The HME Christian Fellowship hosted a special event at Medtrade 2014 to help benefit Joni & Friends, an international disability Christian ministry whose programs include Wheels for the World, which has donated more than 100,000 wheelchairs to severely disabled individuals in Third World countries.
Joni & Friends CEO and founder Joni Eareckson Tada, who became a quadriplegic as a teen after an accident, presented the event’s keynote address via online video conference from her International Disability Center in California.
Tada spoke about how, after her injury, she went on to become Christian advocate and start her charity. Since then, she has appeared on Larry King Live four times, met with U.S. Presidents about disability issues, and written nearly 50 books on disability and her faith.
The charity collects used but serviceable wheelchairs from all across the United States, and then distributes them to 16 U.S. prisons where it has established Wheels for the World restoration shops. Prisoners volunteer their time to refurbish the wheelchairs and make them suitable for distribution in developing nations. Then Christian physical therapists, who comprise the Wheels for the World teams, take these wheelchairs and fit them to needy disabled people and give those patients a Bible in their language, as well as connect them with local churches who embrace special-needs families.
Tada sought to strike an alliance between members of the members of the HME Christian Fellowship and her charity in order to expand the program.
“I would love nothing more than to partner with you friends – I think it would encourage you in your work, honestly I do,” she told attendees. “Because you know where those wheelchairs are, the ones that can be collected and recycled. You can give us dented or damaged wheelchairs that cannot be sold. You can be instrumental with manufacturers, giving them a chance to unload their surplus product.”