Meeting 14 Sep: Wheelchairs for Kids

At last week’s meeting we welcomed PP Gordon Hudson and Peter from the Rotary Club of Scarborough, to tell us about their wonderful Wheelchairs for Kids project. 

Established in 1996, Wheelchairs for Kids has evolved from using old bicycles to create wheelchairs to now a very solid, safe and customised wheelchair for each chid.

A pool of over 240 volunteers work mornings to produce some 400 wheelchairs a month. Added to this there are knitters throughout Australia making rugs and dolls and toys to go with the wheelchairs.

Over 53,000 wheelchairs have been distributed in almost 100 countries. Currently delivery is mainly carried out by aide agencies such as World Vision.

The cost of a chair is $250. With it costing almost $100,000 a month to run the factory in Wangara, donations and fundraising activities are heavily relied upon. In recent years a Wheelathon has been introduced into Australian schools as a fun fundraiser.

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