April 21, 2017
REquipment is suffering from success. Since September we’ve given away over 70 refurbished power wheelchairs, the most expensive items in our inventory. New, these powerchairs range from $5,000 (basic models) to $45,000 (custom configurations). As you can imagine, giving away equipment this expensive makes a remarkable difference in the lives of people who request it. The challenge now is to keep pace with device donations and demand.
Our staff spends most of their time evaluating, inspecting, repairing, cleaning, and testing each power wheelchair before it is assigned to a new owner. Every power wheelchair receives two new batteries to ensure the chair will operate properly. We use our limited resources wisely and shop around to get the best price we can for batteries; it costs between $160-$200 per power wheelchair for batteries alone.
Why are we so motivated?
Some people can’t function without this equipment. They’re people with new or lifelong disabilities, elders, families with children with disabilities or those with a temporary need due to surgery or illness. Examples include:
- a woman in Jamaica Plain who uses a manual wheelchair but finds traveling distances impossible due to arthritis in her hands. Her REquipment powerchair means she no longer enlists help from strangers to push her home from work.
- a woman in Worcester who uses her REquipment powerchair to go shopping and meet friends for lunch. These were activities she’d avoided with her rollator, following a stroke.
- a woman in Salem who lives in a homeless shelter with MS; she is now getting out into her community with help from a REquipment powerchair.
When I tell people what REquipment does–accepting used medical equipment, cleaning, repairing and giving it away for free–I always get a great response: “That’s wonderful!” “It’s so needed!” “It’s great someone is doing it and not throwing all that equipment away!”
Well, now I’m asking for your help.
When we started the fiscal year in September we budgeted $6,000 for batteries. Due to a marvelously high level of powerchair donations, we doubled that budget in late March. But with 70 power wheelchairs out the door, we’re already again depleted! To keep REquipment powerchairs rolling, we need to raise a minimum of $4,500 to get us through June 30th.
Won’t you sponsor a battery? $200 gets a REquipment powerchair out of our warehouse and rolling into your communities.
Donations of any amount can be made at www.dmereuse.org or by sending a check made out to REquipment DME Reuse Program to REquipment, PO Box 311, Methuen, MA 01844.
We feel tremendously fortunate to receive so many wheelchair donations and be in a position to transform so many lives. Be a part of this!
We promise your donations will be powerful.