Trike to University of Illinois Chicago

Today our trike team of Kevin our engineer, Ken our trike coordinator and Alice our Executive Director went to University of Illinois Chicago and presented a US version of the trike to a class. Alice is an alumni of UIC. On Thursday the students choose what team they want to be part of. I believe there will be 2 trike teams with 5 students/team. They will do a feasibility study and present their findings in about 14 weeks. All 3 of us were encouraged and look forward to what God has planned.

Once again Kevin surprised us all with his amazing creativity. We are all grateful for the unique gifts that each of us bring to the team. Alice began the presentation by sharing the way HWI got started. Having had a class in the very same classroom she began her speech from that point. Then Ken, who has spent many years as a missionary kid and then a missionary in Africa explained the value of the trike. Kevin ended our time by debuting the new trike and talking about the features.

Thanks to all who prayed. Indeed God was glorified and we were encouraged. Only the Lord knows where this all will lead. We are glad He does.

Open House August 27, 2011

We had an awesome open house. About 30 people attended. What we lacked in numbers we exceeded in sharing, encouraging, and passing the torch of God's goodness on to each other through recalling stories of God's faithfulness. We brought in 15 bikes. This AM we had 10 people help us. Thanks to all who came, encouraged us through notes and prayer. We serve an awesome God who wants to astound us by His miracles.

Mailbox Surprises

Today I received two fun pieces of mail. 

The first was a letter from an St. James Episcopal Church in New Hampshire. Before opening it I thought, "Who heard about us in NH and how did they hear about us." The check was accompanied with a short note that said, "With our prayers and support Tobias and St James Episcopal Church." The note made my, Alice's, day because back in 1983 I lived with Tobias, Rose and their then three children in Harare Zimbabwe while doing a nine-week mission trip. While using their family bike, I thought,"if I only had a brake cable and a tool I could fix this bike." It was then that I knew God was calling me to provide tools so the nationals could serve their own people. The idea germinated for 20 years until 2003 when a Tanzanian mentioned how valuable a bicycle would be to help nationals help there own people. Thanks Tobias, Rose and church family.

The other piece of mail said, "My sister bought a bike at your bike sale last week. I am interested in volunteering to help with working on bikes. Thank you! 

Open House/Bike Collection/Workday

Saturday August 27, 2011
21W161 Hill Ave.
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
Location: His Wheels Headquarters
Detailed Map to HWI Headquartershttp://www.hiswheels.org/Resources/Layout/Sidebar/map.png

9AM-8PM Bike Collection
9-1PM: Workday to prepare for open house.
1-8PM: Open House & Refreshments. Between
2-3PM we will have an hour of sharing and prayer.

Bring a friend and come join us. We are aiming for 200 people, doubling last years attendance.
Address: Find a clear map with directions to our office on the front page of our website at www.hiswheels.org.

Bike Sale Ends Early

We sold out of adult bicycles. In just over 4 hours we sold 44 bikes in the past 2 days. We brought in $5,000. We only had 10 children's bikes left over. We will have those for sale at our open house next Saturday. Thanks for making our first annual return to college sale such a success.


Thanks also to Katie Stump for sharing her graphics artists skills and making such a catchy sign. Thanks also to the Stump's for hosting the sale.

Bike Sale

Awesome bike sale today. We sold over 20 bikes and made $2,565. Thanks to all who came, spread the word and made it happen. We will be there tomorrow from 3-5PM again. Address is 812 N. President St./Wheaton, IL

Ken attends Global Leadership Summit

It was a great two days to hear from some the foremost business personalities in todays market along with some of the most exciting church leaders out there. Here are  some of the people we heard from- Mama Maggie Gobran, Bill Hybels, Steven Furtick, Honorable Cory A. Booker, Seth Godin, Erwin McManus, and others. Many of these names are not familiar but google them and see who they are. It was a great time of learning leadership principles in business and ministry. It was a great time.

Trike Progress

A few pictures of the progress on the US trike prototype. The seat is

partially assembled and shown in position on the partially assembled

frame. One of the actual size wheels is shown temporarily clamped in

place to help verify final side to side clearance. Unlike our African

trikes designed with a wide wheelbase for rough and uneven terrain,

this design will be narrower. This will allow it to go thru most

doorways and narrower openings, such as a wheelchair can.

 

Mark Your Calendar

Thursday Work Evenings: August 11 and 25 from 6:30P-9:30P. You are welcome to come and learn how to repair bikes

Saturday August 13, 2011 tune in to 91.9, Family radio in the Chicagoland area, WJCH on . The show is aired at 6:30AM, 12P and  5 PM.

Bike Sale  on Thurs, Aug, 18th, Friday Aug. 19th, Sat. Aug 20th, and Tues Aug. 22 from 3-5PM at 812 N. President St., Wheaton, IL 60187

Join us for His Wheels International's Open House: Saturday, August 27th 

9-1PM: Workday to prepare for open house. 1-8PM: Open House & Refreshments. Between 2-3PM we will have an hour of sharing and prayer. Bring a friend and come join us at 21W161 Hill Ave. Glen Ellyn, IL 60187. Find map and directions on our website home page at www.hiswheels.org

Nearing Completion of my 1st book proposal

I have 11 more paragraphs to write, which are chapter descriptions for my book proposal. The sample chapter is ready, the cover letter is ready and hopefully next week it is off to publishers. What an exhilarating and exhausting feeling all at once.


Thanks to all who have made my memoir a reality. They include those who challenged me to write the book, those who've read the book, those who walked through the journey as I lived the book first, those who are doing final read throughs and all the other people who contributed in so many unique ways to my life, my character and my growth.

Work Begins

As you may have noticed, we have temporarily halted work on the racing

trike, due to a delay getting the appropriate wheels for the rear.

In the meantime, another of our current projects has been developing…a

prototype hand pedaled trike designed for the US market. It will be

used to research the feasability of such a trike, and wether it would

sell for an acceptable profit. That profit would then be used by HWI

to support our international hand pedaled trike program. Such an

alternate “income source” would be especially helpful in paying for a

portion of the cost of these trikes in places where the disabled

recipient cannot afford to pay the full price of the trike they need.

In the pictures below you will see some of the parts for the new seat

design. While this US trike will be similar in some ways to our

African style trikes, it will have several changes that we feel may be

crucial to a US market. One of these is a somewhat more sophisticated

seat design that looks better and is easier to adjust. It will also

have an easily removed seat back to allow the trike to fit into most

cars.