Hope Haven West

100 Campaigns!

The road goes on forever - and the party never ends! Ain’t it the truth!

Translates into over 20,000 wheelchairs compadres - not too slouchy…

I made an attempt to add up the countries where Hope Haven West has visited. Rough numbers - Eighteen (and counting) - we expect to add an additional four this next year (assuming the planets line up).

Volunteers Ahoy

Hope Haven West celebrates the arrival of 600 Hope Haven Kids Chairs (500 requiring assembly) at our warehouse at 1628 Nadine Avenue in Modesto. This is way ahead of schedule...

If you are interested in volunteering with refurbishing and/or assembly of pediatric rehab wheelchairs for disabled kids - this is the place to be (no experience required - on site instruction available).

Nicholas Mascitelli is the man running the show - his email is [email protected] - don’t give up - pound on his palace timbers until your email is added to his enchanted list. Sometimes these mass emails are directed to spam by your filter - check there before you beat him up too bad. A great experience of camaraderie and “Service Above Self” awaits…

The Big One

December 1st - mark your calendars - Hope Haven West will be hosting it’s annual Winter Extravaganza. Dinner, music, stories (some of them true) at the magic warehouse - 1628 Nadine Avenue. So classy, we considered making it formal (Lisa says No - OK - but a nice evening for sure).

RSVP - not all our volunteers are socially literate - that means we need to hear from you regarding your plans to attend, allowing us to plan with the caterer and calibrate the sound system. Plan to cap it at 100 - sooooo - don’t dawdle - Get ‘er Done!

Shekels

Scheduled to receive 2000 unassembled Hope Haven Kids chairs by the first of the year. This is a big deal (for us anyway) - price tag on that is $600,000 (excluding shipping). At under $300.00 a chair (comparable retail product is over $2000.00 each) a super bargain and small price to pay for extending and enhancing a kids life!

Our plan is (unapologetically) to shake you down at the Winter Extravaganza - but, don’t let that be a hinderance to indulge the immediate impulse to send a check or donate online.

Make checks payable to “Hope Haven West” - mail to: 1878 E. Hatch Road, Modesto, California 95351.

hopehavenwest.com For online giving and expanding your awareness of the incredible work being done by Hope Haven West volunteers.

Many thanks to all our partners and volunteers assisting in making the gift of mobility a reality for so many of “The Least of These”.

Waging Heavy Peace,

Uncle Lonny
Hope Haven West

😂

It's coming....

Never gets old. We need more Pooh and Tiger in our lives.

"Piglet?" said Pooh.

"Yes?" said Piglet.

"I'm scared," said Pooh.

For a moment, there was silence.

"Would you like to talk about it?" asked Piglet, when Pooh didn't appear to be saying anything further.

"I'm just so scared," blurted out Pooh.

"So anxious. Because I don't feel like things are getting any better. If anything, I feel like they might be getting worse. People are angry, because they're so scared, and they're turning on one another, and there seems to be no clear plan out of here, and I worry about my friends and the people I love, and I wish SO much that I could give them all a hug, and oh, Piglet! I am so scared, and I cannot tell you how much I wish it wasn't so."

Piglet was thoughtful, as he looked out at the blue of the skies, peeping between the branches of the trees in the Hundred Acre Wood, and listened to his friend.

"I'm here," he said, simply. "I hear you, Pooh. And I'm here."

For a moment, Pooh was perplexed.

"But... aren't you going to tell me not to be so silly? That I should stop getting myself into a state and pull myself together? That it's hard for everyone right now?"

"No," said Piglet, quite decisively. "No, I am very much not going to do any of those things."

"But-" said Pooh.

"I can't change the world right now," continued Piglet. "And I am not going to patronise you with platitudes about how everything will be okay, because I don't know that.

"What I can do, though, Pooh, is that I can make sure that you know that I am here. And that I will always be here, to listen; and to support you; and for you to know that you are heard.

"I can't make those Anxious Feelings go away, not really.

"But I can promise you that, all the time I have breath left in my body...you won't ever need to feel those Anxious Feelings alone."

And it was a strange thing, because even as Piglet said that, Pooh could feel some of those Anxious Feelings start to loosen their grip on him; could feel one or two of them start to slither away into the forest, cowed by his friend, who sat there stolidly next to him.

Pooh thought he had never been more grateful to have Piglet in his life."

attributed to Brent Lindeque

Hope Haven West was featured in the Ceres Courier for our work in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico.

Locals change lives of Mexico’s poor Americans living in the land of plenty might have a hard time understanding the scarcity of equipment as basic as a wheelchair that would enable a disabled person to become mobile in poor nations. But the reality is that many in Third World countries suffer for a lack of devices, which is what drive...

We've finished 4 seating clinics so far in 2023 and as we speak we are on our way to the 5th in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. But we're not done and we need your help for our Peru trip in September! Currently we have 400 chairs in containers, on the water, making their way to Peru. As soon as they clear customs we will be making travel arrangements. We have open spots for our Peru seating clinic and if you are considering a service/adventure project with Hope Haven West - now is the time, this is the one! While you're there travel to Machu Picchu or other amazing nearby sites!

Let me know asap if you can join us in Peru in September.

2023 Seating Clinics

Mexico City (Tlalpan) - 1/15/23 - 1/21/23 (Done)
San Salvador, El Salvador - 3/18/23 - 3/25/23 (Done)
Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, MX - 6/4/23 - 6/11/23 (Done)
San Miguel de Allende, MX - 7/17/23 - 7/25/23 (Done)

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - 7/28/23 - 8/08/23 (In progress)

Need Volunteers for Peru-

Lima/Arequipa, Peru - 9/9/23 - 9/22/23 (2 cities)

If you're interested in participating please contact Lonny Davis at [email protected] asap. Thanks!

Waging Heavy Peace

Lonnie Davis
Hope Haven West

Pictures from last weeks clinic in San Miguel de Allende, MX

HOME GROWN is coming to The State Theatre in Modesto on April 8th, 2023. Tickets are only $20 and you can buy them now at https://thestate.org/ . Proceeds benefit Hope Haven West's seven seating clinics in Mexico, Central America, South America, and Mongolia during 2023. If you can't make it and still want to support us, go to www.hopehavenwest.com and click on a donate button! We plan to provide approximately 1,600 chairs, this year, to children and some adults giving them the gift of mobility!

Hope Haven West is dedicated to providing mobility to the disabled poor throughout the developing world. 100% of everything we collect goes to help kids and adults discover wheelchair mobility. Our Team is made up of volunteers who travel at their expense to custom fit wheelchairs to our clients. You can support us by volunteering with us or contributing financially by navigating to our website www.hopehavenwest.com and clicking on the donate button at the bottom of the page. Thanks in advance, we need you!

We are looking for volunteers to support distributions in 2023! HHW has another big year planned currently with 7 distributions in 4 countries including Mexico, Peru, Mongolia, and El Salvador. This is a great chance to see some unique parts of the world and give the gift of mobility to a bunch of amazing kids!

The schedule is-

Mexico City (Tlalpan) - 1/15/23 - 1/21/23

San Salvador, El Salvador - 3/18/23 - 3/25/23

Tlaquepaque (Guadalajara) - 6/4/23 - 6/10/23

Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, MX - 7/16/23 - 7/22/23

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - 8/10/23 - 8/19/23

Arequipa, Peru - September - 9/15/23 - 9/22/23

Hermosillo, Mexico - 11/12/23 - 11/18/23

If you're interested in participating in any of these 2023 seating clinics please contact Lonny Davis at [email protected] asap. Thanks!

2022 was a very busy year for Hope Haven West with eight distributions in four countries. Approximately eighteen hundred disabled poor received the gift of mobility in 2022! Thank you for all your support!

Local, awesome,🤩 Modesto band, HOME GROWN, coming to The State Theatre on 4/8/2023 to benefit Hope Haven West. Tickets will be available at the box office soon. Mark your calendars for some fun in the new year!

Thanks for a wonderful turnout by volunteers at the Nadine warehouse. Join us if you have a few extra hours. It feels good! Call and find out how you can help.

Volunteers at HHW Nadine warehouse sorted, organized, and transferred parts in order to create an assembly process for 500 Hope Haven Kids chairs for upcoming seating clinics in 2023. Thanks to everyone who participated this week and note there are many volunteer hours required to complete the assembly of the HHK chairs. If you would like to volunteer during November or December to help complete this assembly process please contact Lonny Davis!

Here’s a few photos of our distribution in Villahermosa MX this week. 7 Rotary clubs of district 4195 were involved in the organization the distribution site, feeding the team, and most importantly getting the kids there. We can’t say thank you enough to everyone especially Juanita Rabelo and her mother Paty for spearheading and making sure everything ran smoothly. And also opening up their home for dinner and entertainment. Totally not expected. Hope Haven West understands how much work it takes to organize a distribution. Everyone was so loving and kind and really do care about the disabled in their communities. Once again THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.

Thank you to the Rotary Club of Poza Rica. Probably one of the best wheelchair distributions Hope Haven West has been a part of. Thank you to all the rotarians of 7 different clubs who fed, provided transportation and also helped us with medical treatment for a few of our team members. Thank you so much for making it all possible.

We can’t wait to come back.
Hope Haven West

CHECK OUT THESE NEW CONCERTS BENEFITING HHW AND HOPE COMMONS!! WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Uncle Lonny Presents is doing it again! Paul Thorn is coming to THE STATE THEATRE in Modesto on August 17th. Paul is an amazing talent and we hope you get your tickets soon as they are going fast. Beyond an amazing concert this fundraiser is to support all the great work HHW does providing pediatric wheelchairs to children and families in need! Go to The State Theatre box office for tickets. https://thestate.org/

Hope Have West is heading to Portoviejo, Ecuador May 27-June 3, 2022. It's a go! If you are interested in participating in this seating clinic please contact Lonnie at [email protected].

I totally forgot to take photos, but here’s great ones from the rest of the team. So thankful for the volunteers that came on their own expense. We know you could have done something else with your time and money. You’re so apppreciated. Cathy Mulholland, Joe Swain, Robert Wallace, Mark Burden, Tom Bert, Karlene Bert, Michael Djubasak, Jean Djubasak, Don Murphy, Donna Murphy, Nick Curtin, and our “Gandolph” Nick Nicholas Mascitelli, and last not certainly not least Henry Cook. THANK YOU SO MUCH! NO WAY WE COULD HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!!

We arrived in MX city safe and sound around 8:00 pm. Up early and climbed on the bus to Cuernavaca to see where the distribution will take place. And because it’s been a while for all of us Lonny Davis is giving a refresher course.
Stay tuned the party is about to get started.
I threw in a photo of the cathedral in the zocalo. So beautiful.

Here we are folks! The first Hope Haven distribution since COVID. It’s been a while since we’ve all been together. On our way to Cuernavaca MX to seat 100 disabled children and 100 adults. Please say a prayer or a few kind words for our safety and travel. Whoo Hoo!!

Uncle Lonny's Birthday Bash 2020 has been changed to September 4th! Please update your calendar. Thanks and hope to see you there!

Hope Haven West has a new webpage. View it at www.hopehavenwest.com . Let me know if you have thoughts or ideas for further additions or improvements or if you have any pictures from a seating clinic you would like posted. Thanks!

Providing Dignity Through Mobility provides wheelchairs to children and adults in developing countries around the world.

Our focus today is the end of the process of completing a custom chair for a child. Approximately, 200 children receive a chair during each seating clinic. The job, for now, is complete and the child and family have a chair that will last a long time and is adjustable as the child grows. It is a happy time. The child's new found mobility gives them and their family opportunity! The volunteers advise they all receive more than they give, and for many it keeps them coming back over and over. The pictures this week were from last years trip to Peru.

Thank you for taking this journey with us the past few days. If possible please donate to continue to make these trips a reality.

Go to www.hopehavenwest.com for more information.

Hope Haven West is a 100% model. We don't pay salaries. We don't pay any kind of administrative expenses. There's no advertising or promotional expenses. All administrative and fund raising costs are paid by private benefactors. 100% of everything we collect goes to help kids and adults in the developing world discover mobility.

Producing custom fitting wheelchairs is a process. Chairs, parts, tools, skills and expertise are required. A large bank of parts comes with each container of chairs. A group back at Hope Haven West prepared months ahead for everything required when the seating clinic begins. It is an amazing effort. Once the container has shipped, processed through customs, and received on location a volunteer team is assembled, flights and buses scheduled, and the team finally arrives.

After evaluating the child the teams are assigned and work begins. Some children with less requirements can fit in chairs with minimal adjustments. Others require the team to think creatively to determine the solution that will fit the child's needs. You can see the teamwork, consultation, adaptation, testing, more adaptation and finally the configuration that will best fit the child. The child is involved throughout the build process as they are fitted to the chair as its being assembled and adapted until ready. This can be hard on the child or you may find them excited about the process. The parents and family are intently watching and participating too. They want to learn how to make the adjustments so they can adapt it to the child as he or she grows. The chair is checked over to make sure all the adjustments are tight and ready for its new owner.

A sense of joy comes over the family, child, and volunteers as they reach the conclusion of custom building the chair for the child. The volunteers work tirelessly, usually building about 200 chairs for each seating clinic over a 4 day period.

For more information about Hope Haven West go to www.hopehavenwest.com .

Today we share the children and families who we so love to help. This is an emotional time for the children and families and all the volunteers too. In these faces we see joy and happiness, but also anxiety and pain. We see parents carrying, holding, reassuring, and loving their children just as we all love our own. They emerge from the process transformed with their new found mobility and we will focus on this more in a later post. Thank you for coming along this journey with us this week and please share your thoughts and comments and experiences.

For more information please go to www.hopehavenwest.com.

Hope Haven West is a 100% model. We don't pay salaries. We don't pay any kind of administrative expenses.
There's no advertising or promotional expenses. All administrative and fund raising costs are paid by private benefactors. 100% of everything we collect goes to help kids and adults in the developing world discover mobility.

Stay safe during these trying times and we all look forward to our next seating clinic trip!

Our journey continues. After travel and site preparation Hope Haven West volunteers are ready to see the families and children who have come for a wheelchair.

But first we have to also acknowledge the local sponsor group. This group determined who will receive the chairs and worked the logistics to get the chairs received through customs and delivered to the seating clinic site. In addition, each child is pre-evaluated and a profile is created to help guide the volunteers to know what each child's specific needs are. Without the sponsor at the local site these seating clinics could not happen Thank you.

The first activity is to evaluate each child. A build team with the appropriate level of expertise will be assigned based on the needs of the child and complexity of the build. These pictures show the detailed description of the child's requirements and the measurement process completed prior and during the custom wheelchair build.

It is Monday morning 3/23/20 and today would have been our first day in Puerto Escondido, MX to start custom fitting wheelchairs to children in need. Life changed and the trip had to be postponed for now. We look forward to the time we can travel to Puerto Escondido and help these wonderful children and families! We have some pictures from our Peru 2019 trip and thought it would be nice to do a "virtual" distribution tour this week. It will show the stories of different families and the process we go through during a seating clinic week. We hope you enjoy looking back and also inspire you to join a future seating clinic and/or donate to the cause. For more information about Hope Haven West go to our webpage at www.hopehavenwest.com .

After arriving at our destination, we go through the process of setting up the seating clinic and preparing for the arrival of families and children to receive the gift of mobility.

Lets start our journey

Save the date 6/13/20. It will be awesome!

HHW has a full schedule of seating clinics in 2020! Here are the trips we are currently planning.

Puerto Escondido, MX March 21 - March 28, 2020

Cuernavaca, MX April 18 - April 25, 2020

Mongolia - August, 2020

Oaxaca, MX - September, 2020

Merida, MX - October, 2020

We hope you will join us on one or more of these upcoming opportunities to serve!

Look who’s in Modesto view! Hope Haven! That’s our guy, Nicholas Curtin. Thank you Chris Murphy for giving us a shout out😘

It’s over! Than government and the Indigenous people have ended the dispute!!!!! WE’RE COMING HOME!!!

Another one down! In Wed after we had seated just 10 people...we thought “we’re in trouble” we had 80 chairs left, and not sure if we were going to seat anybody else because of the protestors blocking the roads. Lonny mentioned we might need to come back in Nov! UGH! But the flood gates opened and we seated 80 people! Here’s some photos of the team working hard. And some of the international students who might have got a little bored waiting to translate. Thanks to everyone who came and those of you at home who prayed for the safety of our team. If you’re thinking of joining us on a future trip don’t let what happened in Ecuador deter you, we were never in any danger. I’d do again in a heart beat.❤️

Today’s distribution...due to the protesting and road closures we’re not doing as many chairs a day as we had planned. But the kids that do make it in are getting seated by 6 of the best seating specialists plus PT students from UOP. Thank you to all that came to Ecuador to help those in need.

We made it to Quito! Hopefully see some of the city before we head to Portoviejo tomorrow. Stay tuned folks!