Ninety six children with cerebral palsy and adults from Bacolod City and Negros Occidental received customized wheelchairs from Fenixia Foundation Inc. and Hope Haven West at Benjamin Hall in Bacolod City on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 15 and 16.
Lisa Valerio, founder of Fenixia Foundation Inc., held her first mission in the Philippines in 2016, but it was for children with intellectual disabilities like autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and down syndrome.
In 2018, she was introduced to Anne Marie Makilan of Happy Beginners School of Learning who informed her that children with cerebral palsy in Negros Occidental were in need of help, too. This prompted her to expand the scope of her mission.
Valerio collaborated with Lonny Davis, founder of Hope Haven West for this mission. Davis said the wheelchairs they gave out were manufactured for charity cases from a prison in South Dakota, USA.
“We have other wheelchairs that were collected all over the United States. These chairs were refurbished many times by prisoners in different facilities across the US. The complex rehab chairs generally cost between $3,000 to $10,000. They are very sturdy. They are very durable. The kids who will receive these chairs, they should be functional for anywhere from 5-10 years,” Davis said.
The team composed of 20 Americans and Filipino volunteers arrived in Bacolod on October 14 and assembled the wheelchairs.
Dr. Ferdeliza Garcia, a community-based rehabilitation practitioner who specializes in wheelchair service provision, joined the team to ensure that the beneficiaries will be able to maximize the features of their wheelchairs.
“There’s a need to really increase awareness that when you give out wheelchairs, it’s not simply giving out a chair. It’s like a shoe. Will you accept a shoe that’s not your size? It’s something to raise awareness among our countrymen. There’s a lot of people giving out wheelchairs but we would like to emphasize that there’s a lot of people doing good. But there are things that can be done good that should be done right,” Garcia said.
Six-year-old Josh Gabriel of San Enrique, Negros Occidental, was one of the wheelchair recipients. His mother Gerah Longhay had to quit her job because someone had to look after her son full time. The boy was diagnosed with drug resistant epilepsy and developmental delay. He cannot sit upright and lacks balance and muscle control.
Rogelio Plans is excited to take a stroll with his granddaughter Angel who now has a wheelchair. Angel was diagnosed with developmental delay when she was 6 months old. Her grandparents take turns in taking care of her.
“Now that she has a wheelchair, we can take her wherever we go. It won’t be very difficult for us anymore. It was really very difficult for us before. She could not sit alone. She could not stand. At least now, it won’t be that hard anymore for us,” Planas said.
Anne Marie Makilan, president of Happy Beginners School of Learning, said Valerio called her and instructed her to gather 200 children with cerebral palsy. She then worked with the Special Education teachers and the Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) to identify the qualified beneficiaries.
Davis said their organization is 100 percent charity.
“All the people who are here today, they paid their own way, nobody receives a salary, everybody is a volunteer, including me. There is no fundraising expenses. Everything we collect goes directly to help kids get wheelchairs. My wife and I have been operating Hope Haven West as a charity for the last 25 years. We have done around 20,000 wheelchairs and 106 distributions in countries all over the world”, Davis said.*