FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do you pick the persons who receive the Pets?

What are the costs of transportation for the PETs ?

Why is a PET better than a regular wheelchair?

I've heard you use clothing for packing material with the PETs you ship. Is that so?

Are the recipients able to put the PET together when they receive it?

What tools do you send?

Could you make a littlie trailer for the PET so they could haul more? 

IHow do you pick the persons who receive the Pets?

A: For the most part, PET Project works in partnership with existing and trusted NGO's (Non Governmental Agencies). These agencies are already in place in areas of need. They have staff, they know the people, and can place the PETs where most needed and monitor their use.

Hope Raven, of Rock Valley, Iowa, has an extensive wheelchair ministry. They collect some 5 to 6,000 used wheelchairs a year and rebuild them using the volunteer work of prisoners. They have a worldwide system of placing wheelchairs and monitoring their care and use. We provide them with PETs for persons the PET will better serve. They want all we can provide.

At the same time, they provide PET Project with wheelchairs to go along with our shipments. For some persons a standard wheelchair will serve their needs better than a PET.

Mercy Ships Intl.  is a long-proven ministry to the poor around the world. They are working with 5,000 polio victims in Sierra Leone, Africa. We have recently sent them 52 PETs, and it is anticipated that they will want all we can provide. 50 more will be shipped from PET Florida in August 2002.

Rainbow Network  is a Missouri based Christian ministry with the rural extremely poor in Nicaragua. They have an extensive in-country staff focused on healthcare. PETs are sent to meet the needs of specific persons.

Zambia/Congo. Africa: This base for PET assembly and distribution was originally established by UMC missionary Larry Hills (now retired) in Zaire (now Congo). Because of continuing wars the base has been moved nearby to Zambia, and under the direction of UMC missionary Delbert Groves. PET frames and wheels are shipped from Darby, MT. The wooden beds are added in Zambia, and the PETs distributed.

Individual requests do receive our attention and consideration. Several PETs have gone to several countries with short term mission teams.

What are the costs of transportation for the PETs ?         Top

A.  We get free transportation for many PETs. Hope Haven picks the PETs up in Columbia and ships them on at no charge to us. PET Florida delivers to Hope Haven with volunteers and a u-haul truck. Mercy Ships delivers the PETs on their ship, so we have only the shipping to their port in Texas. The shipments to the country of  Georgia  go at no cost to PET.

  Why is a PET better than a regular wheelchair?

A. The PET and the standard wheelchair meet two different needs The wheelchair is best suited for a hospital, an office, inside a home, in a supermarket, on smooth city sidewalks, and similar settings. The PET is designed for rural areas where trails and roads are rough and where the driver will often need to carry a load.

Wheelchairs are very difficult to move over rough terrain and will soon fall apart. In rural areas many streets are cobblestone or dirt or simply foot paths or bicycle trails. People have a terrible time trying to maneuver a wheelchair over them but PETs scoot right along on the sarne terrain.

I've heard you use clothing for packing material with the PETs you ship. Is that so?

A. Yes. We pack with good used clothing. Americans are by and large very large compared to those who get PETs as PET recipients have often endured years of malnutrition or outright starvation so we urge people to give us the smaller sizes. We never have enough children's and baby clothing. We also put in some simple toys. A ball is the universal toy and not available in many parts of the world unless you make your own of wadded and tied plastic or rags so we include two or three tennis balls We also include shoes, belts, and purses and a dozen wire coat hangers. Wire is not available in most places where PETs go and fiber from trees is used as a good substitute so the hangers are greatly appreciated.

Are the recipients able to put the PET together when they receive it?

A.   Most PETs do not go directly to a recipient in a box. They are a part of a distribution by the health agency in the country who selects the recipients. Reports and observations by U.S. volunteers who go along on distributions tell us recipient groups find it very easy to assemble the PETs. The PET is only partly disassembled in the box and goes together in a simple and logical way. We also include a set of pictorial assembly instructions. 

 What tools do you send?

A. We send a set of wrenches which include a 7/16" or an 11 mm (ft's metric equivalent), and a 1/2" or 13mm, a phillips  screwdriver, a 6" adjustable wrench, and a pair of locking pliers. We also include a tire pump and extra screws, bolts, nuts, washers, rawl plug, cotter pins and bearings 

Could you make a littlie trailer for the PET so they could haul more?  A.   A trailer could be practical in situations where the running surface is consistently smooth, level, and firm. Most places where PETs operate are not like that and the front pulling wheel will loose traction if pulling a trailer. We feel it is best that each PET owner decide based on their conditions whether they wish to add a trailer to their unit and how to do it.

17 persons were killed in France in 2001 by WW1 land mines. They never quit maiming and killing.l