Mobility-aids collection can change lives
They crawled in the dirt, were carried on backs or pushed in wheelbarrows toward the clinics distributing free canes, crutches, walkers and wheelchairs.
Motivated by a nonprofit organization's videos of Third World residents longing for personal mobility, a Butler County Community College employee with cerebral palsy collected mobility aids from four Western Pennsylvania counties that could change lives by the first day of fall.
His storage facility remains vacant after watching his first shipment of 82 canes, crutches, walkers and wheelchairs given by individuals or organizations in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Mercer counties leave for a stopover in Ohio.
Robert Olszewski said he is ready to serve again.
“Living with and overcoming a disability taught me determination and the desire to lead by example,” said Olszewski, 47, a student technical specialist at BC3. “Also leading by example shows others with a disability that they can also be a vital part of their society and community.”
Olszewski earned an associate degree in computer-numerical control machining from BC3 in 1996.
He has worked at his alma mater addressing students' computer-related questions since 2013.That same year he organized the first Western Pennsylvania Disability Conference in Valencia and learned about Joni and Friends, a disability ministry based in California that created the videos showing the need for mobility aids.Olszewski was diagnosed at 13 months with the disorder, cerebral palsy, that “affects my muscles,” he said. His parents were told to not expect him to walk or to talk. He proved doctors wrong but benefited from mobility aids after his 10 surgeries.He and other volunteers moved the 42 manual wheelchairs and 40 walkers, crutches and metal canes he collected onto a rented truck parked beside his storage facility in Butler on March 19.The truck left for Wadsworth, Ohio, where the mobility aids were stored temporarily by Joni and Friends. The chairs, crutches and other aids will be sent to the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe, Wash. Inmates will review and refurbish the mobility aids to operate and appear as new. ?“It was just amazing how many lives can be touched by the equipment that was donated,” Olszewski said.Inmates will then wrap the mobility aids in plastic in preparation for shipping to countries that include Haiti, the African nation of Ghana, or Argentina. The mobility aids could arrive abroad by late September.
Olszewski received his first donation in April 2020 from a church in Beaver County. Olszewski said Concordia Lutheran Ministries near Cabot contributed a majority of the used mobility aids.Residents of Concordia's independent living facilities were also among donors, said Frank Skrip, a Concordia spokesperson.“For individuals both local and abroad who have mobility issues and do not have access to mobility aids,” Skrip said, “life can just be so much more difficult.”The Rev. Matthew Everhard, senior pastor of Gospel Fellowship Presbyterian Church in America, Valencia, was among 10 volunteers who helped Olszewski load the chairs, canes and other aids onto the 26-foot-rental truck bound for Ohio.“Rob took it upon himself to spearhead this particular effort,” Everhard said. “We are proud of what BC3 is doing for our community, and Rob is one of the star employees, in my opinion, because of his love for the campus, and for the community that BC3 represents.”Olszewski “reached out to the community to let them know about the need for wheelchairs,” said Jamia Cinelli, of Columbus, Ohio, director of the Ohio area region of Joni and Friends which encompasses Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Indiana.“What Rob is doing,” Cinelli said, “is going to change lives.”
BC3 students, faculty, staff, or other individuals and organizations seeking to donate chairs or other mobility aids toward Olszewski's effort can email Olszewski at rob_olszewski@yahoo.com.Olszewski said he can arrange transportation for large collections.Contributions will give “someone who doesn't have mobility, mobility,” Olszewski said.“To see these stories of people who are basically coming out of the dirt and into a wheelchair and being able to have mobility without depending on somebody else just floors me,” he said. “And we can do that.”<i>Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.</i>
