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Non-profit to hold drive for mobility equipment as many wait during pandemic

Posted at 10:34 PM, Apr 29, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-29 22:34:37-04

A non-profit that provides mobility to those with disabilities or special needs says about 75 people are currently waiting for repairs and other services.

'Alternatives in Motion' provides access to mobility equipment. They help children, adults and seniors. All their equipment is donated, besides items such as batteries or additional parts.

The non-profit's Grand Rapid's warehouse can house up to $350,000 worth of equipment at any given time. In one month, they can give out about 50 items to people in need, but this pandemic has restricted them to only carrying out 'emergency services,' meaning they can step in if someone cannot get around their home.

"Our clients that need repairs, which is about half of the work that we do here every month in terms of motion is they cannot get around in their home that's considered an emergency," said Coleen Davis, Executive Director of Alternatives in Motion. "So we have done several emergency trips to our clients."

Many clients don't meet the criteria for an 'emergency visit.' Davis estimates that they currently have 75 people that fall under that umbrella.

"We're super excited to reopen hopefully soon and get to all those needs in our community."

When the non-profit does reopen, they'll need the community's help to restock their items.

Typically, employees will go pick up mobility equipment that is no longer in use. However, pick-up has been halted due to the pandemic.

"We haven't been doing any of that of course because we want to make sure everybody's safe, but we do want to do a large mobility drive because we don't want people throwing out things at the curb. I know we're all at home doing spring cleaning. We want people to hold on to them and bring them to our mobility drive and if they can't get to us, we'll put them on our list and make sure they're a priority."

The mobility drive will be held at the warehouse the week of May 18th. They hope to hold three drives throughout the week. You can learn more about how you can donate at the organization's Facebook page.