Wheels 4 Life charity is already in its 11th year of giving bicycles to people in need of transportation throughout the developing world.
The charity and cause has been growing at a healthy rate where Carmen and I can handle the day to day workload along with all of our other obligations and real jobs.
To date we have given almost 10,000 people in 32 different countries a bicycle. Each of these bicycles would have stories to tell about how people have benefited from them; how they made their lives easier, how they made earning an income possible, how they provided access to education and healthcare and in some cases, how they even saved lives.
Carmen and I are as committed as we were on day one. We still run the everyday business voluntarily, without compensation. We are assisted immensely by our Voluntary Project Leaders in the field (VPL), they supervise most of our bicycle projects all over the world and again, they do not receive an income from the charity
We are fortunate to have many volunteers that hold fundraisers, spread the word and offer their professional skills so that we can keep our operating costs to the minimum. We are also grateful to our Board of Directors who help from the sidelines and assist where and when they can.
We have done our best to run this charity in as pure a way as possible, in 2016 our overhead cost was only 1.9% (this number can vary, but has never exceeded 11%, even when making our documentary films in 2009 and 2013).
In the past 12 months we have actively been working on projects in Guatemala, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya and Nepal.
Besides our primary mission to provide transportation to people in the greatest need, we are also committed to making sure that our donors see where their funding has been utilized, that they can see who received their bicycles and why they need them. It is important for us to honor people’s efforts when raising money for Wheels 4 Life and that they feel rewarded for their hard work by reading how they have changed people’s lives for the better. No fundraiser is too small; we have had children forgo birthday presents so that they can donate part of a bike.
Of course Wheels 4 Life would not be possible without people like you, people that believe in the work we are doing and the way that we do it. Thanks to the generosity of so many people, we have been able to provide the precious gift of transportation.
One bicycle costs on average $150. Now, as ever, we still need you, please continue to believe in our mission and help us to give bikes and change lives.
Hans & Carmen Rey
#giveabikechangealife
P.S.: Stay tuned, we are currently in the planning stages of our bi-annual fundraiser event this fall in Southern California.
