In 1988

While building a boys ranch for a safe haven for teen age boys from high risk areas of the highlands from the civil war, Mark Richard saw a woman on a few occasions crawling across the Pan Am highway.  Macaria lost her ability to walk over 25 years before when she contracted Polio as a young girl.

He decided not to make her a promise of a wheelchair to her, as to often well-meaning North Americans make promises they can’t keep. He brought his request to an old friend Carl Durocher who he himself contracted polio when he was 8 years old. As a member of the South Central Wisconsin chapter of The National Spinal Cord Injury Association it was his turn to write an article for the newsletter. He took the liberty to ask for wheelchairs plural rather than one just for Macaria. Within 2 weeks more wheelchairs were collected than there was room on the trailer. So some were given to Carl’s good friend Peter that was the director of the Wisconsin Nicaragua Partners.  It was 3 months later when returning to Guatemala with a 5th wheel trailer filled with agriculture supplies from Pennsylvania.