Wheelchair Repair a Perfect Project for a Club with This Logo

As the new president of , Manuela Bump Murillo is looking forward to the club’s upcoming service efforts. One really moves her, if you’ll forgive the pun.

It’s a wheelchair repair program in Costa Rica, and Murillo says her club is partnering with a sister Rotary down there to make it happen. Wheelchair owners will be given loaners to use while their own is being restored.

“The people that are going to be doing the repairs are young men and women who are at risk,” she said. “So we’re helping them to become useful to society by teaching them a trade.”

The goal, she says, is to make the program self-sustaining and to fix about 50 wheelchairs a month. For a small fee—supplemented by a grant Murillo’s husband, Hugo, is writing—the chairs will be given new wheels, armrests, handles or whatever they may need. So far, program is set to receive $9,000 in funding.

“It’s a really great program, so we’re excited about that,” said Murillo, who moved to the United States from Honduras in 1968 at the age of 15 to pursue her studies. “It’s going to make a real difference in people’s lives.”

The club also will be involved in foster family programs, the Rotary Youth Exchange, Rotary Interact and other youth programs in local schools. Visitors are welcome to the club meetings held at 7:15 a.m. every Friday at Terra American Bistro.

*Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the weekly meeting time as 7:15 p.m.