A man carries his disabled son into the community center in San Bernadino. The teenager was custom fitted for a pediatric wheelchair during a PET distribution on Sept. 13.
Above: Antonino Quiñonez poses with his PET at his motorcycle repair shop in La Gomera. Antonino received a PET in January after losing part of his left leg in a motorcycle accident. Right: Sandra Patricia Siquinajai puts the finishing touches on a seat back for a pediatric wheelchair at Hope Haven’s Refugio de Esperanza in Antigua. “I had heard about the PET project from a Rural Missouri story in January of ’09 and felt like I should lend a hand,” he says. “The PET project would not have gotten off the ground without that connection between Mel and Mark,” says Steve Baima, executive director for PET International. “It is great to see two organizations have so much in common and travel around the world to give so much to these developing countries.” Recently, Mark and a team of volunteers from Columbia traveled to Guatemala for a distribution of 40 PETs in the village of San Bernadino. When the volunteers arrived in the morning, they were met by several people in dire need of help. The village’s community center was transformed into ground zero for aid and assistance. Their eyes lit up as the volunteers unloaded the boxes containing the ready-to-be assembled PETs. More and more people filled the center as assembly on the PETs began. Some were carried in by family mem(continued on page 12)
NOVEMBER 2010
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - November 2010