And so you're really having two people that are handicapped in a way.
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And so by you providing these free wheelchairs, you're literally giving mobility back to the
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person that actually has the physical handicap, but I guess the family handicap is also being
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set free as well.
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And as you said, then somebody, they could both start working or they have other opportunities
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at that point.
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Those stories are just incredible.
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And I know that you have so many more of those, and I'd love to incorporate a few more of
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those in our conversation here.
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But I just want to make mention, before we started this interview, I just looked up,
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I just Googled, what does it cost to buy a wheelchair?
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And it's a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, depending on all the bells
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and whistles that you might add to it.
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But you're telling me and all of our listeners here that for $96, not only can you provide
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a wheelchair, but you can get it to the person in another part of the world?
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Yeah, that's true.
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We have made in China, because that's the only way we can get these things at this expense,
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at this local expense.
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And in India, and they're shipped by ocean container, 550 wheelchairs in a container
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to one of our 94 countries that we've served.
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And we deliver them to a distribution partner.
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And they're the ones that figure out how to give them away in their country.
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Every country has different rules and customs and laws.
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And then we've trained them in person and in my virtual training methods.
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They store the wheelchairs.
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I mean, they unload the container, they store the wheelchairs, they find the people who
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need the wheelchairs.
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We have different sizes.
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They've matched up the size to the wheelchair we offer to the size they need.
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And we train them how to assemble the chair.
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And then we train them how to adjust the chair.
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So when they give away a wheelchair, it's not just dropped off at the door.
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It's custom fit.
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And then the family's trained on how to use the chair and how to maintain the chair.
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And we do all that for $96.
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That's incredible.
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That is such a blessing that you're able to do that.
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Dr. Don, how many people have been able to be, how many lives have been able to be changed
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because of these free wheelchairs?
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Well these last 21 years, we've given over 1.3 million wheelchairs.
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Wow.
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And then so the need is still so great, but what you're doing is immense.
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That's something that, did you have any idea that whenever you started this, that we would
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be in the year 2022 talking about over a million people's lives being changed because of this?
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No.
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I fought the battle of doing this.
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I wanted to prove a point.
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I wanted to write a paper about this inexpensive, durable, functional wheelchair.
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But then I was going to just write a paper and move on with my other, my day job.
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But I kept on hearing from God, stay with this, do this.
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And I was fighting it to the point when I got back from this trip to India in 2001,
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while I was gone, the company I was working for went bankrupt.
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I didn't have a job.
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Oh, goodness.
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I thought that was a coincidence.
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But when I talked to people who are more spiritually astute than I am, they said, this is how God
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is working.
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My wife said, I'm going to go back to work.
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I've been a stay at home mom for 15 years.
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I've put the food on the table.
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Now it's my turn to go back to work, she said.
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And you can do this.
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You can dedicate your time to this.
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So I'm hearing it from God.
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I'm hearing it from my wife.
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But what am I?
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I got this education.
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I got a PhD in mechanical engineering.
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I've got 25 years of committed career on leading things, complicated things in biology and
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medicine.
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And I'm going to start a nonprofit, which I know nothing about.
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And both my wife, Lori, and the Lord convinced me that that's what was to do.
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So once I realized that, I said, OK, I'm going to surrender again, Lord.
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I'm going to take orders from you.
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And so to me, it's not a surprise that I know what his capacity is.
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The way I like to look at it is one wheelchair at a time, just changing one life.
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I mean, 75 million people need a wheelchair.
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But if you can just change one, what a magnificent thing that is.
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So every one we give away is to them, they consider it a miracle.
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That's the name of the book, Miracle Weeds.
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Yeah.
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And let's talk about your book a little bit, just because I think it's really important.
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Your book, Miracle Wheels, the story of a mission to bring mobility to the world.
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If you go to MiracleWheels.org, you can get your copy of this.
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And 100% of the proceeds support the work of the free wheelchair mission.
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So that's like if it takes $96, I recommend getting five books.
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That way you're covering the cost of a wheelchair.
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And you can then also read the book, but give four away to friends and family to help pass
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on the vision and the heart for this.
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Dr. Don, what are some stories that you share in this book that people can look forward
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to reading more in detail?
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Well, there's one good one.
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We call it 52.
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We didn't get the name of the person, but we do remember he said he was 52 years old.
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And we were just finishing a distribution in India and going back and packing everything
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into trucks and ready to leave, go on to another distribution.
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And there's this man in one of our early design wheelchairs, we call the Gen 1, with the white
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resin lawn chair.
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And he's doing three things over and over again.
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He's throwing his hands up into the sky, looking up and just praising the heavens.
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He's wiping his tears from his face because he's crying profusely.
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And he's holding his chest with his heart, his chest because he was afraid his heart
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was, I think he felt his heart was going to burst.
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He was just so excited about this wheelchair.
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And he was doing this over and over and over again, over and over and over again.
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And so he, sir, what is happening?
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What's going on?
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What are you thinking about?
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And he said, I'm 52 years old.
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About 10 years ago, I was at a train station.
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They came and robbed me and they threw me in front of a train and the train came up
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my legs.
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But this is the first day in my whole life that anybody has ever done anything kind to
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me.
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That makes an impact in your life, hearing a story like that, and that God used you to
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show the love of Christ to somebody.
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Well, we find people going, you know, getting, getting a job, getting a career, raising a
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family, doing things that they've maybe they've been dreaming about, but maybe they've never
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dreamt about it because they never thought they've been living in the shadows in the
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back room for three decades.
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We found people like this who haven't seen the light of day for three decades and their
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families are their wheelchairs or families are keeping them alive.
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Sometimes it's the neighbors.
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Sometimes they're abandoned on the street and a neighbor or somebody will pick them
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up and, you know, and help them live, continue their life.
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Sometimes they can crawl.
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It's sad to see.
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Sometimes if they're not too heavy, they can be carried wherever they need to go.
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And sometimes if they're too heavy and maybe too frail, they live in the back room until
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they die.
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And the family doesn't necessarily even know anything about medicine or disability or any
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of those things.
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They just, they just know we got to do our best to keep whoever it is alive as long as
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we can.
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Wow.
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So what inspired you to write this book now?
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I mean, you've been doing this for 21 years.
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What's the message of this book that's, that's important for today?
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Well, we try to tell the story as accurately and as sincerely as we can.
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Try to, there's five or six really good stories about what it's like to live in the developing
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world without a wheelchair.
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This is not the developed world.
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This is a distinction.
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It's not United States or Northern Europe or Australia, developing countries where,
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you know, people, there's, it's, it's, there's not even sometimes enough food to go around
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and there's no way anybody is going to even imagine a wheelchair.
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They don't even have them for sale.
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They're not available.
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Any money you'd have would not even be commerce.
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It may just be the food you're growing in your back, you know, to keep alive.
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There's no way anybody could afford a wheelchair.
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And then all of, and then the book, try to describe that change.
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It happens in just a matter of seconds.
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You walk in, they see your feet.
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You get the chair.
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So you think it's pretty well adjusted for their body's shape and size.
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And then you pick them up and you put them in the chair and then you have to make some
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final adjustments.
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But when you try to move away, they're holding you.
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For one, they, you know, you had to hold them and they hold you so you can put them in a
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chair, but they're not wanting to let go because they're crying and they don't want, especially
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if there's a man, they don't want anybody to see how, how, how this gift has affected
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them.
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And you look around in the family, they're all, everyone's crying, but they're all happy
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crying and then it, and then you, you pull back from, and this person doesn't even look
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the same.
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00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:29,800
They had this different, you know, human eye to eye contact, whereas before they're looking
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up at you when you walk in and suddenly you're on their level.
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He's on your level.
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She's on your level.
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And it's almost like it's a different person.
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And they're starting to dream.
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All of a sudden their mind, their minds are racing.
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What am I going to do?
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What can I do now?
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What can I, what would it be like?
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00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,040
And then you say, would you like to go see the sunset?
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What?
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00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:04,200
We could, I could go see a sunset or I could go see my, my grandson play soccer.
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00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,480
I hear he's really good.
398
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:07,480
How about the fresh air?
399
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,800
Would you like to get outside and get some fresh air?
400
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:10,800
Wow.
401
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:15,680
Well, yeah, it's, you know, all these things you give up when you can't move.
402
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:16,680
Wow.
403
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,000
You know, these, these stories that you're sharing and the examples that you're sharing
404
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,720
are very, they're very touching.
405
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:30,000
And because people that aren't mobile are often not seen, they're often forgotten about.
406
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And God is, God is the God of the forgotten.
407
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He is the ones, He is the one that's going to go after the, He's going to leave the 99
408
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,360
to go after the one and He's going to pursue them and He's going to bring them, whether
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00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:45,700
they've run away themselves or they've just fallen down and they've broken, they've broken
410
00:25:45,700 --> 00:25:47,840
a bone or something like that.
411
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:48,840
He's the good shepherd.
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He's going to go after them and God is using Dr. Don Schoendorfer to provide mobility for
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00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,960
people to see the hands and feet of Jesus, the love of Jesus.
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00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:05,800
And you know, on your, on your website, Dr. Don, you have these first generation version
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00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:11,160
of the wheelchair, which is just what you described earlier about with the white resin
416
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,200
chair and the bicycle tires.
417
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:19,160
And it's really, it seems like something that could easily be used.
418
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:25,920
And then you've got the generation two, which you rolled out in 2009.
419
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,160
It definitely looks like a step up.
420
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:35,320
And then you have the generation three that came out in 2013, which has even more customizable
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00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:36,320
parts to it.
422
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,980
And it looks like it would help a lot of people.
423
00:26:39,980 --> 00:26:43,280
What is the next step for the free wheelchair mission?
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00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:49,720
Well, we're working of course on, we don't kind of call it generation four, but there's
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00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,520
a, there's things we've learned.
426
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:56,100
And we've learned by working with people in developing countries who manufactured these
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00:26:56,100 --> 00:26:59,680
chairs for us in China and India.
428
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:05,040
And we've learned how to take these skills they have rather than to come to them with
429
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:10,920
a brand new design that we are, you know, in our, our brilliance would have thought
430
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:17,600
up in our, this, we, we designed a wheelchair about what they can make.
431
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:23,240
And we try and then we try to bring them into the design into the creative part of it by
432
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:26,320
asking them, Oh, how would you make this break work better?
433
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:27,320
How would you do this?
434
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,800
What kind of bearings do you think we should use?
435
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,060
And, and we want to make a chair that's going to be lighter.
436
00:27:33,060 --> 00:27:37,040
We want to make it a chair that's even more adjustable.
437
00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:43,000
You know, humanity, many people in the world are getting larger as, as time goes on because
438
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,680
there's diets that are a little bit richer in calories.
439
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:52,440
And then we want to reach down into this, the other end where a chair for a lighter,
440
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,800
a smaller person.
441
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,680
You know, in the beginning, I, I realized that families, mothers and fathers wanted
442
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,280
to carry their children if they couldn't walk.
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00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:06,720
That was, that was, they liked being their child's legs, but they get to a certain point
444
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,080
when they're too heavy.
445
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:16,120
And, and, and we went and, but we want to bring that ability to wheel a child into the,
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00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:22,640
into the, into the younger ages because sometimes, you know, these schools are miles away and
447
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:24,400
then, you know, you've got the choice.
448
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:29,880
Do I, do I carry my child to school or do is, is this, is this their graduation now
449
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,440
from not ever going to school again?
450
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:38,280
Because I can, I can't spend four hours and walking five miles to carry my kid to school
451
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,000
back and forth.
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00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:46,460
So, and so that we're trying to reach in a little bit deeper into the types of wheelchairs
453
00:28:46,460 --> 00:28:50,600
that now we know so much about because we've given so many away.
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00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:51,600
Yeah.
455
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,980
So because you've given so many away, you've seen them in different and different applications
456
00:28:54,980 --> 00:28:57,980
in different terrains and different areas of the world.
457
00:28:57,980 --> 00:29:04,920
And you've seen people with different needs, different applications of those needs as well.
458
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:11,640
You're able to tweak and adjust and continue on innovating and providing a better service
459
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:13,120
to these people.
460
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:18,040
Dr. Don, it's been a pleasure to talk to you today and I just want to encourage people
461
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:24,560
to check out his website, miraclewheels.org to get your copy of Miracle Wheels, the story
462
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:32,240
of a mission to bring mobility to the world, as well as his website, freewheelchairmission.org.
463
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:37,580
And both of those, I believe they'll lead to each other, but you can see videos and
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00:29:37,580 --> 00:29:42,840
testimonies and examples of the work that they're doing.
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00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:49,540
And Dr. Don, thank you so much for coming on and joining me for the Charisma News podcast.
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00:29:49,540 --> 00:29:52,400
It's an encouragement and it's a blessing.
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00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:53,400
Thank you, John.
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00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:59,260
It's a blessing for us to get the word out about this, about we can make the world a
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00:29:59,260 --> 00:30:03,840
better place and help build God's kingdom in the same time.
470
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:04,840
Amen.
471
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:05,840
Amen.
472
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,440
This has been John Matarazzo for the Charisma News podcast.
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God bless you.
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This is John Matarazzo for Charisma News, and today I have a very special guest with me
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to talk about the mobility issue of so many people around the world.
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I have been a missionary to 15 different countries, and I've seen people in all different walks
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of life that have had various needs.
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One of those biggest needs is the need to be able to use their legs and to be able to
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get around.
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Well, my guest today has had a stroke of genius, a God-inspired genius, to be able to help
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people in a way that most people think there's no way that they could be able to afford or
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be able to help people with these mobility issues.
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He's the author of this new book called Miracle Wheels, and we're going to be talking with
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Dr. Don Schoendorfer, and it is a pleasure to have you here today, sir.
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Oh, thank you, John.
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It's a beautiful Friday morning.
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I'd love to be on your show.
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Thank you, thank you.
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You're the founder and CEO of the Free Wheelchair Mission, and I've heard about this for a while,
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I've seen a few actually out on the mission field in different times, and it's just amazing
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to see how you were able to take this idea that God gave you and put it into something
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that's very practical for so many people, and you can really change their lives.
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Would you just mind just telling people how God spoke to you about this and what happened
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in your life that you wanted to put your experience into the kingdom?
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Well, I started off in graduate school deciding to become a biomedical engineer and wanting
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to do things for medical purposes, for hospitals, for doctors, and helping people, but from
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a very technical and commercial way, working for companies, doing that, was very happy,
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very successful doing that work.
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Very early in my career, my wife and I went on a vacation to Morocco, 1979, in a very
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crowded, very old part of a city, very crowded dirt road, almost like an alley, but it was
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lined on either side by vendors and people walking through, and we're just in awe with
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all the colors and the smells and the sounds and everything, but between people's legs
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crawls this woman using her fingernails for traction, dragging her limp legs behind her.
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They were no asset to her at all, and she was bleeding, she was filthy, her clothes
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were shredded, and she wasn't looking at anything but her fingers and taking these six-inch
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long sort of strokes at the ground and hoping nobody would step on her.
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That was shocking, but then we noticed how people were just stepping over her like she
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was something bad and not wanting to do anything about her, about her condition, which was
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bad too.
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We're new to life in the developing world, and it was later explained that that's just
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life, you just deal with it.
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All she wanted to do is get across that little alley without being stepped on, and then she
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disappeared.
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The whole thing took about 45 seconds, and it just stopped our hearts.
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What do we do?
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How do we fix this?
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Let's go find a wheelchair.
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It's impossible.
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All our traditional American ways of trying to fix the problem were not possible, and
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we just walked away.
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Went back home and carried on for 20 years on my career, developing my career.
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That image never left me though.
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Whenever you experience some things like that, they just really stick with you.
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Those are like heart imprint moments.
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I've seen some of those people too on the mission field.
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I know what it's like to see somebody and just feel compassion.
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I'm like, I don't know what I can do.
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There's nothing that I can do.
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I don't have the money to just buy them what they need to get around.
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I don't even know how to get a wheelchair for somebody.
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I've helped carry people to places they've needed to go, but that's not a long-term solution.
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That's just helping people in the short term with that need.
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With your biomedical engineer background, what inspired you to start making these unique
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wheelchairs?
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Well, as we advance in our careers and family and home and all that, we had three teenage
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daughters and they brought us to our knees.
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My wife was brought up a Catholic.
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I was brought up in a congregational church.
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Always gave God credit for creating the universe, but I didn't think he had time even to deal
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with an individual's life like mine.
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But then surrendering to him and then realizing that there are great benefits from surrendering
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and we didn't have to deal with a lot of the issues we couldn't solve anyway.
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I brought us back to church.
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I started off thinking I could do more than just go on Sunday.
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I could be a volunteer.
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I could mentor.
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I could tutor.
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I was enjoying it and I think the students were, but I wasn't really being very successful
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at either one.
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I did that for a few years.
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I like to compress the story into a phone call that I got from God.
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Now, I really didn't have this happen.
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But it's an easy way to tell the story.
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So this is how my story goes.
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The phone rings in the middle of the night.
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I answer it and the voice is, Don, I assume you know who this is.
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I said, yes.
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God, I think this is you talking.
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He said, I want to just talk to you about how you're spending your time.
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You thought you could help me by tutoring and mentoring high school students from Central
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America, but you're not any good at it.
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You know that.
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I know that.
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And I don't know why you just don't use the tools that I gave you to help my kingdom.
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And then he hung up.
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Well, again, it didn't happen like that.
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But it did over about a six-month period.
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I understood all the essence of that phone call had it happened.
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And he was dead right.
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I was not using my tools.
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So then this image that was now 20 years old about this woman crossing a dirt road with
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her fingernails, gee, what does she need?
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She needed a chair with wheels on it.
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And the name the wheelchair has the ingredients.
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And so I went.
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That's true.
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A wheel and a chair.
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OK.
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So I went to Toys R Us.
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And I saw bicycles for sale from China for $60.
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And I knew enough about engineering and manufacturing to figure that those wheels probably cost $3
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each to make in China.
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And they're made by the millions and the millions because bicycles are so popular even now.
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And then next to Toys R Us is Home Depot.
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And they had white resin lawn chairs on sale.
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And it was fall.
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And so I got a whole lot of those for $4.
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So I had $4.
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I figured I had $10, two wheels and a chair.
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So get a couple casters, get some steel, connect them.
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And OK.
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And now I had a prototype.
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And I knew the value of a prototype.
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If as an engineer, if you don't have something that people can get their hands on, it's really
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hard to convince them of anything.
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So I took this prototype to my church, Mariner's Church in Southern California.
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I had a meeting with the mission pastor and mission director.
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And he was kind of late for the meeting.
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He was tired.
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He had just got back from a mission trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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And I pushed a wheelchair out and showed it to him.
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He said, no, Don, I can't believe this, what you're showing me now.
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Because just two days ago, I saw people crawling on the ground in the Democratic Republic of
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the Congo.
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And I see that.
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And this is so simple.
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It's so basic.
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It's almost a primitive version of a wheelchair.
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But it'll serve the purpose.
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So let's go to the next step.
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And so he could have completely killed the idea right there.
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But he didn't.
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He expanded on it.
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And so I went and made 100 of them and wanted to do a clinical trial, because that's what
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I did for a living, getting things through the FDA.
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And then I had a chance not to bring 100 of them to India, but just four.
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And I literally saw a family's life, this very first wheelchair.
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Just incredible story.
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And here I am trying to get data.
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And I'm overwhelmed by the compassion of what was happening.
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I literally saw these families' life change from the moment they put their son in the
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wheelchair.
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And they could both work now.
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They did one of them had to stay home.
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They were living in a situation where it was a break even for them.
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They were just making enough money to put a roof over their head.
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Very poor.
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And so this is all happening in a suburb of India.
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On a Sunday afternoon, we drive through their village.
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We give them the wheelchair.
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The crowd gathers around.
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And under the circumstances, the man who was our guide didn't ask for permission from the
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elder to enter the village.
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And the elder came in the middle of this, now 30 or 40 people watching what was going
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on.
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And he was embarrassed.
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And he was mad.
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And so the elder, I mean, our guide whose name was Moses said, Don, we have to leave
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right now.
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I did a really bad thing, a discourteous thing to the elder.
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And he doesn't look very happy.
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And I agreed.
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He didn't look happy either.
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But I said, OK, Moses, that was my guide's name.
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I did my job.
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It's your turn.
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And he said, what do you mean?
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And I said, well, I brought the wheelchair.
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I opened the doors for you.
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I noticed you've got a Bible in your pocket.
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Tell them why we're here.
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And he opened the Bible and read to them in this Hindu village.
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And they all listened to him because they thought they're getting an explanation from
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the words of Jesus why he was getting this wheelchair.
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This boy, this young boy was getting this wheelchair.
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And as we tried to leave as quickly as we can, not to refer to the elder, we got in
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a bus, started to try to drive down the road.
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The bus driver was in a hurry to get home.
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The elders ran.
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I mean, the villagers ran after us.
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Oh, no.
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I need to stop the bus pounding on the side of the bus.
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And finally, they got in front of the bus, put their hands on the windshield.
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That driver was going to have to run over them.
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Oh, no.
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If they didn't stop the bus.
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And we're all thinking this was in 2001.
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We're all thinking we're going to be kidnapped now.
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We're going to be held.
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Right.
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Those pretty dicey situations.
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Yes.
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They could be.
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I mean, our imaginations are pretty creative, too.
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But we turn around and here comes the mom carrying two glasses of water.
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And she felt she had, at that point when we left, we were leaving without the wheelchair.
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She understood, even though we told her, she really understood that she gets to keep the
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wheelchair.
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And she felt she had to give us something because she realized what it had done for
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her life and the life of her family.
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And that was the only thing she could afford to give was water.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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So you're able to help people that have just this extreme need.
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And I mean, whenever somebody's, they're crippled, if they have a family, not only are they taken
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out of the picture, but somebody else has to then give a good portion of their life
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to take care of that person.
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And so you're really having two people that are handicapped in a way.
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And so by you providing these free wheelchairs, you're literally giving mobility back to the
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person that actually has the physical handicap, but I guess the family handicap is also being
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set free as well.
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And as you said, then somebody, they could both start working or they have other opportunities
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at that point.
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Those stories are just incredible.
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And I know that you have so many more of those, and I'd love to incorporate a few more of
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those in our conversation here.
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But I just want to make mention, before we started this interview, I just looked up,
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I just Googled, what does it cost to buy a wheelchair?
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And it's a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, depending on all the bells
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and whistles that you might add to it.
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But you're telling me and all of our listeners here that for $96, not only can you provide
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a wheelchair, but you can get it to the person in another part of the world?
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Yeah, that's true.
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We have made in China, because that's the only way we can get these things at this expense,
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at this local expense.
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And in India, and they're shipped by ocean container, 550 wheelchairs in a container
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to one of our 94 countries that we've served.
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And we deliver them to a distribution partner.
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And they're the ones that figure out how to give them away in their country.
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Every country has different rules and customs and laws.
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And then we've trained them in person and in my virtual training methods.
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They store the wheelchairs.
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I mean, they unload the container, they store the wheelchairs, they find the people who
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need the wheelchairs.
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We have different sizes.
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00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:35,520
They've matched up the size to the wheelchair we offer to the size they need.
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And we train them how to assemble the chair.
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And then we train them how to adjust the chair.
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So when they give away a wheelchair, it's not just dropped off at the door.
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It's custom fit.
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00:15:46,660 --> 00:15:52,600
And then the family's trained on how to use the chair and how to maintain the chair.
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And we do all that for $96.
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That's incredible.
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00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,520
That is such a blessing that you're able to do that.
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Dr. Don, how many people have been able to be, how many lives have been able to be changed
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because of these free wheelchairs?
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Well these last 21 years, we've given over 1.3 million wheelchairs.
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Wow.
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00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:21,680
And then so the need is still so great, but what you're doing is immense.
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That's something that, did you have any idea that whenever you started this, that we would
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00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:35,040
be in the year 2022 talking about over a million people's lives being changed because of this?
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No.
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00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:40,640
I fought the battle of doing this.
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00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:41,840
I wanted to prove a point.
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I wanted to write a paper about this inexpensive, durable, functional wheelchair.
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But then I was going to just write a paper and move on with my other, my day job.
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But I kept on hearing from God, stay with this, do this.
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00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:08,760
And I was fighting it to the point when I got back from this trip to India in 2001,
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while I was gone, the company I was working for went bankrupt.
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I didn't have a job.
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Oh, goodness.
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I thought that was a coincidence.
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00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:22,680
But when I talked to people who are more spiritually astute than I am, they said, this is how God
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is working.
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00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,120
My wife said, I'm going to go back to work.
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00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:30,920
I've been a stay at home mom for 15 years.
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I've put the food on the table.
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Now it's my turn to go back to work, she said.
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And you can do this.
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00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,280
You can dedicate your time to this.
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So I'm hearing it from God.
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I'm hearing it from my wife.
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00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:44,360
But what am I?
284
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:45,360
I got this education.
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00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:47,840
I got a PhD in mechanical engineering.
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00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:58,880
I've got 25 years of committed career on leading things, complicated things in biology and
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00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:00,560
medicine.
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00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:05,920
And I'm going to start a nonprofit, which I know nothing about.
289
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:13,320
And both my wife, Lori, and the Lord convinced me that that's what was to do.
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00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:18,080
So once I realized that, I said, OK, I'm going to surrender again, Lord.
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00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:22,080
I'm going to take orders from you.
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00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:28,360
And so to me, it's not a surprise that I know what his capacity is.
293
00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:33,440
The way I like to look at it is one wheelchair at a time, just changing one life.
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00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,600
I mean, 75 million people need a wheelchair.
295
00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:43,440
But if you can just change one, what a magnificent thing that is.
296
00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,920
So every one we give away is to them, they consider it a miracle.
297
00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,840
That's the name of the book, Miracle Weeds.
298
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:51,840
Yeah.
299
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:57,360
And let's talk about your book a little bit, just because I think it's really important.
300
00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:03,480
Your book, Miracle Wheels, the story of a mission to bring mobility to the world.
301
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,520
If you go to MiracleWheels.org, you can get your copy of this.
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00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:12,840
And 100% of the proceeds support the work of the free wheelchair mission.
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00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:18,280
So that's like if it takes $96, I recommend getting five books.
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00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,740
That way you're covering the cost of a wheelchair.
305
00:19:21,740 --> 00:19:27,080
And you can then also read the book, but give four away to friends and family to help pass
306
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,400
on the vision and the heart for this.
307
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:35,400
Dr. Don, what are some stories that you share in this book that people can look forward
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00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:37,320
to reading more in detail?
309
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,640
Well, there's one good one.
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00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,040
We call it 52.
311
00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:51,840
We didn't get the name of the person, but we do remember he said he was 52 years old.
312
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:59,800
And we were just finishing a distribution in India and going back and packing everything
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00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:03,760
into trucks and ready to leave, go on to another distribution.
314
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:10,240
And there's this man in one of our early design wheelchairs, we call the Gen 1, with the white
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00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,080
resin lawn chair.
316
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,440
And he's doing three things over and over again.
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00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:23,460
He's throwing his hands up into the sky, looking up and just praising the heavens.
318
00:20:23,460 --> 00:20:28,040
He's wiping his tears from his face because he's crying profusely.
319
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:34,560
And he's holding his chest with his heart, his chest because he was afraid his heart
320
00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,520
was, I think he felt his heart was going to burst.
321
00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:39,360
He was just so excited about this wheelchair.
322
00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,880
And he was doing this over and over and over again, over and over and over again.
323
00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,160
And so he, sir, what is happening?
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00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:46,160
What's going on?
325
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:47,160
What are you thinking about?
326
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,680
And he said, I'm 52 years old.
327
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,840
About 10 years ago, I was at a train station.
328
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,320
They came and robbed me and they threw me in front of a train and the train came up
329
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,480
my legs.
330
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:04,360
But this is the first day in my whole life that anybody has ever done anything kind to
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00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,360
me.
332
00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:10,920
That makes an impact in your life, hearing a story like that, and that God used you to
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00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,640
show the love of Christ to somebody.
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00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:18,960
Well, we find people going, you know, getting, getting a job, getting a career, raising a
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00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:24,040
family, doing things that they've maybe they've been dreaming about, but maybe they've never
336
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:28,000
dreamt about it because they never thought they've been living in the shadows in the
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00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,600
back room for three decades.
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00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:36,080
We found people like this who haven't seen the light of day for three decades and their
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00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:40,120
families are their wheelchairs or families are keeping them alive.
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00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:41,320
Sometimes it's the neighbors.
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00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:45,960
Sometimes they're abandoned on the street and a neighbor or somebody will pick them
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00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:51,680
up and, you know, and help them live, continue their life.
343
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:52,680
Sometimes they can crawl.
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00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,560
It's sad to see.
345
00:21:55,560 --> 00:22:00,520
Sometimes if they're not too heavy, they can be carried wherever they need to go.
346
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:04,920
And sometimes if they're too heavy and maybe too frail, they live in the back room until
347
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:05,920
they die.
348
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:12,120
And the family doesn't necessarily even know anything about medicine or disability or any
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00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:13,120
of those things.
350
00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:19,260
They just, they just know we got to do our best to keep whoever it is alive as long as
351
00:22:19,260 --> 00:22:20,560
we can.
352
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:21,680
Wow.
353
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,440
So what inspired you to write this book now?
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00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:28,640
I mean, you've been doing this for 21 years.
355
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:32,360
What's the message of this book that's, that's important for today?
356
00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:40,720
Well, we try to tell the story as accurately and as sincerely as we can.
357
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:46,920
Try to, there's five or six really good stories about what it's like to live in the developing
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00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,800
world without a wheelchair.
359
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:52,240
This is not the developed world.
360
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:53,240
This is a distinction.
361
00:22:53,240 --> 00:23:00,400
It's not United States or Northern Europe or Australia, developing countries where,
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00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:08,560
you know, people, there's, it's, it's, there's not even sometimes enough food to go around
363
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,040
and there's no way anybody is going to even imagine a wheelchair.
364
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,400
They don't even have them for sale.
365
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:18,320
They're not available.
366
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,520
Any money you'd have would not even be commerce.
367
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:26,160
It may just be the food you're growing in your back, you know, to keep alive.
368
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,400
There's no way anybody could afford a wheelchair.
369
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:36,160
And then all of, and then the book, try to describe that change.
370
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,400
It happens in just a matter of seconds.
371
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:43,000
You walk in, they see your feet.
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00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:44,440
You get the chair.
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00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:48,720
So you think it's pretty well adjusted for their body's shape and size.
374
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,920
And then you pick them up and you put them in the chair and then you have to make some
375
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:52,920
final adjustments.
376
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,700
But when you try to move away, they're holding you.
377
00:23:56,700 --> 00:24:01,160
For one, they, you know, you had to hold them and they hold you so you can put them in a
378
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:07,480
chair, but they're not wanting to let go because they're crying and they don't want, especially
379
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:13,440
if there's a man, they don't want anybody to see how, how, how this gift has affected
380
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:14,440
them.
381
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,880
And you look around in the family, they're all, everyone's crying, but they're all happy
382
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:23,320
crying and then it, and then you, you pull back from, and this person doesn't even look
383
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:24,320
the same.
384
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:29,800
They had this different, you know, human eye to eye contact, whereas before they're looking
385
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:34,680
up at you when you walk in and suddenly you're on their level.
386
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:35,800
He's on your level.
387
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,200
She's on your level.
388
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:42,720
And it's almost like it's a different person.
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00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:43,960
And they're starting to dream.
390
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,160
All of a sudden their mind, their minds are racing.
391
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:49,160
What am I going to do?
392
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:50,160
What can I do now?
393
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,600
What can I, what would it be like?
394
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,040
And then you say, would you like to go see the sunset?
395
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:57,040
What?
396
00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:04,200
We could, I could go see a sunset or I could go see my, my grandson play soccer.
397
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,480
I hear he's really good.
398
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:07,480
How about the fresh air?
399
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,800
Would you like to get outside and get some fresh air?
400
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:10,800
Wow.
401
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:15,680
Well, yeah, it's, you know, all these things you give up when you can't move.
402
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:16,680
Wow.
403
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,000
You know, these, these stories that you're sharing and the examples that you're sharing
404
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,720
are very, they're very touching.
405
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:30,000
And because people that aren't mobile are often not seen, they're often forgotten about.
406
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,920
And God is, God is the God of the forgotten.
407
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:38,280
He is the ones, He is the one that's going to go after the, He's going to leave the 99
408
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,360
to go after the one and He's going to pursue them and He's going to bring them, whether
409
00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:45,700
they've run away themselves or they've just fallen down and they've broken, they've broken
410
00:25:45,700 --> 00:25:47,840
a bone or something like that.
411
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:48,840
He's the good shepherd.
412
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:55,400
He's going to go after them and God is using Dr. Don Schoendorfer to provide mobility for
413
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,960
people to see the hands and feet of Jesus, the love of Jesus.
414
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:05,800
And you know, on your, on your website, Dr. Don, you have these first generation version
415
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:11,160
of the wheelchair, which is just what you described earlier about with the white resin
416
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,200
chair and the bicycle tires.
417
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:19,160
And it's really, it seems like something that could easily be used.
418
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:25,920
And then you've got the generation two, which you rolled out in 2009.
419
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,160
It definitely looks like a step up.
420
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:35,320
And then you have the generation three that came out in 2013, which has even more customizable
421
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:36,320
parts to it.
422
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,980
And it looks like it would help a lot of people.
423
00:26:39,980 --> 00:26:43,280
What is the next step for the free wheelchair mission?
424
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:49,720
Well, we're working of course on, we don't kind of call it generation four, but there's
425
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,520
a, there's things we've learned.
426
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:56,100
And we've learned by working with people in developing countries who manufactured these
427
00:26:56,100 --> 00:26:59,680
chairs for us in China and India.
428
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:05,040
And we've learned how to take these skills they have rather than to come to them with
429
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:10,920
a brand new design that we are, you know, in our, our brilliance would have thought
430
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:17,600
up in our, this, we, we designed a wheelchair about what they can make.
431
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:23,240
And we try and then we try to bring them into the design into the creative part of it by
432
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:26,320
asking them, Oh, how would you make this break work better?
433
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:27,320
How would you do this?
434
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,800
What kind of bearings do you think we should use?
435
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,060
And, and we want to make a chair that's going to be lighter.
436
00:27:33,060 --> 00:27:37,040
We want to make it a chair that's even more adjustable.
437
00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:43,000
You know, humanity, many people in the world are getting larger as, as time goes on because
438
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,680
there's diets that are a little bit richer in calories.
439
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:52,440
And then we want to reach down into this, the other end where a chair for a lighter,
440
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,800
a smaller person.
441
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,680
You know, in the beginning, I, I realized that families, mothers and fathers wanted
442
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,280
to carry their children if they couldn't walk.
443
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:06,720
That was, that was, they liked being their child's legs, but they get to a certain point
444
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,080
when they're too heavy.
445
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:16,120
And, and, and we went and, but we want to bring that ability to wheel a child into the,
446
00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:22,640
into the, into the younger ages because sometimes, you know, these schools are miles away and
447
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:24,400
then, you know, you've got the choice.
448
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:29,880
Do I, do I carry my child to school or do is, is this, is this their graduation now
449
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,440
from not ever going to school again?
450
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:38,280
Because I can, I can't spend four hours and walking five miles to carry my kid to school
451
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,000
back and forth.
452
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:46,460
So, and so that we're trying to reach in a little bit deeper into the types of wheelchairs
453
00:28:46,460 --> 00:28:50,600
that now we know so much about because we've given so many away.
454
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:51,600
Yeah.
455
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,980
So because you've given so many away, you've seen them in different and different applications
456
00:28:54,980 --> 00:28:57,980
in different terrains and different areas of the world.
457
00:28:57,980 --> 00:29:04,920
And you've seen people with different needs, different applications of those needs as well.
458
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:11,640
You're able to tweak and adjust and continue on innovating and providing a better service
459
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:13,120
to these people.
460
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:18,040
Dr. Don, it's been a pleasure to talk to you today and I just want to encourage people
461
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:24,560
to check out his website, miraclewheels.org to get your copy of Miracle Wheels, the story
462
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:32,240
of a mission to bring mobility to the world, as well as his website, freewheelchairmission.org.
463
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:37,580
And both of those, I believe they'll lead to each other, but you can see videos and
464
00:29:37,580 --> 00:29:42,840
testimonies and examples of the work that they're doing.
465
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:49,540
And Dr. Don, thank you so much for coming on and joining me for the Charisma News podcast.
466
00:29:49,540 --> 00:29:52,400
It's an encouragement and it's a blessing.
467
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:53,400
Thank you, John.
468
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:59,260
It's a blessing for us to get the word out about this, about we can make the world a
469
00:29:59,260 --> 00:30:03,840
better place and help build God's kingdom in the same time.
470
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:04,840
Amen.
471
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:05,840
Amen.
472
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,440
This has been John Matarazzo for the Charisma News podcast.
473
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:24,080
God bless you.
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