MOUNDRIDGE- Last week, 13 volunteers from McPherson County joined Kirby and Chris Goering, proprietors of the non-profit PET-Kansas in Moundridge, to load 175 PETs — Personal Energy Transportation wheelchairs —into a semi en route to Honduras. The truck began its 1,700-mile journey to Honduras by way of Houston. The wheelchairs will be distributed at several missions in Honduras next month.
During the past two years, the Goerings have teamed up with Ashley Williams, also of Moundridge, to transport and distribute PETs in the mountains of Honduras. This year marks the third year that the trio will lead an entourage of McPherson County residents to help with distribution.
The crew of 15 put in nearly two hours of sweat equity, loading 114 adult PETs, 40 Push-PETs, and 21 children’s PET wheelchairs into the semi’s container. Push Pets are designed for those who cannot operate a steering column and are new to PET-Kansas this year.
When the PETs arrive in Honduras, each one will go through the rigors of customs. Shortly afterwards, the McPherson contingency will fly in and transport the PETs to six communities and orphanages in the highlands of Honduras. The next several days will consist of travel through rain and cloud forests in the mountainous cordilleras to deliver PETs to the indigenous peoples. Churches in those areas have already identified the most needy recipients for the PETs.
Leading the expedition with the Goerings is Ashley Williams. Williams and his wife, Julia, had met and worked with Church of Christ missions in Honduras a number of years ago. Since then Williams has made annual trips to the country with containers of medicine, sewing machines for women’s cooperatives, and other humanitarian aid. When Williams discovered PET-Kansas several years ago, he contacted the Goerings to see if they could donate a container of PETs to those who needed them most in Honduras. This is Williams’ third expedition with PETs in that many years. As of April 2009, nearly 600 PETs will have been distributed to the poorest of the poor in the country.
PETs had their origin when a former missionary to Zambia, Larry Hills, and United Methodist pastor Mel West from Columbia, Mo., teamed up to build a wheelchair that could navigate the rough terrain in Africa. West sent the first three prototypes to Hills, asking him to “test them on the roughest ground you can find.”
They were shipped to Zambia, and then tested on rugged gulches and uneven terrain by parishioners of United Methodist missionary, Rev. Larry Hills. Soon afterwards Hills learned that some people were critiquing him for giving PETs to Muslims. Hills had an interesting response: “That PET might be the only Jesus these people will ever meet,” he said. His argument silenced their protests
Today thousands of PETs have been given free of charge to persons with ambulatory problems in more than 60 countries of the world.
PETs are given, without charge, to persons with birth defects, to those afflicted with polio, and to others who have lost limbs due to wild animal attacks. In some parts of the world PET recipients have been victims of land mine explosions, as well.
Sixteen states have PET wheelchair shops today.
Like other PET shops, PET-Kansas operates entirely with volunteer labor. No one in the nonprofit receives a salary for building these life-enhancing devices. “Many of the poor who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance in this environment have improved the quality of their lives. That’s payment enough for us,” said the Goerings. “PETs get the people off the ground, put them eye-to-eye with their peers, and restore their dignity, especially when they can make a living with the PET.” The Goerings, who completed their second trip to Honduras last year, report that it is inspiring to return and see people who received a PET the year before hauling garden produce and selling newspapers in their hometowns. They could never have accomplished those simple acts before.
“PETs give people a newfound dignity,” the Goerings say. “They enable them to meet their peers eye to eye. The small cargo unit in the back gives them a way to haul things around and make a living. It’s a real ministry for us to be doing this.”
This is the spirit in which PETs are given: Simply, freely, and with grace. Grace that tomorrow can, indeed, be a brighter day for the poor with no other options. Grace that a few caring Americans from South central Kansas felt called to go, and give, and see for themselves the difference that a PET can make.
Funds are still needed to defray costs of trucking, customs, and shipping the PETs to Honduras. Valued at $16,000, the cargo will arrive in Tegucigalpa in April. Donors wishing to help defray these expenses may contact the Goerings directly at (620) 747-0069 or write to PET-Kansas at 320 West Ruth Street, Moundridge, KS 67107. Donations are tax deductible.
Moundridge, Kan. —
