ABOUT US
Our Mission
Mission and Goals
A MESSAGE FROM
KEN BEHRING
The Wheelchair Foundation is a nonprofit organization leading an international effort to create
awareness of the needs and abilities of people
with physical disabilities, to promote the joy of
giving, create global friendship, and to deliver a
wheelchair to every child, teen and adult in the
world who needs one, but cannot afford one. For
these people, the Wheelchair Foundation delivers
Hope, Mobility and Freedom.
Our Goal
O
n June 13th, 2000, my 72nd birthday, I announced the
creation of Wheelchair Foundation and pledged $15
million of my own money to launch it. We set the goal
of providing one million wheelchairs to people in need around the
world. Today we have fewer than 73,000 to go to get to that one
millionth wheelchair.
On July 25th of that same year, Pat and I launched The Principal
Leadership Institute at the Graduate School of Education at the
University of California, Berkeley. We established this program
to educate and prepare inner city principals and the future leaders
of San Francisco Bay Area schools. This spring, we were honored
at PLI’s annual reunion and awards banquet, and celebrated the
graduation of the 13th group cohort from this program. So many
people thanked us for the opportunities this program has afforded
them, and it was a joy to see and hear about what they have
accomplished in this short amount of time.
It is said that Leadership can’t be taught, that it is a quality one is
born with. So, going forward, we will work to identify and nurture
the future leaders of the world. In my latest book, “The Road to
Leadership,” I write about how we will foster the next crop of world
leaders. Our future will depend upon these new leaders, and we
believe education is key to the future of mankind.
I invite you to join us in support of all of our endeavors, to provide
leadership, education, clean water, vision, mobility and the other
vital elements of survival to people around the world who are
in need. It is my hope that our Global Health and Education
Foundation will be at the forefront of these efforts, and wherever it
is necessary, we will lead the way.
The Wheelchair Foundation aims to deliver one
million wheelchairs to people who cannot afford
to buy one, and to further the awareness that a
wheelchair is no longer an unaffordable relief option for delivery to developing countries around
the world.
Mobility
Since its establishment on June 13, 2000, the
Wheelchair Foundation has witnessed hundreds
of thousands of examples of how mobility creates
independence and new possibilities for recipients
and their families. A mobile child is able to attend
school. A mobile adult is able to get a job and
provide for their family, or care for the children at
home so the spouse can work. An elderly person
can rejoin society or family activities after years of
staying in a bed. The joy and hope that a simple
mobility device can deliver is what gives people a
new outlook on life and hope for the future.
Changing the World
is published by:
Wheelchair Foundation,
3820 Blackhawk Road,
Danville, CA 94506
USA. Copyright 2013
Wheelchair Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Spring 2013 Issue.
Written and edited by
Joel Hodge,
Program Director
A Division of Global Health & Education Foundation
Tax ID # 94-3353881
Contact Us:
Wheelchair Foundation ( 877) 378-3839
- [email protected]
- www.wheelchairfoundation.org
- www.ghefoundation.org
- [email protected]
Kenneth E. Behring
Founder and Chairman
2
Spr in g 2013
w h e e l c h ai r foundati on. org