The Impact of a Wheelchair: New Life for Maria
After visiting with a sweet lady named Maria and her caring daughter for a while, a couple of
members from the Rotary Club arrived with her new wheelchair. Maria and her daughter both
smiled with excitement and then Maria started to cry. I wondered what her life and the life of her
daughter must have been like without the assistance of a wheelchair, without the ability to freely
move around the house and to leave her home whenever she wanted to go outside for some fresh
air.
After we helped Maria into her new wheelchair she smiled and cried again, and then gave us a
big hug thanking us the entire time. Witnessing the impact this one wheelchair had for Maria
made me reflect on how many other people are out there who desperately need the blessing of
mobility but because of their circumstances are unable to afford or acquire one. That was only
one of many touching experiences delivering wheelchairs that reminds me never to take for
granted my ability to walk, and it moves me to do what I can in order to help those who can’t.
