Spring 2012 News Notes

Download your copy of the 2012 Spring Newsnotes here

Expanding the Whirlwind Team

We have met some great people through our partnership with United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) Wheels for Humanity in Jogja, Indonesia and our manufacturing partnership with PT Dharma in Jakarta. Recently, Indriyanto and Maria (at right) joined the Whirlwind team to help with engineering and sales. Indriyanto’s background in large-scale manufacturing adds a unique body of knowledge to Whirlwind's technical team, whose experience is in small- to medium-scale shops. His expertise has already been a great help in delivering the quality we demand for our wheelchair users. Maria is helping Whirlwind find buyers in new markets and keeping orders on track.

Indriyanto and Maria (in picture of  the right) are setting up a UCP Kids chair during a wheelchair provision training by UCP.

The RoughRider Comes to the US!

Experience the outdoors like never before

Whirlwind is now taking advance orders for the RoughRider on our Buy One Give One (BOGO) program. Hundreds of wheelchair riders who have contacted us are excited about where they’ll go in their own RoughRiders.

The RoughRider was designed to handle rough outdoor conditions like the broken up sidewalks and dirt paths commonly found in the developing world. Its long wheelbase makes it ultra-stable on uneven ground, making the RoughRider great for touring National Parks or for weekend excursions. Watch videos of people out having fun in their RoughRiders in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

  "I looked up through the treetops and realized that I was by myself for the very first time, exploring a forest without fear that I would become trapped or that I would fall over on the uneven ground!"

–Bruce Curtis, Manual Wheelchair User for 45+ years

Bolivian Disabled Activists Fight for Rights

Lack of mobility is only the first of many barriers that people with disabilities have to overcome in order to be able to fully participate in society. Perhaps no better example of this was on display in La Paz, Bolivia on February 23 when a large group of mobility impaired demonstrators confronted police at the end of a 3-month cross-country march.

The march was in support of their demand that the government comply with a 2006 law that provides 6 million dollars for Bolivians with disabilities annually. They also demanded that people with mobility impairments receive the same monthly stipend that blind people receive. Following the clash, the Bolivian government agreed to the demonstrators’ demands. Whirlwind is pleased to see that our RoughRider wheelchair provided the mobility that demonstrators needed to be able to fight for their rights. Watch a video of the confrontation with police.

Whirlwind 2011 Annual Newsletter

Please download and read Whirlwind's 2011 NewsLetter.  You'll find stories about progress in the Dominican Republic, Georgia, and across the world. This has been one of our best year yet in our efforts to serve wheelchair riders.  Thanks again to all our donors and partners for the critical roles you play.  Please consider making a special holiday donation.  Extra funds are required in this period of rapid growth.  Thank you for doing what you can.