Free Wheelchair Mission Gala Fundraiser Corona Del Mar: Photos

CORONA DEL MAR, CA — In November, the Free Wheelchair Mission brought its ‘1 Million for 1 Million’ Orange County campaign to the iconic Port Theater in Corona Del Mar. This was the third city stop in the national tour, celebrating its major milestone – distributing one million wheelchairs to people in 93 counties around the world since 2001.

The campaign featured a soon-to-be released documentary, “Because No One Should Have to Crawl,” narrated by Sam Waterston, best known for his role on the TV show Law & Order.

The documentary is part of the award-winning public television series “Visionaries,” now in its 22nd season, which highlights rarely told stories of nonprofit organizations around the world that make a positive difference in their community and beyond.

The film includes dramatic footage, eliciting both tears of sadness and tears of joy as it chronicles the organization’s journey to deliver wheelchairs around the world to help lift people off the ground and give them hope for a better future. The documentary concludes with the grand finale — a trip to Peru this past summer to give the millionth wheelchair to a 12-year-old girl who desperately needed mobility due to an illness that left her mentally and physically impaired.

The event was hosted by the OC Women’s Council for Mobility, a group of residents from Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel and Irvine whose support has helped send thousands of wheelchairs to people in need around the world.

Attendees and Free Wheelchair Mission Board members included Don and Marsha Witucki, Joanne Weeks, Caroline Byum, John Lee, Debbie Hogan, Larry Hedlund, Yoli Brogger, Susan Karras, Lisa Hummelberg, Don Schoendorfer, Bill Baker, Kelly Wildman, Janice Munemitsu, Vanessa Valdes, Lisa Madden, Carol Perry, and Kim Caldwell.

Following the documentary was a brief Q&A session with Lori Philp, Chair, OC Women’s Council for Mobility and Free Wheelchair Mission Founder and CEO Don Schoendorfer.

The Orange County campaign raised over $23,000 and will help toward the next goal – to deliver its next million wheelchairs by 2025, half the time it took to give out the first million. Following Orange County, the tour will travel to Houston, Atlanta, and Orlando in the spring of 2018. More cities will be added to the tour through spring 2018.

For more information, visit: Free Wheelchair Mission

Photos, courtesy Free Wheelchair Mission, photos by: Kait McKay