The Mobility Worldwide is a faith based, volunteer driven program that has built a hand cranked wheelchair with solid rubber tires. Over 65,000 P.E.Ts have been distributed to 101 countries. To better share the purpose of this vehicle/cart and to indicate where it is utilized this P.E.T. (an acronym for Personal Energy Transportation) has had a recent name change to be called Mobility Worldwide.
The headquarters is in Columbia, MO where founder, Mel West began this humanitarian program in 1994 after hearing about the need to help those who had suffered with polio and who were victims of landmines. A group of men from the Hawarden, IA decided to offer their services and became an affiliate. From across Iowa other men came forward to share in the program by making parts for the cart.
One man, Joe Marnin (husband of Judy) of Anita, IA, met West and immediately converted an old hog house on his farm into a workshop where he and his volunteers sorts, cuts and makes 11 different wooden shapes and parts for the vehicle. He purchases 10' pieces of 1' x 6' treated yellow pine. It takes 512 of these 10' boards to make 35 P.E.T.'s which is the size of the shipment now. When all of these pieces are ready, Joe hauls them to Hawarden where the crew assembles the cart.
Joe now has an air conditioned shop, with its own bathroom and has made three trips to Guatemala to help assembly and distribute these “gifts of mobility” to grateful recipients. For the past 5 years the P.E.T.'s have been sent in the sea container to Nigeria where they have been distributed to both children and adult recipients. The cost to produce and deliver a cart is approximately $300.
The Mobility Worldwide program is a United Methodist Church Advance Special: #982665. It is an Iowa Advance Special (in the Blue Spectrum): #386, with funds going to the Hawarden affiliate.
The Rainbow Covenant book may be found at https://www.iaumc.org/rainbow.
If you have questions, email pa[email protected], Chpn of Mission Education Committee.