The Rotary Club in Coronado Delivers 145 Wheelchairs

In a 2 week period, the Rotary Club of Playa Coronado, in partnership with the Rotary Clubs of Colon, La Chorrera and Chitre’ delivered 145 wheelchairs to disabled children and adults. 

Along with the Rotary clubs in each community, 25 wheelchairs were delivered in Colon on October 10, 35 wheelchairs were delivered in La Chorrera on October 11 and 75 were delivered in Chitre’ on October 17.  Additionally, another 10 were delivered in Coronado recently. 

Since July 1, a total of 220 wheelchairs have been provided in cooperation with local Rotary clubs, schools and other organizations.

“We wish to thank everyone who contributed, including the Rotary Club of Pleasanton, California, USA, several Rotary clubs in Canada and the USA as well all the donors from the beaches and Panama City”, said Co-chair of the Rotary Club of Playa Coronado’s wheelchair project, Past President Jackie Kendziorek.  “We started this project last year hoping to be able to do about 25 wheelchairs and it grew and succeeded far beyond our wildest dreams” she continued.

The Rotary Club of Playa Coronado was chartered by Rotary International on June 17, 2014 and currently has 20 members from 7 different countries.  Rotary is a volunteer service organization with over 1.2 million members worldwide. There are 14 Rotary clubs in Panama’.

One of Rotary’s signature projects is End Polio Now, the elimination of polio worldwide.  When begun by Rotary in 1986, over 350,000 children were afflicted by this disease annually.  So far in 2015, there have been 51 confirmed cases in just 2 countries.  While no longer endemic in Panama, many victims still remain disabled or paralyzed.  The Rotary Club of Playa Coronado will be providing wheelchairs to 2 local polio victims.  

For more information, see www.rotary.org, www.endpolio.org, or contact President Mark Kendziorek at markken53@gmail.com.