$25 A Month For 1 Year, Changes A Child's Life Forever

The New Year is upon us, and if you're like the millions of other Americans, you'll make resolutions and set goals for 2015. Alot of those goals center around financial changes, and for some - charitable giving. Anymore, $25 won't fill up your gas tank, and its hardly enough for 2 people to eat out at a restaurant. Its hard to imagine then that just $25 per month in the year 2015, will change the life of a child forever.  How can that be, you ask?

For immobile children in third world countries, not having the ability to get around can destine them to a life wasted away. Being mobile is absolutely key to earning any kind of income, going to school, helping provide for the family, etc. Even using crutches is only a partial solution as street conditions and unstable living quarters can make it difficult.  Giving a child the gift of a hand-cranked cart changes everything! For just $300, your donation can change the life of a child forever!

If you've been looking for a new place for your charitable donation for 2015, please consider PET West Michigan, and help a waiting child find new success with the gift of mobility.  For more information, visit our website at www.petwestmichigan,org - where you can also give online.

15 Child-Sized PETs to Cotonou, Benin

Christmas is a wonderful time of year all over the world. But just as many who celebrate and get excited for what they will find under the tree, hundreds more wish for gifts they will never receive and health that seems impossible to obtain.

15 child-sized PET carts shipped from our facility to join a shipment with our partner MIERS [Mission Internationale d’Evangelism et de Reveil Spirituel], in New York. The director served for many years on a Mercy Ship in Africa, and then settled there after getting married.  These small PETs joined 150 adult size carts to make the long trip across the globe - just in time for Christmas.

Imagine the face of a child who has given the gift of mobility after spending their years crawling on the ground!































































Thank you to all of you who have been generous donors of time, finances and prayer support this last year!  Before the year closes out, you've made Christmas special for 15 waiting kids across the world!

For more information or to find out how to donate, visit our site: www.petwestmichigan.org

Holiday Greetings from the PET West Michigan Family

Dear Friends of PET West Michigan,

 

In 2014 we built and packed for shipment child PET number 2,000.  As we approached that milestone the packing team would remark on historical events of the year represented by the PET number.  Now we look to the future and hope to send number 2,500 and quite possibly number 3,000 by the end of 2015.

This accomplishment represents the efforts of our volunteers, our suppliers, many of whom deeply discount or donate their materials and labor, and you.  Without donations, nothing we do can occur.  With donations, we can not only continue but also would be in a position to increase production.

Members of the PET team, at their own expense, have traveled to be present when our carts have been distributed in Kolkata India, Hue Vietnam, and Antigua Guatemala.  The stories of lives changed inspire us all. 

Children who have been seen as a source of shame by families and a burden by societies peddle themselves from being marginalized to being part of their world.  Just being up on a PET cart instead of on the ground gives them a presence they have never experienced.  Peddling to school offers them an opportunity to be a productive member of society instead of a beggar crawling on the ground.  Their family is freed from a burden and can participate more fully in their community. 

Envision a child lying in bed at home, or crawling on the floor away from society and the world.  Now see that child peddling his PET cart down the road on the way to school interacting with the crowd of kids going his way.  YOU can participate in that transformation.  Your donations now make it possible; your volunteering when you retire will continue the story.  Both will enrich your life and the life of others.   

Please join us in demonstrating the compassion of Jesus Christ by providing mobility to least of God’s children.  

Sincerely,

The staff and volunteers at PET West Michigan.

To Donate Online, click here: http://petwestmichigan.org/donate.htm

Disability A Global Problem

Disability is a global problem that affects families from all backgrounds, but when you examine the statistics and impact for low income countries the results are alarming. It is reported that almost two-thirds of all people with disabilities live in low income countries.  This translates to an impact of nearly one in five of the world’s poorest people.  The picture is grave now, but the rate of global disability is increasing rapidly, primarily due to population growth in less-developed regions.  It is projected that by year 2025 the number of people with disabilities in low income countries will double.  Children comprise approximately one-third of the world’s disabled population and many of the disabilities affecting children are preventable. For every child who is killed in a conflict situation, up to three more are permanently disabled.  Disability impacts our entire world, but it seems the burden is not distributed equally. 

PET Carts Delivered to Tanzania

The smile on a child's face when they receive a new PET cart from PET West Michigan, not only makes our heart melt - but confirms time and time again that this worthy cause is changing lives all over the world.  Check out these fantastic pictures of children in Tanzania receiving their PET carts!  For more information on how you can get involved and change the life of a waiting child, be sure to check out our website: www.petwestmichigan.org

 

Nassoro and Badria

 

Yusef

Largest Shipment of PET Carts Sent to India - June 2014

In late 2012 a resident of Ypsilanti, MI, became aware of P.E.T. carts after watching a CBS news report on the PET IA-Leighten facility.  He was planning a visit to his parents in Gujarat, India, and was reminded of two children in the surrounding area that were leg-challenged and could really benefit from the gift of a PET cart. After much communication, a volunteer at PET West Michigan delivered a PET cart to him in Ypsilanti in January of 2013, and he in turn, hand delivered it to a nine-year-old girl living in India. This led to him becoming aware of the hundreds of children in the surrounding areas that could experience a life change with the gift of a PET. He began a monumental fund-raising campaign to raise funds to cover the shipping costs to provide 300 child-sized PETS to the area. In October of 2013, he visited the PET West Michigan facility, and we soon began building the 156 units that were shipped to PET Columbia-MO in May, 2014. Combined with 150 of Columbia’s units, a container of some 300 PETs are on their way to India!  This shipment marks the largest of its kind for PET West Michigan and we couldn’t be more excited with how the events have unfolded and the children that are being helped.  If you want to find out how you too can get involved, make sure to visit our website and donate a PET cart today!

Open House Winners Announced!

We kicked off the long awaited summer by opening the doors of the PET plant and invited local friends and business owners to come see what we are all about. We were so blessed that hundreds of people chose to spend time with us and learn about the children across the world we are working hard to help. One of our favorite parts of the evening, was our prize giveaway. Attendees were given the chance to enter their name in a drawing to have a PET cart sent to a waiting child in their name!

The winners were Sally Pollock and Jack Verbeek.  Sally had her PET cart sent in honor of Bob Krueger, and Jack had his sent in honor of Lenard Vogelzang - an Army & Air Force vet, and former Sherriff of Allegan County who died of cancer in the late 90's.

Thank you to everyone who attended our open house - we look forward to seeing you and your friends again next year! If you'd like to learn more about PET West Michigan, make sure to check out our website: www.petwestmichigan.org

110 Million Active Land Mines

Did you know that approximately 2,000 people per month are either killed or maimed by buried land mines? Most of those are civilians living in areas with buried mines long after military hostility has ended.

Do a quick search in Google for statistics about buried land mines and the results are endless. 24,000 people per year are in danger of having their lives altered by these deadly devices - but because the cost is so great to remove them all (approximately 33 billion dollars!) they are simply left and the innocent discover them.  

Many of the children that PET West Michigan sends PET Carts to - are little ones who have been maimed by buried land mines. The average cost for surgical care and an orthopedic appliance in a developing country, is $3,000.  This isn't feasible for families to come up with, and more times than not the children end up not being mobile in anyway and are forgotten by society.  A PET cart costs only $300 to build and ship directly to these children and provides them with mobility and a new lease on life!

Visit our website for ways to donate a PET cart!

*much of the statistics and information in this blog were gathered from www.un.org

New Website Launch!

Have you stopped by the PET West Michigan web site lately?!  We've put on a whole new face - with more information, easier ways to connect with us, a user friendly donation area, and introductions to our team members!

PET West Michigan is part of the PET International non-profit organization that provides mobility carts to adults and children in developing countries.  Without access to adequate medical care, people in these countries who suffer from debilitating diseases like polio, or are victims of buried land mines - find themselves without a way to get around.  This often leads to a forgotten life, without the ability to play, visit with friends, and most importantly work and find ways to generate income.  With at hand-powered mobility cart, made with rugged wheels for the rough terrain and a small cargo area, recipients have a new found ability to get around, be productive, get to school, and participate in regular life!

Make sure you stop by our new site www.petwestmichigan.org and learn all about what we do, the countries we service and how you can get involved!