California organizations work to provide wheelchairs for Ukraine
by Bohdan Malaniak
LOS ANGELES - The California Association to Aid Ukraine Inc. (CAAU) and Wheels for Humanity are not-for-profit, non-denominational and non-political organizations engaged in various activities involving humanitarian assistance. Both California organizations provide labor, equipment and supplies for use by children and adults suffering from various physical disabilities resulting from illness or trauma.
In April 2002, a 20,000-pound shipment consisting of 170 new and refurbished wheelchairs, hundreds of walkers, canes, crutches, commodes, and other related medical equipment left Los Angeles for their destinations in Ukraine, the Rivne City Territorial Center for Invalids and the Education Resource Center in Dnipropetrovsk. The shipment is expected to reach the Odesa port in mid-June 2002, and then move on to Rivne and Dnipropetrovsk by ground transportation.
Nataliya Stepanivna Havrilyuk, director of the Rivne City Territorial Center and consignee for this shipment, will greet the aid team in Rivne upon its arrival.
Dr. Roman Kulczycky, project team leader and past president of CAAU; Dee Dee Freney of Castro Valley, Calif., and Sally Lovell of San Francisco, both volunteers for Wheels for Humanity; and Dmytro Cyhaniuk, CAAU volunteer, will customize, adjust and fit the equipment to the many awaiting adults and children who have been looking forward to the mobility their new wheelchairs and other special equipment will provide.
From Rivne the team will travel to Dnipropetrovsk where the volunteers will work with wheelchairs and mobility equipment for children only. In addition to customizing and fitting the equipment, the team will also train the adults, children, parents and teachers in their use, maintenance and repair, including how to disassemble and reassemble the equipment for transport.
It should be noted that all of the above volunteers are paying for their own transportation to and from Ukraine.
The exceptional story of "Wheelchairs for Ukraine" would never have been told without the total support of the Wheels for Humanity organization and its leadership, in particular David Richard, executive director, his staff and volunteers, as well as Hugh Shellenberger, chief operating officer and chairman of the board. Wheels for Humanity has provided support and assistance to CAAU for several past shipments of wheelchairs, related equipment and supplies to the following regions and cities of Ukraine: Lutsk, Ternopil, Novovolynsk, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv and Stryi. Wheels for Humanity also arranged to have the U.S. State Department underwrite the shipping cost of the current shipment to Ukraine.
As a matter of interest, Wheels for Humanity collects thousands of used wheelchairs through the generosity of caring individuals, schools, medical institutions, churches and synagogues. Partnering with other humanitarian organizations, such as CAAU, Wheels for Humanity restores and distributes the wheelchairs at no cost to people who need them in places where wheelchairs are unattainable luxuries. The organization works with community leaders in the villages and towns of developing countries to identify the individuals in greatest need of their help. With the assistance of a health care professional, a physical therapist and a rehabilitation-seating specialist, each recipient is matched up with the wheelchair that best fits his or her needs.
Wheels for Humanity helps the physically challenged from around the world re-enter their societies through the gift of a wheelchair. They are a remarkable organization that truly lives by their motto, "From People, To People, For People."
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 23, 2002, No. 25, Vol. LXX
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