Stories:
Why Eat Fried Worms
Mexico
November 22, 2006
With hushed anticipation the crowd sat motionless as they watched young Matthew Hansen reach to his plate full of Tenebrio molitor and raise a plump finger sized white worm to his lips. He paused, then popped it into his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it. Almost immediately everyone began expressing their amazement and disgust. Ewe! Gross! That's nasty! the adults groaned. But Matthew continued eating the worms one by one. "I cant even get him to eat a green salad and here he is eating a plate full of giant meal worms", his mother, Charli, (a Wheelchair Foundation employee) said with a somewhat cautious smile.
For every meal worm (Darkling Beatle larvae, to be precise) that Matthew ate, he was collecting money toward his first $75 donation to Wheelchair Foundation to provide a free wheelchair to someone in need. And for every dollar he collected from the amused and disgusted adults at the table at the upscale restaurant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, his appetite for fried meal worms grew ? he even thought they were tasty! What, you might ask, would motivate a seven year old boy to embark on such a gastronomic endeavor?
"I want to help get a wheelchair for another kid my age", answers Mathew. Less than 24 hours prior to his encounter with the plate of fried meal worms, Matthew was participating in his very first wheelchair distribution. The distribution ceremony was the kick-off event for "The Journey of Mobility", the nation-wide distribution of 20,000 wheelchairs being dispersed throughout every state in Mexico. All of which were sponsored jointly by the Hoffman Foundation and the Behring Foundation and resulting in the largest single donation to any one country in Wheelchair Foundation's six year history. Matthew had the opportunity to assist young Jose Ibarra Hernandez into his very first wheelchair, enabling Jose to move about on his own and begin attending school, among other things.
Matthew was struck by the realization that Jose was a kid, just like himself, the only difference between them being that Jose couldnt get around without a wheelchair. In fact, there were many more children present that day in the same situation as Jose. Matthew would end up with $69 cash for his worm eating efforts. He later reached his $75 goal by polishing the wheels on a neighbor's truck for $6. He promptly donated the money to Wheelchair Foundation with the intent of helping another child somewhere around the world who is in need of a wheelchair. Matthew has since challenged his classmates at his grade school to follow his lead and come up with unique ways to raise funds to help other children in need. "I'll eat another plate of worms anytime", he smiles,"but it'll cost you $75 bucks!"
