On My Wheelchair Distribution In Mexico

After my last blog post, I realized that it was also time for an informational post on my trip to Monterrey, Mexico with The Wheelchair Foundation! Instead of going to Panama City Beach or Cabo San Lucas like most other college students, I traveled to Mexico to spend quality time doing my favorite pastime: volunteering. I met up with my father at the airport on Thursday morning before driving an hour to our hotel to unpack and digress before the activities began. Unfortunately, I had pulled several all-nighters (I blame college) on previous nights and was exhausted beyond words, so I planned on taking a “short” nap..Well, that short nap ended up turning into an all day adventure, but thankfully I didn’t miss anything since other Rotarians were also still arriving at the hotel. After I (sort of) caught up on sleep, the adventures in Mexico began at a glorious 5 am. Myself, my father, and fellow Rotarians from across the United States all met downstairs at the lobby before we all split into separate groups for the day.

Each group was designated to different “hands-on” projects such as building a home, fixing up a library, painting schools, working with autistic children, reforestation of a primary school, speaking on water sanitation at elementary schools and painting basketball courts. My father had signed up to assemble and build a new home for a woman and her children in a desolate area a few hours away from our hotel. The 500 or so families that had been living in this city had built their homes from corrugated metal and wood scraps. At a cost of only $2,000, the new home was installed in less than 2 days. I signed up for painting a school and working with the autistic children at the school. The school was called Arena, which worked with autistic children from all across Mexico. We painted several rooms that would be used as a sensory room, a gymnasium, and a computer lab room; and then we also had the chance to laugh and play with the children in the classrooms! It was an incredibly rewarding day.

That evening we had the honor to go to Carlos Sandoval’s house for a lovely dinner and celebration with the Rotarians. There was a young woman there named Andrea Resendez who was born with cerebral palsy and has an impressive artistic talent: she paints with her mouth. She places the paintbrush in her mouth and paints beautiful photos to either frame or as a calendar. Andrea makes a calendar each year for The Wheelchair Foundation to raise funds for wheelchairs. Fun fact, my father actually gave her her wheelchair more than ten years ago! It was special to see my father and her reunited at the dinner. My father was awarded one of her paintings (see below for picture!) and it depicts young children at a lemonade stand raising money for wheelchairs with the Rotary International wheel symbol in place of the sun. I loved the paintings so much I asked my father if he would purchase one of her paintings so that I can frame it in my room!

On Saturday, we embarked on our grand adventure at 8 am. When we arrived at the gymnasium, we all broke out into mass chaos in order to unpack the hundreds of wheelchair boxes and assemble them all before the distribution. There were various boxes of different wheelchair sizes, ranging from 12″ for a small child, to 22″ for a larger adult. There was a local high school choir that came and sang during the distribution in order to lift the spirits of both the families, and the recipients. At the end of the morning, we had delivered 500 wheelchairs. 500. 500 people were given their mobility and independence back, and there is no greater feeling than knowing that you gave that to someone.

There is no other way I would have wanted to spend my spring break.

The area where my father and other Rotarians constructed a new home for a family.

The piece of art my father was awarded with that was painted by Andrea Resendez.

My father and other Rotarians constructed a new home for a family.

Myself, my father, and Andrea Resendez who is the artist of the beautiful painting!

My “hands-on” project group that worked at Arena (the autistic school) and painted the rooms.

#missamerica #wheelchairfoundation