Hello dear friend,
I hope my message find you well. I am writing to let you know that we are closing the Wheelchair Fund 2020 project and starting a new season of Spinning the Wheels of Change for wheelchair user independence in Romania.
In 2020 and beginning of 2021, with you help we gave back freedom of movement to 41 children and adults using wheelchairs, through GlobalGiving, of 705 wheelchairs donated through the Wheelchair Fund. Moreover, The Wheels of Change Project 2020 was supported on GlobalGiving by 15 friends of Motivation, some of you recurring and others new. Thank you for your trust and thank you, on behalf of the children and adults we gave back mobility through appropriate wheelchairs!
Miruna is 4 years old and she lives in Galati County with her parents. She is very sweet and delicate and she likes drawing. When she was only 10 months old she was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. Miruna`s parents got in touch with the Motivation team in Galati, to find out about appropriate mobility equipment for Miruna, and gabe her a lightweight wheelchair that Miruna can handle on her own, as well as a tricycle appropriate for her needs. Read more about Miruna`s story of independent mobility.
Let`s keep the momentum going for more lives changed for the better through the Motivation Romania Wheelchair Fund!
In 2020, individual donors and companies in Romania and abroad made extremely generous gifts to the Wheelchair Fund. These will enable Motivation Romania to give back freedom of movement to 1,033 wheelchair users in 2021.
Renew your donations in 2021 and enable Motivation to continue donating wheelchairs to children and adults with mobility disabilities in Romania!Transform your donation into a monthly gift to the Wheelchair Fund, and invite your friends and family to join you! Continue to roll with Motivation Romania on this journey.
Follow Motivation Romania`s facebook page for photos and news from our programs.
Thank you!
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Hello dear friend,
As the new year begins, we are looking at 2021 with renewed hope that, with the help of the vaccine, we will all be able to take back some of the normality that we lost during 2020. I hope that you are well and that the long-awaited health and freedom of movement will come to you soon!
It is my hope that the vaccine developed last year will give back freedom of movement to all of us that lived for the past year under the threat of the Covid-19 virus. So, too, many wheelchair users in Romania, who have difficulties obtaining an appropriate wheelchair, hope to regain their freedom of movement with the help of personalized wheelchairs donated by Motivation Romania through the Wheelchair Fund.
The Wheels of Change 2020, Motivation`s most recent project on GlobalGiving, helped us reach out to you and other Motivation friends in 2020. During the year, we raised 3,068$ with your help. By October 1st, 2020, we donated 18 wheelchairs, funded from donations starting in the winter 2019 fundraiser through September 2020. I hope the stories we sent in the meanwhile, of some of the children and adults that regained their freedom of movement, illustrated the great contribution your donations make in the lives of others.
Since my last message, in October 2020 alone, donors gave 1,984$ to the wheelchair fund. New friends joined our cause and enabled Motivation to help 16 other wheelchair users through appropriate mobility equipment.
Narcisa was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth and this is why she needs a wheelchair to move around. We’ve known Narcisa since she was 5 years old. Narcisa`s mother motivates her daughter to lead an active life. Together, they attended many of our activities – trainings on independent living, active rehabilitation camps, adapted sports events. Both of them understand the importance of an appropriate wheelchair.
Narcisa is 16 now. She is optimistic and cheerful; she enjoys listening to music and watching cooking shows. She needs a light mobility equipment, to help her stay active and to have a correct seating position. Read more about Narcisa and how our team helped her be active in her teenage years.
Narcisa is one of the 34 children and adults with mobility disabilities you and other donors helped through the Wheels of Change 2020 by the end of October. Thank you, on their behalf, for your generosity!
The wheels will continue to spin towards more lives changed for the better in the following months! Each year, at least 1,000 children and adults with mobility disabilities in Romania wait for our help.
Transform your donation into a monthly gift to the Wheelchair Fund, and invite your friends and family to join you! Keep rolling with Motivation Romania on this journey.
Thank you!
Anca from #TeamMotivation
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Hello, dear friend!
I hope that you and your family are navigating these difficult times with strength and patience.
At Motivation, we are all well! Due to the self-imposed limitations on our activity, we only had two cases of Covid-19 infections among our staff, but our colleagues are now safe and healthy. The 25 young adults with disabilities living in our group homes, as well as the staff who care for them, are also well. Everyone got used to wearing masks and taking the other necessary precautions for our health and for the health of those around us.
Since my last update, I am happy to report that we donated 8 more wheelchairs, for a total of 18 wheelchair users supported. With your help, we gave back freedom of movement to children like Andrei, Antonia, Alex Nicholas, Darius or Irinuca, and to other adults with mobility disabilities in Romania. You and the other Wheelchair Fund donors and sponsors enabled Motivation to help 344 children and adults with mobility disabilities through appropriate wheelchair donations by the end of August 2020.
Andrei is one of the children in Romania who regained their mobility through the Wheelchair Fund. At 9 years old, with the support of the Motivation team from Galati, he received a Panthera wheelchair to replace his old mobility equipment, which had become too small and inappropriate for his needs. Andrei’s mother says that, in the absence of an adequate wheelchair, her son would not have been able to go to school, enjoy relaxing activities or explore his abilities. `In our life experience, the wheelchair has meant and still means what creating aircraft has meant in history for those who wanted to fly, what building ships has meant for those who wanted to explore seas and oceans: the broadening of the meanings of life, reaching the human potential and opening up to the unknown promise of our ideals.`
This is what the power of many can achieve! Together, you and the other donors to our 2019 appeal gave back freedom of movement to 18 children like Andrei, Antonia, Alex Nicholas, Darius or Irinuca, and to adults with disabilities in Romania. Thank you, on their behalf, for making this possible!
Do you wonder if we could achieve more, together? I am certain we can. Hundreds of children and adults with disabilities in Romania still need your help to receive appropriate wheelchairs from Motivation.
If you are wondering `How could I, from such a distance, help other wheelchair users in Romania?`, the answer is: EASY!
We would be honored to have you as one of our first Ambassadors of the Wheelchair Fund. All you have to do is encourage your colleagues, friends and family to give as little as 10USD to the Wheelchair Fund, and thus give back hope in a life of fulfillment through appropriate wheelchairs for Romanian children and adults with disabilities!
If you are up to this challenge, please write me at a.beudean@motivation.ro and I would be happy to guide you through the process.
Please subscribe to our newsletter and follow Motivation Romania`s facebook page for photos and news from our programs.
Keep healthy and safe!
Anca
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Hello,
Thank you for being a friend of wheelchair users in Romania, as a donor to the Wheelchair Fund initiated by Motivation Romania Foundation.
I hope my message finds you well, despite of the difficult times brought upon all of us by the Covid-19 pandemic. At Motivation all is well. We are happy to report that all our team members remain healthy, as do all 25 young adults with medium and severe disabilities living in Motivation`s group homes since 2003.
Starting in March, when Covid-19 related restrictions were put in place in Romania, we stopped or slowed down wheelchair user services in order to ensure safety of our staff and beneficiaries. In the meanwhile, the IMPACT Romania program for young adults with disabilities transferred from state-run institutions to Motivation`s group homes went into complete isolation – our staff spent two weeks in a row, in shifts, together with our young adults. Now, it feels like a second spring – we are cautious yet a bit more relaxed, enjoying our health and a little more freedom of movement than in the past few months. I hope this is the case for you as well!
So, without further ado, let me bring you up to date with the project you supported through your December 2019 donation on GlobalGiving:
Through the 2019 end of year appeal, we raised 2,823 USD on GlobalGiving. These funds cover the purchase, adaptation and delivery of 18 wheelchairs out of the 100 we aim to donate with your help this year.
In the past months, we were able to provide 10 personalized wheelchairs through GlobalGiving, to users aged 2 – 80 from five counties in Romania. In response to the risks and rules imposed in Romania due to the pandemic, Motivation limited home visits for wheelchair assessment, provision and training. We wanted to minimize the risk of unwillingly spreading the virus, and thereby harming our beneficiaries and their families, or our staff from the regional teams. We limited wheelchair donations to urgent cases or those where assessments had already been completed. We temporarily adapted assessment procedures to allow for distance self-measurements, and intensified discussions with beneficiaries in these cases to make sure their wheelchair fit their personal needs.
Alexandru Nicholas is one of those who received a wheelchair with your help. At the age of 2 and a half (now three), when most children start to walk on their own, Nicholas received an extra-light Panthera wheelchair which will help him navigate the world on his own. Alex is full of energy and his wheelchair allows him to play more, explore and try new activities. He goes out with his mother to the park and plays, does puzzles, even dares to help his mother clean the house, which he sees as some sort of a game. He enjoys so much his new freedom of movement that he moves around in his wheelchair even while learning to count.
Alex’s mother frequently sends us pictures with her son and keeps us up to date with his successes. Their optimism and joy of living keep them going and make us happy for being able to once again change lives for the better.
Thank you once again for making these results possible. Your donation helped give back hope and mobility to wheelchair users in Romania. However, 82 children and adults still need your help to receive appropriate wheelchairs from Motivation. So, if the current situation allows it, please invite your friends and family to join Motivation by donating to our 2020 appeal, to help these people regain their independence in 2020.
Help Motivation change more lives for the better in 2020!
I want to end with another piece of good news from our programs: in response to the pandemic, Motivation Romania starts a new emergency response intervention this June. For the following six months, we will use donations made in Romania via text messages to send health protection packages to at least 27 wheelchair users in difficult situations due to geographical isolation, financial distress or other causes. These packages will include reusable facial masks, disposable gloves, hand and surface disinfectants to use for their health management issues or to clean their wheelchair, etc. We hope these products will help users remain safe in the coming months, whether or not the pandemic intensifies again.
Please follow Motivation Romania`s facebook page for photos and news from our programs.
Keep healthy and safe!
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The Wheels of Change Project 2020 is our second fundraising appeal on GlobalGiving for the Romanian Wheelchair Fund, the initiative whereby Motivation Romania Foundation donates each year more than 1,000 appropriate wheelchairs in Romania to children and adults with mobility disabilities. In 2019, with the help of friends in Romania and abroad, Motivation donated 1,127 wheelchairs, including 99 wheelchairs funded through generous GlobalGiving donations.
Irinuca, one year and three months old, is one of the children who received a wheelchair donation from Motivation in 2019. Irinuca`s new Panthera Micro wheelchair allowed her to make the „first steps”, as all toddlers do around her age. Now, Irinuca can go around, play and explore independently, like any other child. Her older brother guides her on this journey, motivating her and teaching her to use her new wheelchair. Irinuca cannot wait to play in the courtyard and out in the street this summer. Read about Irinuca and her new wheelchair here.
Your donation on GlobalGiving, together with those of other friends, will help 18 Romanian wheelchair users receive appropriate wheelchairs in 2020! Another 82 wheelchair users need our help to regain their mobility through GlobalGiving in 2020, so please join our efforts to see their dreams come true!
Transform your donation into a monthly contribution to the Wheelchair Fund 2020 campaign, and invite your friends and family to do the same! GlobalGiving will match your donation 100% while funds are available. Keep walking with Motivation Romania on this journey. Donate here and renew your commitment to support independent living for wheelchair users in Romania !
Follow Motivation Romania`s facebook page for photos and news from our programs.
Thank you!
Anca
Links:
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