My "Rotarian Moment"
In June of 2004, I went with our Rotary Club of Roseville President, Roxanne Snyder, on a trip to Mazatlan with the Wheelchair Foundation. On arrival, we connected with Rotarians from several Bay Area clubs, as well as a number of Interact members from Foster City. We were hosted by the Rotary Club of Mazatlan, and their President, Jose (Pepesan) Sanchez.
During the 4-day weekend, we did two mass distributions: 250 wheelchairs in Mazatlan and 100 more to people from El Rosario and Agua Verde, small towns south of Mazatlan.
The first was at a high school in Mazatlan, in a covered, but outdoor gymnasium. There were several hundred people in the stands and seated around the floor, which was covered in assembled wheelchairs, each with a number assigned to it. There were also over 100 still-boxed chairs in the stands too.
The recipients of the wheelchairs arrived in amazing array of transportation, from being carried in, to home-made wheelchairs. I noticed one in particular that was made from a plastic lawn chair, re-bar and bicycle wheels operated by a man around thirty, whose name was Marcos.
The people receiving the wheelchairs were called to the floor, and to their assigned chair. Marcos. the man with the re-bar chair was called late in the morning, and his assigned chair turned out to have a broken weld on the frame, rendering it useless. He was very upset, and expressed his disappointment in no uncertain terms. We scrambled to find a boxed replacement and get it assembled for him. Then I was called away from the floor to help with checking out the recipients.
As we were photographing each person with their new chair, I looked out to the now nearly empty gym floor, and saw Marcos spinning circles on the back wheels of his chair, dancing for joy at his new freedom. That was a "Moment" I'll never forget.
Yours in Rotary,
Michael Dockery
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