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This story is borrowed and republished in full courtesy of The Independent. The original article can be read by clicking here.

Nine members of the Rotary Club of Pleasanton embarked on a service trip to Tulancingo, Mexico (Pleasanton’s Sister City) on October 16th to distribute 280 wheelchairs to the elderly and disabled. The trip is the culmination of an annual effort by the club to find a partnering city in need, raise funds, purchase and deliver a container of wheelchairs, and participate in their distribution. This year the Club selected Tulancingo as the recipient city and partnered with a Rotary Club in that city and Mexico’s National System for Integral Family Development (DIF) to make the program happen.

54810d65107a8.imageThe distribution took place at the town square of Tulancingo. The recipients were preselected by DIF. The event was well attended by both local residents and local government officials. Nancy Pennell, chairperson of the Club’s Wheelchair Committee, has been on several distribution trips. “The recipients of these wheelchairs are so varied. Men, women and children of all ages are in need. On this distribution ages ranged from 4 years old to a woman who was 104. They both cried when they received their wheelchairs. We cried with them. Participating in these distributions is an experience no one will ever forget. It is humbling, rewarding and life changing. A wheelchair not only changes the life of the recipient, but of their entire family as well.”

The Rotary Club of Pleasanton started its Wheelchair Project in 2003 at the urging of member Bob Athenour, who is also the founder of the Pleasanton/Tulancingo Sister City partnership. Since 2003, the Club in conjunction with the Wheelchair Foundation of Blackhawk and the Rotary Clubs in the recipient cities have delivered and distributed 4275 wheelchairs on 18 different trips to Latin America. The Club raises funds for the project through its annual Father’s Day Spirit Run, an annual estate sale in February, and contributions from its members and private donors. It plans to deliver another 280 wheelchairs in 2015 to Panama.

A container of 280 wheelchairs costs $42,000 ($150.00 per chair). The club generally covers half of that; matching funds from the receiving country’s clubs and governmental agencies generally cover the remaining. All travel costs are paid separately by the Rotary Club’s members.

Pennell adds, “The Rotary Club of Pleasanton asks that you consider donating a wheelchair in memory of or in honor of someone near and dear to you. Give the gift of mobility this Holiday Season. Donations in any amount are appreciated.”

Contact the Rotary Club of Pleasanton for more information: Rotary Club of Pleasanton Wheelchair Project, c/o Dick Stafford, P.O. Box 352, Pleasanton, CA 94566; Email: grs414@hotmail.com; phone: 925-351-8860.

Josh Burroughs in Shanghai, China, at the official handover of wheelchairs sponsored by his Rotary club, the Rotary Club of San Jose, California, for the 2010 World Expo.

Josh Burroughs in Shanghai, China, at the
official handover of wheelchairs sponsored by his Rotary club, the Rotary Club of San Jose, California, for the 2010 World Expo.

Josh Burroughs began his legacy of supporting Wheelchair Foundation in his college days at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California.  In August of 2008, Josh was a team leader among a group of students who traveled to Peru to distribute 400 wheelchairs.  The students purchased these 400 wheelchairs through a year’s worth of work as a class project.  Josh was totally overwhelmed by the powerful, life-changing experience of placing someone in a wheelchair, and from that point on, committed to continuing this wonderful work.

In the fall of 2009, Josh again traveled with Dr. Lynn Metcalfe, Professor of Marketing and humanitarian, and fellow students whom she had challenged, guided and encouraged to become philanthropic. This time they flew to Oaxaca, Mexico, to deliver 400 more wheelchairs they had purchased.

Following graduation from Cal Poly, and still smitten by his desire to make a difference in the world, Josh joined the Rotary Club of San Jose, California, and began a career with Barry Swenson Builders. Through his business and Rotary connections, Josh has helped fund and organize distributions in Shanghai, China, and Bangladesh, where Josh and fellow Rotarians visited community centers, hospitals and homes to deliver the gifts of hope and mobility directly to recipients.

Josh in Oaxaca, Mexico, as a Cal Poly student.

Josh in Oaxaca, Mexico, as a Cal Poly student.

This spring, San Jose Rotarians and Wine for Wheels worked in partnership with the Forever Love Foundation and the Department of Social Development and Welfare to arrange wheelchair distributions in Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Chon Buri Provinces in Thailand. Ceremonies were held at rehabilitation centers, a veteran’s hospital, individual homes and a home for the disabled. These home deliveries were especially emotional, allowing the Rotarians to witness first-hand how wheelchairs would help the recipient and family members around their home.

Josh is back to work, championing a new project to send wheelchairs to Croatia. He is a shining example of the philanthropic spirit of a new generation and of how just one person can make a huge difference in the world by helping others and changing lives.

 

This article is written by Jeremy Walsh of the San Ramon / Danville Express and can be viewed in it’s entirety here.

 

Turning the wheels

Wheelchair project aims to raise awareness, funds in San Ramon Valley schools

Students in the San Ramon Valley and other parts of the Bay Area are learning valuable lessons about physical and mental disabilities through a burgeoning awareness program.

Wheelchair relays at Valley View Elementary in Pleasanton on April 17. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)

Wheelchair relays at Valley View Elementary in Pleasanton on April 17. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)

By placing wheelchairs on local campuses and providing educational information to school leaders, the Wheelchair Foundation’s From the Heart schools project aims to raise awareness about disabilities in the world, inform local students about issues faced by people with disabilities and generate funds for people in need of wheelchairs.

“We want it to be a lot more than a fundraiser,” said Don Routh, one of the volunteers spearheading the foundation’s effort. “I’m just as excited about raising awareness about mobility,” Routh said, adding that he enjoys helping students realize, “It’s OK to be in a wheelchair, (and) you shouldn’t be afraid of people in wheelchairs.”

Awareness campaigns like From the Heart have held special meaning for Routh for more than three decades.

“I’ve been an advocate for people with disabilities ever since my son was diagnosed (with cerebral palsy) at 1 year old, which would be 34 years ago,” said Routh, a retired business executive from San Ramon. “He’s my inspiration.”

With the help of his adult son Josh — who uses a wheelchair — and friend and Pleasanton business owner Bill Wheeler, Routh coordinates with the foundation and education leaders to present the From the Heart program at 48 Bay Area schools, primarily in the San Ramon Valley and Pleasanton school districts.

“It is a unique opportunity for our community to create awareness with our students around global mobility issues while raising awareness with these same students about the need for mobility in the world,” said Mary Shelton, San Ramon Valley schools superintendent. “This project impacts our students tremendously while making a tangible difference in the world.”

To date, schools involved in the project have raised about $65,000, putting organizers more than three-quarters of the way to the goal amount needed to bring 560 wheelchairs — two shipping containers’ worth — to people in need in Costa Rica and Honduras this summer.

“The From the Heart schools project has certainly exceeded our expectations,” said Eva Carleton, director of operations for the Wheelchair Foundation. “While we are very appreciative of the funds that are being raised to provide wheelchairs to those in need, we are even more excited about the awareness that is being raised.”

Pleasanton’s Valley View Elementary School was one of two local campuses to gain first-hand experience last week, being provided with demo wheelchairs for students and staff to use.

“I myself sat in a wheelchair and tried to get around the campus,” Valley View principal Rafael Cruz said on April 17. “Looks easier than it actually is.”

Students also got the chance to maneuver themselves in wheelchairs or watch their peers do so, as well as take part in targeted lessons.

Valley View fifth-grader Nicole Brownen, sitting in her class's demo wheelchair, cuts out a shape using her non-dominant left hand, part of an ability-awareness lesson highlighting fine motor skills. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)

Valley View fifth-grader Nicole Brownen, sitting in her class’s demo wheelchair, cuts out a shape using her non-dominant left hand, part of an ability-awareness lesson highlighting fine motor skills. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)

In her fifth-grade class, Valley View teacher Jessica Dehl had her students cut out four shapes outlined on a piece of paper, but told them to use the scissors in their non-dominant hand — an exercise aimed at making the students think about the impact of having diminished fine motor skills.

Dehl gave her students a 10-minute time limit and said they’d be graded on how straight their lines were.

“That’s not fair,” one girl said.

Most of Dehl’s fifth-graders struggled to cut shapes, like stars and diamonds, to their liking.

“This is impossible,” a student said.

Another followed with, “I can’t do this.” And a third child added, “The heart (shape) is the hardest because of the curve.”

At the end of the exercise, Dehl — who taught most of the morning from a wheelchair — debriefed with her students, asking them to reflect on their experience completing the activity despite physical difficulty.

“Did it change who you were as a person?” she asked. “Did it change how smart you were?”

The class responded with a resounding, “No.”

“You didn’t change the person you were because of how well you cut,” Dehl told her students.

Having wheelchairs on campus for a week was unique for the children at Valley View, as there are currently no students who regularly use wheelchairs enrolled at the school, according to Cruz.

From the Heart offers a variety of personal experiences to students and teachers alike.

Jennifer Gonzalez, speech pathologist at Valley View, plans to deliver wheelchairs in Honduras this July with Wheelchair Foundation reps and five teachers from Pleasanton’s Lydiksen Elementary School.

“I look forward to the experience and actually doing the wheelchair distributions at the different locations,” Gonzalez said.

The Valley View fundraiser, which ends on Wednesday, has generated just over $3,000 to date, Cruz said.

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Fifth-grade teacher Jessica Dehl teaches from a wheelchair April 17 at Valley View Elementary in Pleasanton. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)

Vintage Hills Elementary School in Pleasanton has raised the most money per-student thus far, with an average of $8.55 per pupil, Routh said.

The campus to raise the most money overall to date is Gale Ranch Middle School in San Ramon, which collected just over $7,500 in late February and early March, according to school counselor Lori Olson, who helped lead From the Heart at Gale Ranch.

“I decided to lead ours because I actually have a sister in a wheelchair, so I know how important the cause is to provide wheelchairs for people that don’t have them in other countries. In some countries people are confined to their beds, and don’t have access to an education because of it,” she said.

Nearly every public school in the San Ramon Valley and Pleasanton participated in the project this school year, according to Routh. Treeview Elementary School in Hayward and Oakland’s Skyline High School (Routh’s alma mater) were also involved.

“This has been a wonderful service-learning project for our students in that not only do students help raise funds for wheelchairs, but they also have tremendous learning opportunities directly related to academic subjects,” said Parvin Ahmadi, Pleasanton schools superintendent.

Eight schools, including six in Pleasanton, took part in the program last year.

Routh said he hopes to have 50-60 Bay Area schools participate next school year, and then “expand it significantly” starting in the 2015-16 term.

Disability outreach in local schools goes beyond the From the Heart project, according to Routh, who has helped organize fundraising basketball games at San Ramon Valley High (on Tuesday) and Monte Vista High (May 6).

The schools’ basketball programs will play against the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s Junior Road Warriors wheelchair basketball team, starting at 7 p.m. on the respective nights. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students.

Founded by Blackhawk developer, businessman and philanthropist Kenneth E. Behring in 2000, the Wheelchair Foundation aims to create awareness about physical disabilities and deliver wheelchairs to those in need throughout the world. To date, the foundation has delivered or committed 951,323 wheelchairs worldwide, according to its website.

To learn more about From the Heart and other efforts by the Rouths and Wheeler, visit their website, called “Del Corazon.”

Valley View Elementary students take part in wheelchair relays April 17. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)

Valley View Elementary students take part in wheelchair relays April 17. (Photo by Jeremy Walsh)

This article is borrowed from the Contra Costa Times and is shared in it’s entirety. To read the original article written by Robert Jordan click here.

SAN RAMON — Don Routh’s lips still tremble and his eyes fight back tears as he recalls the day 34 years ago when doctors told him that his then 1-year-old son, Josh, would never speak or have use of his limbs.

Doctors diagnosed Josh with cerebral palsy, a developmental disability that is caused by brain damage — usually sustained in the womb or at birth — that affects body movement, according to United Celebral Palsy.

“I was terrified,” said Routh, who adopted Josh when he was two days old. “That was my son and to hear that he would be a quadriplegic was tough. … But you can either bury your head in the sand or you can embrace it.”

Don Routh, of the Del Corazon foundation, speaks to students and teachers Feb. 6 at Green Valley Elementary School in Danville. Del Corazon helps raise money for several charitable causes, especially the Wheelchair Foundation and El Oasis Orphanage.

Don Routh, of the Del Corazon foundation, speaks to students and teachers Feb. 6 at Green Valley Elementary School in Danville. Del Corazon helps raise money for several charitable causes, especially the Wheelchair Foundation and El Oasis Orphanage. Photo by Jim Stevens / Bay Area News Group

Routh has done more than embrace it. He has spent his money and time advocating for people with disabilities. The doctors were wrong about Josh. Josh, 35, lives by himself in San Ramon and works as a clerk at Nob Hill Foods.

Together Routh, Josh and Bill Wheeler, the owner of Black Tie Transportation in Pleasanton, have spent the past nine years highlighting world mobility issues and the need for wheelchairs through Del Corazon, the organization the trio started to partner with the Danville-based Wheelchair Foundation. Del Corazon has delivered more than 7,000 wheelchairs to Mexico and Central and South America.

“Josh was born here, but if he was born in a developing country he would not have had the same opportunities,” said Routh, a retired businessman who was a partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. “We are helping give others a fighting chance.”

Last year, the trio incorporated schools into their organization with a program that not only raises funds to buy wheelchairs but also provide students a chance to learn about the situation people with disabilities face in the developing world. More than 109 million people with a disability need a wheelchair in the developing world, according to Del Corazon. With help from the Wheelchair Foundation, Del Corazon can deliver wheelchairs for $150 each.

In its first year at eight schools in Pleasanton, Del Corazon raised $18,000. The program expanded to 50 schools this year in Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, Oakland and Hayward with a goal to raise $100,000 this year and eventually expand to other parts of the Bay Area.

“This program was different from a lot of other projects we get,” said Parvin Ahmadi, the Pleasanton schools superintendent. “This one has the potential to be a really good service learning project. It is ongoing, and regardless of how old you are, you can be involved.”

Third-graders, from left, Ava Haubner, 8, and Sidney White, 8, sitting in wheelchairs, eat lunch Feb. 7 at Vintage Hills Elementary School in Pleasanton.

Third-graders, from left, Ava Haubner, 8, and Sidney White, 8, sitting in wheelchairs, eat lunch Feb. 7 at Vintage Hills Elementary School in Pleasanton. Photo by Anda Chu / Bay Area News Group

Routh spent the summer with staff from the San Ramon Valley school district’s Ability Awareness Program developing curriculum based on mobility and wheelchairs that accompanies fundraising efforts that students, parents and teachers participate in. Students from kindergarten to high school have a chance to learn about mobility and wheelchairs through subjects from English to physics.

“Students learned a lot about what it means to help others, and that is just a powerful message,” said Kelly Hoffmann, a second-grade teacher at Bollinger Canyon Elementary in San Ramon. “They learned that if you contribute $2 it can make a difference in another person’s life.”

Bollinger Canyon chose to incorporate the Del Corazon program into its lessons plan for a month and set and met a goal of raising $2.50 per student.

In Pleasanton, the Lydiksen Elementary community was one of the pilot schools and collected more than $5,000 in a month, enough to buy 34 wheelchairs for people in Guatemala. Beyond the service learning and fundraising that the school did, teachers from the school also paid their own way to Guatemala to help Routh, Josh and Wheeler deliver the chairs.

“The first chair we delivered was to a woman who had not been out of her bedroom for six years,” said Kimberly Hereld, a fifth-grade teacher at Lydiksen. “We all cried because for $150 we were able to make a difference, and it was our kids that made that happen.” Routh, Josh and Wheeler, with the help of the Wheelchair Foundation, have delivered wheelchairs to 13 countries in Central and South America and hope to visit all 21 countries, with Honduras and Costa Rica scheduled for July.

Lydiksen Elementary is preparing to raise funds in March to help buy wheelchairs for the Honduras trip. In addition, Del Corazon also scheduled two charity basketball games with Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley High School’s basketball programs playing against the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s wheelchair basketball team on April 29 and May 6.

All the proceeds go toward purchasing and delivering wheelchairs.

“We get to give kids their freedom back,” Josh Routh said.

“We are so blessed and take for granted what we have.” Added Wheeler, “Josh is the X-factor and sets an example for all the kids,” said Wheeler. “He gets around independently, and the kids see what he can do and say, ‘I am like him.’ ”

Fourth-grader Eddie Park, 9, navigates through his classroomin a wheelchair Feb. 7 at Vintage Hills Elementary School in Pleasanton. Students at the school had the use of 10 wheelchairs to experience what it is like to navigate the campus in one. Photo by Anda Chu / Bay Area News Group

Fourth-grader Eddie Park, 9, navigates through his classroomin a wheelchair Feb. 7 at Vintage Hills Elementary School in Pleasanton. Students at the school had the use of 10 wheelchairs to experience what it is like to navigate the campus in one. Photo by Anda Chu / Bay Area News Group

 

For more information on Del Corazon visit del-corazon.org.

DEL CORAZON

For more on Del Corazon, visit del-corazon.org.
For more on the Wheelchair Foundation, visit www/wheelchairfoundation.org.

Pleasanton students learn firsthand about worldwide need for wheelchairs

by Glenn Wohltmann – This story first published in Pleasanton Weekly and PleasantonWeekly.com

pleasanton_weekly

 

Dozens of Pleasanton elementary and middle school kids have a new perspective on what it means to be wheelchair bound.

Schools teamed up with the Wheelchair Foundation to learn and to help raise funds for the organization, thanks to foundation advocate Don Routh, who brought the project to the Pleasanton school district, which embraced the idea.

All materials — wheelchairs, posters, videos and more — were supplied by foundation volunteers. The kids took the idea and ran with it, holding basketball shoot-a-thons, among other things, to raise money for the foundation.

“We did an obstacle course,” said Catherina Lilja, a student in Laura Castro’s seventh-grade class at Harvest Park Middle School. “We let students pick a wheelchair that fit their size.”

“It was really hard to turn around the cones and get through it and it was hard to go up the ramp,” said Janae Indalecio, another of Castro’s students. Castro said some of the teachers had difficulty navigating the course, too.

Students were also able to send a gram, like a telegram, a note to other students at the school for a small fee, Gabriella Smith said. Castro said the school raised about $50 that way.

Eight schools were part of the pilot program, and together they raised more than $10,500, enough for 70 wheelchairs. Harvest Park brought in about $1,700, and Lydiksen raised $5,000.

But the effort was about more than fundraising. Students in Castro’s class were able to tie their learning to their study of Central America, where the wheelchairs are headed.

“It was something geographically relevant for the students,” Castro said.

Others, like those in Mary Singh’s Spanish class — also at Harvest Park — hope to write letters to the wheelchair recipients, who receive stamped envelopes along with their wheelchairs so they can correspond with those who provided them.

“It teaches kids to be philanthropic from an early age,” Routh said.

Students also learned how difficult it can be to get around on wheels instead of walking.

“When we were in a wheelchair, it was harder because we couldn’t use our legs,” said Mia Markovic, one of Castro’s students. She said giving the wheelchairs to those who need them “gives them so much more freedom, so many more things they can do.”

Castro said teachers also discovered that schools aren’t as handicap accessible as they thought, and they learned that they’d have to make some adjustments should they have a wheelchair-bound student. In her class, for example, desks are attached to each other, which would make it difficult for a student in a wheelchair to get through and unable to use one of the desks.

Students also got a first-hand look at some of the prejudices people have against the disabled.

“When I was in a wheelchair, an eighth-grader came up and pushed the chair and tried to push me over,” said Isabella Chin, another of Castro’s students.

It’s hard to say if those students were teasing Chin as part of the project or not, since, Castro said, the entire school wasn’t involved in the effort.

The idea of using schools to raise money started out a few years ago, at Routh’s 40th high school reunion. There, he met up with a classmate who now works at Treeview Elementary, a Title I school in Hayward.

“I’ve been involved as an advocate,” Routh said.

He learned about the foundation through Rotary; his son Josh suffers from cerebral palsy and has been wheelchair bound for most of his life, so the idea of distributing chairs to others was especially poignant for Routh.

“What we decided was, in addition to raising money from our friends and family, we decided to work with the schools,” Routh explained.

He and Josh pitched the idea to the kids at Treeview, stressing that they could make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than them.

“The kids got all excited and they decided to save their nickels and pennies,” Routh said. “They raised $270 the first year.”

Routh kicked in the rest, so the students paid for two wheelchairs that were sent to Chile along with T-shirts. Pictures of the wheelchair recipients were shown to students the next year, when they raised $300, which bought two wheelchairs that were sent to El Salvador.

“Then, Bill (Wheeler, owner of Black Tie Transportation) and Josh and I were talking and said, ‘If they can raise that kind of money, what can we raise out here in the valley?'”

For Routh and his team, working with schools to raise money has become more than just a good fundraising plan.

“We started to raise the awareness of kids about the need for mobility and also to sensitize them about how to be around people with disabilities, of being more comfortable with people in a wheelchair,” he said. “A wheelchair is just something that helps them. You shouldn’t feel sorry for them, you should feel sorry for someone who doesn’t have a wheelchair.”

Routh said his project is easily integrated into school curricula.

In elementary school, for example, he said students can read stories about people in wheelchairs. Others may learn the history of wheelchairs, which, Routh said, began with a wheeled bed that dates to the sixth century. In high schools, students in physiology class can learn about the calories burned while using a wheelchair.

“We had 10 schools participate in this trial period last year, and the purpose of this wheelchair project was to raise awareness of the need for mobility and at the same time to raise money so that the students here could have an impact on peoples’ lives across the world, in this case, Latin America,” Routh said.

It’s estimated that 100 million people worldwide need a wheelchair. Castro said that need also affects family members who may not be able to attend school or work because they’re needed to care for their disabled relative.

“Bill and Josh and I have personally delivered 6,600 wheelchairs in 12 trips to countries in Latin America,” Routh said. “Our goal is to deliver wheelchairs in all 21 countries.”

Routh, Josh and Wheeler have been focusing their efforts on Central and South America. Shipping containers hold 280 wheelchairs, and this year, those purchased with money raised by Pleasanton schools will go in a container headed to Guatemala.

Next year, Routh is hoping that all the schools in Pleasanton and San Ramon will get involved, along with one in Oakland and Treeview in Hayward.

“I’m going around to all the schools and I expect that all or nearly all will do it,” he said. “So far, I’ve been to 34 or 35 and they’re all in.”

Next year Routh hopes to add more districts, area wide, and eventually, California wide.

“Whenever someone like me raises $42,000, then we can work with the Wheelchair Foundation,” Routh said. “They actually have two or three people who can arrange transportation.”

“We raise the money for the wheelchairs and then we go on the trips themselves to distribute them,” he added.

Some of the teachers who were involved in the fundraising effort will go on this trip. Students 16 and up can go if they provide documentation, and those 13 and older can go with a parent.

“They have to pay their own way, of course,” Routh said. “It’s an opportunity for the teachers, the parents and the students to go.”

He said he’s seen recipients on his trips who were crawling, being transported on donkeys and carried by their parents.

The Wheelchair Foundation was started in 2000 by Ken Behring of Blackhawk. So far, it has delivered 930,000 wheelchairs to people in 150+ countries. Routh said it’s one way to have a direct, immediate impact not only on the wheelchair recipient but on the whole family.

It also has an impact on those giving out the wheelchairs, he said — “It’s a life-changing experience.”