Hope Haven West
By Chris Murphy
Even tough COVID ravaged our planet over the last few months, it didn’t change the fact that there are people in disadvantaged areas that have no mobility. Being disabled, without the use of arms or legs can be a death sentence in many countries. For the last couple of decades, Hope Haven West has been the source, and in many cases, the only source, of mobility for many in Mexico, Central and South America as well as Vietnam and Mongolia.
This local charity collects, refurbishes and delivers wheelchairs all over the world. 100% of what is donated goes directly to the refurbishing and delivery of wheelchairs. We caught up with Lonny Davis, the ever so energetic leader of Hope Haven West and asked him what is happening, now that we are getting a break in this pandemic.
“Finally these countries are opening up, but the need has just grown so much more. We are preparing containers of wheel chairs and many have been delivered to our partner organizations in Mexico. There is still a huge need for more chairs, and more volunteers to do chair seatings and distribution”, explains Lonny.
“Throughout the pandemic, we continued to collect chairs and people like Rotarians Don Murphy and Nick Mascatelli have been super-human in their ability to get these chairs refurbished with limited volunteers and also organize the delivery of collected chairs to refurbishing groups and taking delivery of the “Hope Haven Chair”, he continues.
I have been on one of these distributions in Mongolia and everything Lonny explains is so very important where the need is so great and a wheel chair will change a life. The coordination of the local volunteers, the connections with international Rotary clubs, customs brokers, storage and delivery, it is amazing and so vital. Please check out Hope Haven and maybe we will see you on a future distribution or buy a ticket to Lonny Davis’ birthday bash with Flying Blind at the State Theatre on September 11. All proceeds of this event go directly to Hope Haven. www.hopehavenwest.com
