Good Karma: Local Volunteer Battling MS Wins Mobility Van

Caption: (Top) 1) Linda Stearns tries out the swivel driver’s seat of her new mobility-equipped Dodge Caravan at Mancari Chrysler in Oak Lawn. (Bottom, left to right) 2) Linda rides up to accept the keys to her new van that she won in the Local Heroes National Mobility Month Awareness contest 3) Linda rides her scooter up the wheelchair lift on the van as Dave Hubbard, CEO of the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association looks on. 5) Linda’s new van, donated by Mancari Dodge Chrysler and retroffited by BraunAbility.

For more than 40 years, Linda Stearns has volunteered for dozens of non-profit groups, schools and churches, much of that time from a walker, wheelchair or scooter.

On Friday, in front of all her family and friends, Stearns, 67, was the proud recipient of a brand new, wheelchair-accessible Dodge Caravan from Mancari Chrysler and Dodge. The Oak Lawn woman, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 30 years ago, was one of four Local Heroes winners of National Mobility Awareness Month to receive new wheels.

“There is no one I personally feel that deserves this more than her,” said Gail Stearns-Hussein, who nominated her mother as a Local Hero. “I know people say this about individuals all the time, but she really is the type of person who puts everyone before herself.”

The new Dodge Caravan is equipped with a wheelchair lift and hand controls, so that Stearns can resume her active lifestyle.

Prior to Friday’s presentation, Stearns got around in a nine-year-old, wheelchair accessible van that wasn’t in the best condition. The door fell off when Stearns drove it to a doctor’s appointment during the blizzard of 2011. The lift had also broken.

“She hasn’t driven for the past couple of years so she’s really relied on anyone who could take her in her old van,” Stearns-Hussein said. “This is going to be great for her. She’ll be able to take herself out. It will be wonderful.”

National Mobility Awareness Month is sponsored by the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association, a group of mobility equipment dealers, manufacturers and driver rehabilitation specialists located in the United States and Canada. The trade association’s 600 members are dedicated to helping people with disabilities back on the road in safe, reliable transportation.

Stearns’ Dodge Caravan was plucked off the dealer floor and taken to the Braun Corporation in Winamac, IN, where it was totally rebuilt and equipped with hand gears, cameras, buttons to open doors and windows, and a wheelchair lift to name a few.

Including the cost of the vehicle, such an endeavor can cost up to $75,000 on the high end, well above the reach of the average person with disabilities who just wants to get to work -- or get a job.

“It’s one of the heartbreaks of our industry. There are an awful lot of people who need our equipment but can’t afford it,” said Dave Hubbard, CEO of NMEDA. “It’s kind of a ‘Catch 22.’ They need the equipment to go to work but they can’t go to work unless they get the equipment.”

Chrysler has donated a Dodge Caravan, Toyota who has donated two Sienna’s and Mobility Ventures who has donated an MV-1 to the Local Heroes winners. Other sponsors include BraunAbility and VMI that provide the conversions, making the vehicles customized and accessible.

As a result of the increased awareness from this year’s contest, anonymous donors donated 25 additional vans to folks who can really use them.

Stearns’ kind heartedness dates back to when she was a teenager. At age 17, while volunteering at Misericordia, Stearns fell in love with a 9-month old baby boy named Charlie Peer, but was told not to get too attached to him because he wasn’t expected to survive to age two.

Charlie did survive, and spent holidays and summers with Stearns’ family. He moved in permanently with her when he was 21. Stearns considers Charlie, who will be 50 in November, her adopted son.

In 2009, she was socked with another health challenge when she learned that she had breast cancer. It was while on her way to an appointment to get a mammogram during the Ground Hog Day blizzard two years later when the door to her van fell off.

Her health setbacks haven’t stopped her from calling isolated seniors on their birthdays and delivering her “singing telegrams,” or volunteering at a multitude of causes.

Stearns is presently learning how to drive the van and figuring out the technology. True to her nature, she already has plans to share her van with other community members that may need to take a wheelchair-bound family member or friend to a doctor appointment or other errand.

“Just shoot me an email,” Stearns said. “I’ll let anybody use it for free.”

If you or someone you know has a disability and needs a ride, contact Linda Stearns by email at lstea9233@aol.com

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