Don Schoendorfer

Don Schoendorfer of Orange County, California, for going above and beyond as an advocate for the disabled and the disadvantaged. In 1977, Schoendorfer witnessed a sight that he said would haunt him for nearly 25 years—a disabled woman in Morocco clawing her fingernails into a dusty dirt road because she had no other way to cross the street. The MIT graduate vowed to put his engineering skills to good use and spent nine months in his garage building a one-size-fits all wheelchair prototype consisting of a plastic lawn chair, two mountain bike tires, an iron frame, and a pair of industrial casters. The Free Wheelchair Mission was officially launched in 2001 with just 100 low-tech wheelchairs that Schoendorfer and his friends made themselves. As of today, 250,000 chairs have been given out to some of the most forgotten and destitute people in more than 70 countries around the world. By 2010, the charity and Schoendorfer hope to give away 20 million free wheelchairs.




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