These days, many companies will tag their web sites with claims of “giving back to the community” however sadly; the reality is often completely different.
Do It Foundation of Costa Rica is unique in this regard. Giving back is something they have virtuously been doing for communities throughout Costa Rica for years. For the foundation, it is of top priority to help those in need.
President and visionary of the foundation, John Scheman believes that developers should construct AND contribute to the surrounding communities in lieu of simply moving in and “extracting.” John habitually develops sustainable communities to not only provide work for local area residents but also to revitalize and rejuvenate communities that might otherwise be struggling.
As Rockefeller so eloquently put it:
“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it. ” – John Rockefeller
The Do It Foundation of Costa Rica has, to date, provided assistance to those who require wheelchairs to the sum of over 8500 recipients and climbing.
Jerad Portner, Chief Marketing Officer for the Do It Group says, “In the moment you present a wheelchair to a young child, stricken with a disease that has incapacitated them, and you see the overwhelming feeling of joy within them, it changes you forever.”
The foundation additionally assists within the educational sector by providing construction improvements, school supplies including books, chalkboards and desks, to rural schools that desperately need it.
Costa Rica is considered a “poor” country in Latin America and has a 20% poverty rate whereas those people live on less than $1 a day. This makes it difficult for those who find themselves in a poor state of health, to afford care whether in the form of medicines or mobility.
Maria Moya Gomez of La Palma near Perez Zeledon knows this all too well.
Having been married to her husband for some 50 years, both quickly found themselves in situations where they lost their freedom of mobility due to illness. Maria’s husband battled polio the better part of his life while succumbing to the illness and dying in 2005. Later Maria contracted a rare form of cancer that blocked the main arteries to her legs. Maria quickly became immobilized and confined to a wheelchair that was borrowed from a neighbor after losing one leg. The chair itself was at minimum 35 years old and had become dangerous for her with how weak it had become.
In August 2010 Maria claims an angel came to visit her bearing the gift she’d been praying for. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon while Maria was relaxing in her home when she saw the representative of the Do It Foundation, a Costa Rica charity organization responsible for donating over 8500 free wheelchairs throughout Costa Rica, approaching her front door. There was immediately something that caught her eye. A shiny brand new wheelchair!
Maria still tells stories to her friends, family and neighbors of that unforgettable day when God sent an angel to her.
The Do It Foundation continues to this day to provide free wheelchairs to needy Costa Ricans. You are invited to read more on their organization via their new web site at www.costaricacharity.org