You can meet the most amazing people in prison!
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and not long ago I was up at the Taft Correctional Facility near Bakersfield, California to see exactly how the prisoners there were doing with our wheelchairs which they were refurbishing for our Wheels for the World outreach trips. If you didn’t already know this, prisoners in 22 different prisons across the country, these inmates volunteer to refurbish used wheelchairs that we collect in order to get them ready for our teams to take overseas to disabled children and adults. The inmates are excited to be a part of this incredible program; I mean, they’ve seen the videos of disabled children who live on straw mats or are relegated to back bedrooms. Some disabled adults are even pushed around in baby carriages. Each of these disabled children and adults is given a new set of wheels - wheelchairs refurbished by these prisoners.
Well, when I entered the restoration center inside of Taft prison, I tell you I was stunned. There was row after row of sturdy wooden shelves filled with neatly stacked wheelchairs, footrests, armrests, and walkers. Everything tidy, everything listed and organized. The inmates stood pretty proudly by their workbenches, polishing chrome and screwing on new leather backing. For me, it was such a stunning picture of that verse in Ephesians 4:28 where it says: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” Is that a great verse to describe what Wheels for the World is like in prison?
Well, as I went around the shop, I was so impressed with how shiny and new looking these wheelchairs were, the ones the prisoners were working on. That made me look down at my own wheelchair. It was all full of dings on the paint, scratched, scarred. So I wheeled up to one of the prisoners, his name was Jorge, and I asked him, “Sir, do you mind doing a bit of detail work on these leg-rests of mine?” He saw the chipped paint on the legs of my chair. He said to me, “I’ll have it done in thirty minutes.” With that, he began sanding my leg-rests and preparing the paint.
I watched him as he worked and I asked him, “Why are you doing all of this?” Jorge fiddled with his wrench for a moment. Then he said, “Because somebody needs help. It makes me feel good to really do something that’s gonna help somebody. Like those disabled kids in that video.” That day I left the prison with a fresh resolve to do something that’s gonna help – Just like Jorge said. Help somebody else. You know what I mean? Because in a lonely prison, there are men who see the value in helping to free others from their wheelchair prisons. There are inmates who are willing to turn down a minimum wage job in the prison’s work program to instead volunteer their time restoring our wheelchairs in order to restore someone else’s life. And I want you to meet these prisoners. And you can.
The next time you’re at your computer, click on my radio webpage at joniandfriendsradio.org and just take a few minutes to look at this amazing video I’ve posted of our prisoners fixing these wheelchairs. These are guys who are being successfully rehabilitated: they are doing something useful as it says in Ephesians so that they might have something to share with those in need just like the Bible says. Again, you can see that video by visiting me today online at joniandfriendsradio.org. And I think you’ll see, too, that you can do something useful... like, while you’re at my webpage, ask for your Wheels for the World prayer reminder magnets so you can be praying that these inmates come to know Christ as they fix our wheelchairs. You can get those on our radio website or by dialing 888-522-5664. It’s definitely a way that you can do something useful for someone else in need.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends