A
ge is No Restraint from Serving
Pensacola, Florida … On a warm, sunny, fall afternoon she sat in her living room, clutching a hand-made wire galimoto, and described how this gift had been given to her, by Malawi children, because of what she learned, and did, after reading about a wheelchair organization helping third world countries.
“I was on a plane heading for Ann Arbor, Michigan,” recalls Florence Crosthwaite who is approaching her 90th birthday. “During the trip I was reading the latest issue of Readers Digest magazine. It was the July 2005 issue, and it featured a story about Don Schoendorfer, the founder of the Free Wheelchair Mission in southern California. The magazine had nominated Don as an ‘Everyday Hero’ in its July issue, and I saw the opportunity to have them send wheelchairs to Malawi.”
Florence contacted the Free Wheelchair Mission in Irvine, California. They set up a program for wheelchair distribution with the Malawi Project, and the first shipment of 550 wheelchairs was on its way. This first shipment was quickly distributed, and drew national attention. Soon large numbers of people and organizations were contacting the Project in order to add their names to a growing list to receive the much-needed wheelchairs. The Free Wheelchair Mission specializes in all terrain plastic wheelchairs that are designed with bicycle tires that can easily be replaced in third world nations. The Malawi Project set up distribution points all over the nation and the program started growing. Since that first shipment the number of wheelchairs reaching Malawi, or in transit, has now topped 3,000. Florence will probably never travel to Malawi, nor will she meet the people whose lives she has changed. However, it is evident from stories that come from the cities, towns and villages that countless lives have been changed by the efforts of this one Florida resident. It is obvious she refuses to accept age as a reason, or an excuse, for not helping people half a world away.