THE PET REPORT, FLORIDA 
(P.E.T. = Personal Energy Transportation)
Vol. 4  THE GIFT OF MOBILITY, THE GIFT OF HOPE  Winter 2002
www.petflorida.org
A special winter edition of The PET Report compiled by Larry Rills, the coordinator of PET PROJECT FLORIDA.
The wheelchair that goes where wheelchairs can't go

It was just one year ago at Christmas that I reported to you the growth of the Florida PET Place from it's humble beginnings in February of that year including the enclosure of the forecourt of Ricks gas station we were renti~1g from him in Penney Farms Florida, the erection of an adjacent metal building provided by an anonymous donor, and the slowly increasing production of PET's
I said at that time that "none of this growth would have been possible without the parallel growth in the numbers of donors who have given gifts of money in support of the work and the numbers of volunteers from PRC and surrounding communities who have come forward to dedicate some of their time and skills to converting that money into finished PET's."
Up until the time of writing that letter we had been busy creating sources of funding and the infrastructure and the toots of the PET Place and working through the inevitable challenges in producing PET's. We had thirty or so on hand and had sent one on a mission trip to Mexico and one on a mission trip to Honduras.
Now, a year later, those words best express the phenomenal growth since then in donations of money and numbers of volunteers that have resulted in our being able to manufacture and pack PET number 308 today. Of that number 272 have been shipped to many countries of need including Viet Nam, Costa Rica/Nicaragua, Afghanistan, The West Bank, Sierra Leone, Haiti, and Angola leaving us with 36 on hand as of this writing.
During this year we have received several email and letter testimonials and pictures of some of the recipients ()f PET's. Here are quotes from some of them.

From Haiti

  "The PET finally arrived at 7 PM. We started a generator to provide some light and several of us worked until we had assembled it and of course we all had to test drive it. the next morning it was presented to a young man who is a student at our high school and must get around on crutches. we were afraid the other kids might tease him but, praise the Lord, everyone loved it, wanted to drive it and wanted him to carry their books in the cargo area! It is a huge success. This young man has some exceedingly rough terrain to traverse to get to school where a wheelchair can't go. This PET can be considered an "off road PET." Our compliments to the designer and production team.".   

From Zambia: Given (our housekeeper) met a young man in town walking around on his hands as he had no legs to speak of. She was on her way to church and asked if he were going. He responded, "I 'm not one of these Christians. People don't like to look at me and I don't know what is so special about this Jesus." She told him "God loves you and wants to show you and told him about the PET and where to go to get one." A few days later he borrowed a very old wheelchair from a friend at the hospital. It took him all day to travel the 9 miles out to our mission arriving at 4:00 pm. In talking to him we found That he had always been despised by others and didn't understand why anyone should love him. He was stunned when presented with a PET. We drove him, the wheelchair, and his PET back to town. As we prepared to leave he rolled over in his PET. He was struggling not to cry. In broken English and broken voice he said, "God loves me:' I held his hand and said, 'yes, God loves you more than you'll ever know." Then he held hands with some of his crippled friends and started to pray. People walking by even bowed their heads too. In that moment I saw ----a young man who most likely had 3D fight for every little thing he had----who most likely never prayed a word in his  life------who   likely never heard anyone say to him "I love you"   or most likely never said to anyone else "I love you  bowed his head ir½ tears and in front of all his buddies and bystanders said "thank you God, I love you too."

From Mamuka Chikobava in Georgia in the Ukraine

Friends gave him a little tricycle he used to drag himself around. A month after receiving his PET he wrote; "I do not have words to thank you properly. I was a miser, now I am a man. You have changed my life. I did not smile for years, now I am smiling."

Or Viadimer Jibladze with both legs gone; "For the first time in 8 years I am able to look people in the face instead of swallowing dust in the street."

Or Shota Japaridze who is 41. He moves only :'n crutches and earns a living making wooden handicrafts at home. He says "this PET is exactly fly what I needed. I can go to the village and buy 1)~ raw materials myself instead of asking others. can visit people and talk to them. I am so thankful to people who designed and constructed this P1~' and delivered it to Georgia.

Yes! I want to bring mobility to a person. whose legs do not function! Please find my check enclosed.$                        for PET's at $250.00 each toward the purchase of a PET.