Past PET Newsletters
LIONS CLUBS DISTRIBUTE PETs to LEG DISABLED SRI LANKANS
Pictured at left and standing behind three leg disabled Sri Lankan recipients from right to left are Lion Jim LaBau from Mt. McKinley Lions in Anchorage, Alaska, President of Lions Clubs International Mahendra Amarasuriya from Colombo, Sri Lanka, Lion Rohantha De Fonseka from Panadura, Sri Lanka, and Steve Baima, Volunteer Exec Director from PET International.
Lion Rohantha De Fonseka from Panadura, Sri Lanka stopped by the PET International exhibit at the Lions Clubs International Convention in Chicago in July 2007. His plan, not fully understood by PET International until months later, was more than just getting 90 PETs for the leg disabled in his country. He wanted to show the 750 plus Lions delegates from the 59 countries attending the 2007 ISAAME FORUM in Colombo, Sri Lanka in December 2007 to see the PETs and witness the distribution.
The 59 countries of the constitutional area of the ISAAME FORUM are all potential recipients of PETs. The FORUM encompasses the regions, countries, and continents of India, South Asia, Africa, and Middle East. Since the FORUM, PET International and Lions from Mt. McKinley Alaska have been working out details to send containers of PETs to the leg disabled through Lions in Nepal, Kenya and Iraq. Distributing PETs through Lions in recipient countries is relatively new, very promising, and very exciting. Contact your friends in Lions and alert them to watch for an article scheduled to appear this spring in THE LION international magazine featuring Lions participation in the PET Project.
International Highlights
For several years PETs have been shipped to New Steps in Sierra Leone, Africa, via Mercy Ships from different PET Affiliates. Sierra Leone has many persons that were afflicted with polio. Steve Perry, is a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Clifton, Bristol, UK. He is fundraising and working on setting up a PET building site in Sierra Leone. To assist him, PET International 
approved the cost to send two volunteers in 2008 to help set up the shop and train shop workers. (Thanks to donors.) Below is part of a May 2007 report from New Steps that highlights PETs.
"Zanaib Kamara, aged 10, is supported by the UN Country Team and New Steps Lunsar school program. She is now in class five. Zainab lives with her grandmother who has six other children to care for. She once lived with her parents in Freetown but had to be sent to Lunsar because her disability impedes her movement from home to school. She met New Steps in October 2005 and was enrolled in the school program.
She was assessed by the rehab team soon after and later provided with 
orthotics and a pair of crutches. A Personal Energy Transport (PET) completed what she needed to shuttle between home and school. Zainab says that she enjoys school and loves being with her classmates, especially Abu who is also mobility impaired and shares the same class with her. Together, they make a wonderful pair and the other children love ‘pushing’ them around in their cart-like PETs. They are happy with there open-air classroom located under a mango tree."
Honduras Ashley Williams in Moundridge, KS, has been sending regular shipments of mission goods to Honduras. Starting in 2006 he began including PETs. In April 2007 Ashley gathered 111 PETs from four affiliates: PET MO – Columbia, PET Southwest MO, PET TN – Murfreesboro, and PET KS - Moundridge.
Evolution of PET Affiliates
PET Affiliate is the title given to a group of volunteers who have been certified by the Board of Trustees of PET International to build, assemble 
and distribute PETs, solicit funds to build PETs, and to represent PET International, Inc. You may recall the story of how PET began and how the current design evolved. It is summarized on the website ww.PETInternational.org and chronicled in more detail in the booklet, The Evolution of The PET by co-founder Larry Hills.
PET Affiliates, by name and decree, are a relatively new development. They arose by action of the Board of Trustees of PET International, Inc. simultaneously with the creation of the umbrella organization in October 2005. Prior to certifying shops as Affiliates, PET workshops were arising out of men’s groups in churches and other Christian fellowships across the USA. 
They were all alike in purpose—provide mobility (PETs) for the leg disabled in developing countries. Since their inception all have changed in remarkable ways. A few are showcased below.
PET MO-Columbia was the first PET production site in the USA. Under the directorship of co-founder Mel West, the PET shop began as a one-man (Mel) operation in the one car attached garage that had formerly housed Barbara West’s car! The PET shop is now operating out of a 6,000 square foot rented warehouse recently 
renovated to accommodate the designed work stations for 50+ volunteers that work there weekly. It may appear Spartan to someone recently retired from a job in industry. However, it was designed and built by the local PET team to be safe, efficient and comfortable in all types of weather. Production at PET MO-Columbia grew 60% in the last year.
PET FL-Penney Farms was established in 2001 by PET co-founder Larry Hills. Penney Farms Retirement Community (PRC) with its 400 plus residents seemed the ideal place to build PETs. It had an extraordinarily ecumenical population representing over 20 Christian denominations. Many residents were former missionaries. Others were ministers and lay Christian leaders 
with world wide work experiences. Many continue their commitment to serve the Lord and regularly volunteer at the PET Place. The PET Place began like many new shops—in a rented garage. It was not long before it became apparent that more space was needed. A creative and cooperative project emerged involving the Board of Trustees of PET FL-Penney Farms, the city of Penney Farms, and the PRC. With a high percentage of volunteers residing on PRC’s campus, location was critically important. A special fund-raising effort was undertaken by PET supporters to build a new all season facility on the campus of PRC. On January 19, 2008 over 200 PET volunteers and supporters gathered to dedicate the new 4,000 square foot PET Place and honoring Larry and Laura Hills. In a heartfelt speech Penney Farms City Manager Ms. Martina Kohler said the PET Place had made a profoundly positive impact on the entire 
community and herself personally.
Larry estimates production will likely double in 2008. Al Kindig from Holland, Michigan who designed the new PET Place and serves on the PET International Advisory Board estimates production will likely triple when greatly improved efficiencies are factored. PET FL-Penney Farms serves as the primary training center for volunteers of newly organizing Affiliates.
Sid Martin and a group of friends in his church in Helotes, TX began as volunteer parts-makers for Jake and Gwen Royall and their team at PET TX-Luling. They decided to help build a shop at Dick Baldwin’s house where the fabrication would take place. Even before they finished the shop at Dick’s house, the group decided to become a full fledged Affiliate by building, assembling and distributing completed PETs. Much more space would be needed. Their search ended at the airport hanger (pictured above and below). PET TX-San Antonio is now 
on another building search. While their primary focus is building, assembling and distributing PETs, they have undertaken the task of helping establish a new Affiliate, PET Mexico-Nuevo Progresso, and served as the training location for their counterparts in Mexico. More recently they decided to provide an additional service—receive PETs from other Affiliates, provide temporary storage and assistance in consolidating shipments to depart seaports in Texas and beyond. Also, they are assuming an increasing role in helping find better ways to meet the transportation and related logistical challenges faced by all parts-makers and Affiliates. Without question—the PET family in San Antonio has grown immensely in vision and passion!
PET KS-Moundridge - From one man—Kirby Goering—working part-time in one corner of his muffler shop to PET Affiliate director juggling volunteers, materials and parts from far and wide. It is a familiar progression with one exception. Kirby and Christine Goering are also operating a sizeable wheat farm operation. How do they do it? Only God knows because this Mennonite couple are doing it for Him! In his own words—“We have put in a saw shop in our muffler shop. We have all the saw equipment we need to build all the body parts. We have some new production sites. Ellsworth Correctional Facility is building our front forks, crank posts and brakes; we provide the metal. Goodwin Stoves from Burns, KS. is building our frames, cranks and brake handles for free. Full Vision from Newton, KS. is building our chain guards and providing drop off metal material to build brakes for free. United Methodist from Colby, KS, is providing wood and sawing all the PET body parts for us and bringing them back to us every 3 or 4 months. We will still have to cut body parts ourselves to keep up with production. The push PET information we will get to you later.” Yes, you read the last sentence correctly. On a recent mission trip to Honduras Kirby saw a great need for a push/pull for the severely disabled who could not propel the PET for themselves. He has, as did PET MO-Columbia, developed a prototype for trial in Honduras!
The PET Project of Middle Tennessee - The decision to become a PET Affiliate nearly always starts with one person stepping forward and 
saying—I’ll try. It was no exception in Murfreesboro, TN. In the words of Alice Nunnery, Secretary of The PET Project of Middle Tennessee, “In the three years since Freddie and a group of volunteers from Blackman United Methodist Church started the Middle Tennessee Affiliate, we have built more than 150 PETs. This is small compared with other affiliates, but we have doubled our production in the last year, thanks to the help and support of the local Rotary Clubs, who not only send many volunteers to work in the shop but also give generous donations from their Wheels for Rotary fundraising campaign, including some of the proceeds from their annual 
Pancake Breakfast. Next fall we will hold our fourth annual golf scramble to help raise funds. In the last six months we have incorporated and achieved 501(c)3 status. New volunteers have joined us this fall, and we have expanded our Board of Directors from five to seven members. From our workshop, we have shipped PETs to Mexico, Sierra Leone, Honduras, Jamaica, Namibia and Uzbekistan. PETs from our workshop were also carried on a military transport to Afghanistan. We are excited about the future at the PET Project of Middle Tennessee!” Well Alice, we, too, are excited about the future of PET TN.
These are short stories of five of 14 PET Affiliates—11 in the USA, and one each in Zambia, South Africa and Mexico. Each Affiliate, like each PET volunteer, has a unique personality and gifts. Each has a story worth telling and hearing. All are doing their very best for God. Do stop by your nearest Affiliate for a visit—it will surely make your day, and maybe, even change your life!
Thanks to all the PET volunteers and financial donors over 3,000 of God’s leg disabled children will receive the gift of mobility with a PET in 2008. Over 13,000 have received the gift since Mel responded to Larry’s request. PET is in-deed A GOD THING!
SPECIAL NEWS
Gifts in honor or memory:
- Marge Fleming in honor of Susan Williams
- Cal & Lisa Nyeboer in honor of Al & Bev Kindig’s 50th anniversary
- Mark, Joanne, John, Greg, Lori, & Ellen in honor of Paul & Ruth Bowman
Youth Involved
Chris Robertshaw came along on a mission field trip with his younger sister’s group to PET NY—East Jewett. He asked if he could make a part they needed. Their director handed him a front fork that adjoins to the front wheel. This was a hard, time-consuming part to make. He made one and brought it back for inspection. Since then, he has made many quality forks.
There are other youth that make parts or volunteer in the PET shops. Youth in MI make steel brake rods, and youth in OK make the plastic handles. Each group buys the long lengths of supplies, cut, drill or bend, and ship by the hundreds.
(pictured here at the PET International meeting in NY in September 2007)
PET TV Special Approved by NBC KOMU-TV
Sarah Hill, newscaster for KOMU-TV Channel 8 in
Columbia, Missouri is known for her award winning “Sarah’s Stories.” Sarah has traveled from mid-
Missouri to Sri Lanka in pursuit of stories of extraordinary
human interest, so going to Vietnam to
film a “distribution” of PETs and wheelchairs was a
perfect fit. What could be more exciting than interviewing
and filming mobility impaired men, women and children on the
ground one minute and, the next, seated upright, mobile, dignified,
and
filled with hope?
Sarah's career started in radio in Springfield, MO
in the early 90's. She
worked for 7 years as the main anchor at the CBS affiliate in Jefferson
City, MO. In 2000, she returned back to her alma mater to work at
KOMU. Here, she reports a weekly feature franchise called "Sarah's
Stories",
anchors KOMU News at 5, and helps students hone their storytelling
skills. She has won numerous awards for news writing including a
2004 Mid-America Emmy and four regional Edward R. Murrow awards.
Sarah
and KOMU-TV videographer Scott Schaefer, accompanied by PET
co-founder Larry Hills, PET International volunteer executive director
Steve Baima and retired nurse from Ashland, Missouri “Vee” Faschiotti
joined up with a 9 member volunteer team from Hope Haven International
Ministries (HHIM). Four hundred wheelchairs and 40 PETs were
shipped to Vietnam by HHIM, a primary distribution partner for PET.
The distribution occurred at Da Nang, a large city on the coast about
midway between north and south Vietnam.
Volunteers from HHIM led by
Val Brummell evaluated the recipients to
determine the appropriate wheelchair or PET. Larry and Steve assembled
and adjusted PETs to fit recipients. Physical and occupational
therapists, and others specially trained were in charge of “seating”.
Vee, with the aid of an interpreter, conducted exit interviews. All
the
while, Sarah and Scott interviewed and filmed. They documented a
snapshot of time illustrating the lives of our brothers and sisters,
their plight without mobility, and their hopes and dreams for a future
with
mobility.
KOMU-TV Channel 8 will begin airing the PET series of Sarah’s Stories in mid-Missouri in February 2007 with a 5 minutes segment each Monday evening at 6:00 pm. Then a 30 minute special will air on Thursday, March 8th at 6:30 pm. For more information on Hope Haven International Ministries, visit their website at www.hopehaven.org.
PET CO-FOUNDER LARRY HILLS RECEIVES AWARD!!!!
Congratulations PET Co-founder Larry Hills has been awarded The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International’s highest honor—Paul Harris Fellow. The citation reads, “…in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.” The Rotary Club of Orange Park, Florida, Inc., who nominated Larry for the award, is a key supporter of PET FLORIDA-Penney Farms.
PET International—A Growing Ministry
What a year for PET and the thousands of people we serve! During this past year PET has expanded in the US to 11 Affiliate production and assembly sites. See side bar for Affiliates list. Additionally, PETs are being made and distributed in Kitwe, Zambia, and Cape Town, South Africa. And, recently, new production facilities are underway in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Nuevo Progresso, Mexico.
US Highlights - In 2006 a PET Affiliate was opened in Moundridge, Kansas. Kirby and Chris Goering, friends of Larry and Laura Hills, started building PETs in their muffler shop. Kirby and Chris are committed Mennonite Christians and most excited about their new ministry.
Sid Martin and a great group from San Antonio, Texas, are building PETs in a rented airplane hanger. Additionally, they instigated the new PET project in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico and have worked out a novel agreement with the Mexican government that facilitates border crossing with PETs made in the US. What a dynamic group!
Tom Woodard teamed up with Charlie Downing and a group of others from Jacksonville, Florida, to establish Florida’s third PET production facility. Starting out making parts for PET Florida-Penney Farms, the group decided in 2006 to build the entire PET. They are a great team. It is with much sadness that Tom reported Sam Gates, loyal volunteer PET builder/painter, passed away this fall.
International Highlights
- Pastor John Pascoe is director of
Opportunities to Serve Ministries
(OTSM) in Mitchells Plain, Cape
Town, South Africa. In 2005
Rev. Tommy and Mollie Watson
from Westridge Baptist Church in
Jacksonville, Florida introduced
Pastor John and his wife Evelyn to
PET and encouraged them to
include mobility to their already
burgeoning list of ministries including
HIV Aids Orphanage,
health care, school ministry, and much more. They met with Larry Hills
for training and returned to South Africa sensing God’s call to start
building
PETs. (Note the fiberglass in place of the traditional wooden bed in
photo insert. Contact John Pascoe at otsm@mweb.co.za for more
information.)
Steve Perry, is a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Clifton, Bristol, UK. Steve
retired in 2004 as Managing Director at Williams Ltd, a Building and
Maintenance
Company operating throughout the southern half of England.
Steve is now the non-executive Chairman with more time to pursue his
humanitarian passions in affiliation with Rotary International and
Rotary
UK. Steve, along with fellow Rotarians, is trying to set up a Rotary
Africa
Mobility Project.
Last year Steve went with two friends from his Rotary
club, David Sutton
and John Murphy, to Sierra Leone, the poorest country on the planet
with
more than half the population living on less that $1 a day, one third
of
children not living past age 5 and adult life expectancy at 38 years.
In
his words, Steve writes, “we joined with other Rotarians building
an extension
on a VVFClinic in Freetown. Vesico Vaginal Fistula is a condition
occurring after a difficult childbirth leaving women incontinent;
there are
2 million women with this condition and only four clinics in the
whole of
Africa! We had the privilege of helping Mercy Ships, which is staffed
by volunteer doctors and medical staff who pay their own expenses.
Before we went we agreed that
our visit had to be more useful than simply spending a couple of
weeks on a building project. During
our short stay we were taken to see the New Steps project outside
of Freetown, originally built to
provide prosthetics and orthotics for polio victims and people who
had lost limbs in the war.”
“It was at New Steps that we had our first thrilling ride on a PET. Doesn’t it just capture the imagination? The New Steps approach to disability is to try to create economic and social opportunity for their community. What better, we thought, than getting our Rotary Club to fund some PETs and perhaps we could promote a national Rotary trike project in the UK. We set about learning more about the needs of the disabled in developing countries and after talking to experts were soon convinced that we should be looking for more sustainable mobility solutions. We were told how wrongly assessed or badly fitted equipment can cause pressure sores or arthritis. We were told how some donated wheelchairs are more suited to Western hospitals than the rugged terrain of countries with poor infrastructure. What good is a donated wheelchair if it falls apart and cannot be maintained?
What better, we thought, than helping Africans to help themselves?
We want to work with the PET organization, already well known to New Steps, whose physiotherapists say that the PETs are providing a good solution to local needs. PETs are suited to the terrain, carry essential goods and are designed to have exceptionally low maintenance.”
Steve and his friends are just at the point of trying to get the funding and final approvals necessary to set up a workshop in Sierra Leone to build PETs and wheelchairs. The aims of their project are to establish a sustainable mobility equipment workshop model that could be replicated in any developing country and to transfer knowledge for assessment, fitting, training in use and maintenance of wheelchairs and tricycles as well as helping to create economic opportunity. They admit to having much more to do but if all goes well hope to be in production in 2007.
PET Mexico-Progresso. That is the name selected by the coalition
working to establish the first PET
production and training facility in Mexico. A large cast of players
is working toward that end including
Sid Martin from San Antonio, Texas, who instigated the project.
(Actually, it all started with a
friend of Freddie Brown from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. You will
have to get that story from Sid or
Freddie who say it was a “God thing.”) Involved in the project
are Susan Hellums, Border Area Mission
Coordinator with the United Methodist Church from McAllen, Texas,
and her counterpart, Willie
Berman, in Mexico; Elaine Hernandez, American Red Cross health
delegate to Mexico; Alejandro
Sousa, deputy director, of the Mexican Conciliate in McAllen, Texas;
and Pastor Ruben Hudtler Grijalva
from Nuevo, Progresso.
The project is well underway. A local board
has been established to work with Pastor Ruben in directing
the project. Construction has begun on the shop which will reside
on the grounds of the UM
Church at Nuevo Progresso. Elaine Hernandez hopes to incorporate
some elements of health care
into the project. She notes that diabetes and tuberculosis are
widespread throughout Mexico. PETs
are needed by scores of amputees suffering from advanced diabetes
and other leg disabilities. She
hopes this project will serve as a pilot and model paving the way
for other similar facilities throughout
impoverished regions of Mexico. Opportunities for visiting work
teams from the US will be announced
in early 2007 to help construct the shop and help equip it with
essential tools. Stay tuned
for updates.
These are truly exciting times for the PET mobility project.
These highlights represent only a fraction
of the day-to-day PET ministry performed by several hundred volunteers
and supporters.
Thank you for your continuing involvement and support of this ministry
to “the least of these” who
are our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
Why PET International, Inc. vs PET Mobility Project USA?
The PET Mobility Project, under the visionary leadership of co-founders
Mel
West and Larry Hills, is experiencing extraordinary growth. New PET assembly
sites, now referred to as PET Affiliates, are being established throughout
the USA and beyond. Missionaries Delbert and Sandy Groves are directing the
New Life PET Shop near Kitwe, Zambia, and some folks in the United Kingdom
are working at establishing a PET Affiliate there. PETs are also being made
in Cape Town, South Africa and in Mexico. Just days ago a serious inquiry came
from India.
It was apparent PET needed an umbrella organization to coordinate its
growth, maintain quality control over PETs being built throughout the world,
and a host of other issues common to a growing ministry/business. The
name of the organization was never an issue—it had to be PET International,
Inc. Now with a committed team of several hundred volunteers scattered around
the world, a formal organization governed by a Board of Trustees and staff,
PET is about its main thing—giving dignity, hope and mobility to the
millions in need.
The following excerpt from a letter from missionaries Delbert and Sandy
Groves is but one of many received each week:
February 23, 2006
Dear Friends:
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) 
group
in Lubumbashi,
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been helping us locate and distribute
PETs in that country. This last truck load ( pictured……)
arrived in war zone areas in the DRC called Pweto and Moba thanks to their
help.
…To find ways to locate these special people and identify that they can be helped by a PET bike is one of our hardest jobs. We are so thankful for the individuals, churches, and groups like UMCOR, that help locate and distribute the PETs. We have estimated that within the Copper Belt area alone there are over one hundred thousand people that can be helped with a PET bike.
We want to say thank you to all of our partners that prayerfully and financially support the PET ministry. You are really changing lives in the most remote areas of the world. Nothing says “God loves you and so do I” like a PET does. It’s possible the only Jesus they will ever see may have three wheels…
Thank you!! Building His kingdom, Delbert and Sandy Groves
(Groves{at}NewLifeZambia.com)
THE EVOLUTION OF THE P.E.T.
The Evolution of the P.E.T. is a newly released 27 page, photo illustrated,
booklet/report authored by Larry Hills that chronicles the history of PET.
This historical account clearly illustrates the sincerity of the PET ministry
from its inception over 10 years ago. Mel West and Larry Hills have and continue
to strive to make the PET the very best and appropriate means of mechanical
mobility for the recipients and their environment. All who support PET will
find the report interesting and confirming. It is a must read for any individual
or group thinking about becoming a volunteer parts maker, starting a new affiliate
assembly site, or being a PET advocate and promoter. Larry set the price at
$10.00 per copy--$5.00 cost plus a $5.00 donation to PET! He never passes up
an opportunity!!
Order now---“The Evolution of the P.E.T.”, January 6, 2006,
by Larry Hills.
PET FL-Penney Farms, P O Box 919, Penney Farms, Florida 32079)
TRUSTEES OF PET INTERNATIONAL ASSUME RESPONSIBILITIES
Pet Intl. has chosen to use the word “trustee” when referring to the members of its governing organization. I like that use of the word for it aptly describes the position. PET Intl. is a 501c3 and the federal government trusts it to fulfill its legal obligations. Donors trust the organization to get the most from their charitable donations. Recipients and potential recipients trust their future to the hope given by the promises of PET. Partner organizations trust PET Intl. to work with them in honest, open, ethical and Christian ways.
President of the Board, Jim Wrinkle, is a man who has combined a business
career with humanitarian work in his own community and around the world.
Steve Baima, Volunteer Executive Director, with degrees in Biology, has
worked in a broad spectrum of private and governmental jobs. Both Jim and
Steve have a high degree of passion for PET.
Every trustee of PET International shares that same passion and is deeply
involved in the actual work of making and shipping PETs. Dear Readers, the
trustees are worthy of your trust and need your support for the amazing
challenge ahead of us.—Mel West, Truste