Mr. and Mrs. Iida, who are residents of Germany, visited me the other day, asking for a wheelchair for their Albanian friends’ child. I sent one of our wheelchairs to Iida’s family home in Kanagawa, and the wheelchair was delivered to Albania by air.

  I’d like to share the child’s photos and the parents’ message, which shows how they have wanted and how grateful they are to have got their own wheelchair.

August, 2018 President Hirokazu Morita

“Thank you for your great help. We did not know such details what is good chair, so it is very useful and helpful for us. He is very happy to go out with the Wheelchair. We appreciate your great kindness. Thank you so much again. ”

　　　Albanian child on the wheelchair　　　　　

Message of Condolence from the president, Hirokazu Morita

 Mr. Katano made every effort to promote our activities for 15 years from the very beginning. With his broad overseas network, he kept catching contact with foreign partners and negotiating with the government. Moreover, he tried to grasp the circumstances of needy children by visiting children who were donated wheelchairs. He passed away at the age of 80. Without his sincere and energetic work, our organization would not have made such progress. I’m determined to keep his deep thought in mind and work on our activity of sending wheelchairs to overseas children.
 May his soul rest in peace. 　

Mr. Katano, getting a child on his new wheelchair and trying to see if it’s comfortable for him, in Laos, March 2017.

  We are really grateful that our organization has been supported by various kinds of people and groups.
 With the help of special schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area we have been delivering about 7,000 wheelchairs for children to 23 countries around the world since we started our activities in 2004.

  Wheelchairs made in Japan are quite easy to use and highly valued because they are adjustable to each child with different disabilities. A growing number of groups of supporting disabled children and nursing home overseas have been asking us to help them with our wheelchairs.

  However, the number of wheelchairs provided by special schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area this year is only the half of last year and our stock has become smaller too. Lack of wheelchairs will make it difficult to deliver the sufficient number of wheelchairs to needy children. At this time of the year many parents might be thinking of renewing their child’s wheelchairs. So, please call the PTA members for support and ask such parents to provide us with those wheelchairs which are not used any more.

  A transportation company in Hamura collects wheelchairs at a low price for us. In order to save money we ask the company to collect more than 15 to 20 wheelchairs for one time. When the number of wheelchairs at one school is small, the truck goes to a few more schools nearby and tries to collect as many as possible.

  We don’t want to see Japanese expensive wheelchairs thrown away, which is really “MOTTAINAI.” We want to make good use of them instead and deliver them to needy children overseas. We would like to ask for your cooperation.

Contact: Hirokazu Morita　　
　　　　　　　TEL:090-7239-7264　  E-mail：info@kotobukiya.com

　
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