FWM on the ground in Haiti - Team of 6 assembles chairs

A mission trip to Haiti made up of Free Wheelchair Mission supporters and friends is now in Port-au-Prince and working side-by-side with our distribution partner Operation Blessing International. The group of six, led by long time volunteer and supporter, Bill Rice, arrived in the Dominican Republic on May 21st and drove across the border into Haiti on the 22nd where they are now busy assembling and distributing wheelchirs.

Their trip has not been without a few surprises along the way – for one, the container of wheelchairs they were scheduled to meet and distribute was held up at the border and did not make it across in time, due to changes in import requirements.

However, thankfully, FWM partner Operation Blessing International had just cleared a container of wheelchairs this week as well, and the FWM mission group was invited to join the people of OBI in assembling and distributing wheelchairs Thursday and Friday.

Also on the trip, photographers Jason Carr and Krystof Andres are accompanying the mission; the two are volunteering their time and paying their own way, not only assisting with the wheelchair distributions, but lending their talents to FWM by documenting the trip and providing quality high definition footage of the mission trip. The videos Jason and Krystof create will help spread the word about the ongoing need in Haiti, and inform supporters of the FWM mission to providing Haitians with thousands more wheelchairs over the next several years.

Generous Donor Pledges $5,920 for 5,920 Fans!

Free Wheelchair Mission wants YOU…

to tell all your friends about FWM!

Help us send 100 free wheelchairs
around the world!

Here’s the deal:

If we reach 5920 fans by 7/31/10,

a generous donor will gift us $5920.00!

(That’s 100 wheelchairs!!)

5920 fans = $5920.00 = 100 wheelchairs!

What easier way to lift a hundred people
into a clean and sturdy wheelchair?

Go to our FACEBOOK PAGE,

click on “SUGGEST TO FRIENDS”
and send mobility around the world!

A great evening for a great cause - save the date - May 16th!

An inexhaustible team of Vietnamese Americans and Vietnamese is once again coming together to provide an entire shipment of wheelchairs to those in need in southern Vietnam!

Project Xe Lan Tinh Thuong is the name of a powerhouse humanitarian group located in Orange County, California, that works to serve the disabled in Vietnam. At last year’s inaugural fundraising dinner, the group raised enough money for Free Wheelchair Mission to send hundreds of wheelchairs overseas, and provided mobility for people in many regions of southern Vietnam:

This year, the group is back and more enthusiastic than ever. Their goal? To beat last year’s total, and raise TWO containers of wheelchairs! That’s 1100 wheelchairs, and 1100 people to be gifted with the “transforming gift of mobility” thanks to Project Xe Lan Tinh Thuong.

You can be a part of this inspirational evening!

2nd Annual Dinner Fundraiser hosted by Project Xe Lan Tinh Thuong.
Sunday May 16, 2010
5:00PM – 10:00PM

Mon Cheri Restaurant
3510 West Lincoln Avenue
Anaheim, California 92801

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling (714) 418-2499 or 949-306-2873.

Making a Difference in Haiti, Camera in Hand

Jason Carr and his friend, Krystof Andres, are leaving for Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in less than a month. The two will be part of a Free Wheelchair Mission group that will assemble and distribute 1,100 desperately needed free wheelchairs in six days to the people of Haiti.

But Jason and Krystof have a different primary agenda. They have chosen to document their experiences with the mission as well as the current situation in Port-au-Prince, and for that, they will be taking some serious video equipment with them. Through the use of high-definition video and still photography, the two will film as much as possible, hoping to help the Haitian people, and to show the world the power of a simple chair with four wheels.

“I’m so committed to this cause,” Jason said. “If I have any skills at all that can help lift people off the ground, then this is going to be one of the most amazing and important things I do in my lifetime.”

Jason is a self-proclaimed handyman, and a professional cameraman. He intends to wear both hats for duration of his journey.

“If you would have asked me last year or five years ago, what I want to be when I grow up, I would have said that I want to travel the world, and I want to document nature and culture,” Jason said with a wide, gap-toothed grin and childlike enthusiasm.

“I’ve always wanted to give back,” Jason said. “It feels good to combine giving with what it is I enjoy doing.”

But time is not the only thing that is required of Jason on this trip, and the costs are quickly adding up.

“Project Lifted is just a name I assigned to what I’m doing to raise money to go on the trip, to help build and distribute the chairs and document everything,” Jason said.

Jason and Krystof have started a website, http://fwm.kintera.org/projectlifted to help support their expenses, and to raise money for twenty-five additional wheelchairs. Jason and his friends are also organizing several upcoming fundraising events in Long Beach and Santa Monica.

“Just watch the videos; look at the Free Wheelchair Mission’s YouTube channel. Look at the slideshows. It’s one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen,” Jason said. “And to think that I’m going to be part of that? It’s the best. Knowing that I have skills that I can lend to help these people, that’s what it’s about.”

To help with Jason’s cause, log on to http://www.projectlifted.org/. Learn more by joining the Project Lifted Facebook page and sign up to follow the two on Twitter. You can also visit Jason and Krystof at the Basement Lounge in Long Beach on May 8, World Café in Santa Monica on May 11, or go to www.freewheelchairmission.org to learn more about the wheelchairs and the organization.

Krystof Andres (left) and Jason Carr (right) sit in front of the Project Lifted Installation they made at a small gallery on 4th and Cherry in Long Beach, CA.