10,000 wheelchair pledge for Haiti
We are incredibly proud to announce that Walkabout has pledged to donate 10,000 wheelchairs to Haiti over the next five years.
On Wednesday, May 14th 2012, Walkabout Foundation was invited to attend a special ceremony and press conference in Port-au-Prince with Gerald Oriol, Haiti’s Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, in order to publicly announce its commitment to donate 10,000 wheelchairs to Haitians with mobility disabilities throughout the country. The wheelchairs will be donated over the course of 5 years directly to Secretary Oriol’s Bureau for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, which will then work with local organizations to ensure that the wheelchairs are distributed and delivered to the people that need them most. It is estimated that thousands of Haitians were physically injured by the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, in addition to the thousands of Haitians that were already living with amputations and mobility disabilities within the country. Representatives from over 30 NGOs attended the ceremony and press conference, but the highlight of the event was a special visit by President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe who came to support our initiative and express their own personal commitment to focus on the plight of Haitians with disabilities and support our wheelchair donation.
Additionally, Walkabout Foundation sent a summer intern, Simon Morgan, who is pursuing a Masters in Public Health at Columbia University, to work alongside Secretary Oriol in Port-au-Prince to establish a strategic plan for the efficient and responsible distribution of the 10,000 chairs.
