newportbeachindy . com DECEMBER 8 , 2023 3
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Laurie ’ s Final Dream : Higher Education for Wheelchair Occupants
Verery Mererry
Don in Vietnam with a wheelchair recipient
By Richard Simon | NB Indy Other than earplugs for when your mother-in-law invites herself to spend the summer at your house , the wheel with axle arguably is the greatest singular invention in the history of humankind .
The earliest wheel , it is surmised by archeologists , revolved first as a pottery wheel in Mesopotamia about 5,500 years ago . It would be 2,000 years later that Greek farmers realized that a disk with axle could reduce the labor necessary to move heavy loads across their fields . Doubtlessly , even their beasts of burden breathed easier .
Once thinkers , both ancient and modern , released the brakes on creativity , the wheel with ever-evolved materials was applied to everything from chariots to monorails , wristwatch mechanisms to generators . And wheelchairs . When MIT-trained mechanical Engineer Don Schoendorfer , PhD , read a World Health Organization report that more than 80 million handicapped people worldwide desperately needed but could illafford a wheelchair , his mission in life shone clearly : he would design a wheelchair that cost only $ 40 to build , and he ’ d create a charitable organization to distribute them globally . That same year , Schoendorfer founded the nonprofit Free Wheelchair Mission ( FWM ).
Initially using a plastic resin lawn chair reinforced by a metal frame to which he added four wheels , Schoendorfer discovered that it worked well , and that it changed lives .
“ God wanted me to do this ,” he enthused .
Over the past 20 years , the chair ’ s frame and materials have seen three evolved and robust iterations , the latest adjustable in comfort for many-sized users .
No longer a garage project , Free
Wheelchair Mission today has produced ( and given away via charity partners ) nearly 1.4 million wheelchairs in 94 countries throughout Africa , Asia , and South America . Factories in China , and India , manufacture as many wheelchairs as FWM ’ s charity drives can pay for , which amounts to approximately $ 10 million annually in donations — most of which come from Orange County donors . Schoendorfer is committed to and spends most of his time promoting FWM .
Unfortunately , Schoendorfer revealed , “ there ’ s a third-world feeling that people with disabilities are cursed by God , so many are hidden in their homes by ashamed families , often for decades . However , once they ’ re fortunate enough to receive a wheelchair , they experience air they never could have expected to breathe outside the cultural imprisonments of their darkened rooms .
Though now “ freed ,” most emerge with little benefit of education and are generally ill- prepared for a life of mobility and self-sustainment . But that human spark for independence and growth glows brightly in many , as well . Realizing this , Schoendorfer , and his good friends , Barry and Meryl Resnick of Newport Beach , created a follow-up charity dedicated to providing both intellectual and vocational training for FWM recipients , ranging from four-week trade programs to fouryear-degrees and beyond .
Thus , Newport Beach-based Laurie ’ s Scholars was born in 2017 , named in memory of Schoendorfer ’ s wife , Laurie , herself a recipient of higher education via scholarship whose last wishes were to help FWM recipients acquire training .
A global staff of 38 operate Free Wheelchair Mission , but the Laurie ’ s Scholars Board has been building the organization part time ; their efforts to date have garnered more than $ 300,000 for scholarships in Peru , Argentina and Viet Nam .
However , his ultimate goal is $ 1 million in the bank , from which annual interest would prove sufficient to fund a broad variety of scholarships in those three countries . To date , 50 scholarships have been granted , some as modest as $ 60 for virtual training classes for Adobe products . Peruvian and Vietnamese governments will pay for half of one ’ s education if an individual or family can come up with the other half . In Argentina , education is free , so Laurie ’ s Scholars ’ grants help to pay for living expenses , Schoendorfer shared .
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