Remarkable Journey of Hope: Joni and Friends’ Wheels for the World Program Celebrates 250,000th Life-Changing Wheelchair Gift and Gospel Impact

By Joni and Friends|Published On: July 31, 2026|Categories: Press Release, Wheels For The World|

Nada, a girl from Thailand, uses her new wheelchair while four people smile and celebrate with her.

AGOURA HILLS CA July 31, 2026 – For the first 11 years of Nada’s life, her mother, Mim, has carried her everywhere they went. From shopping to chores and even riding on a motorcycle, Nada relied on her mother’s strength to navigate life in their native Thailand.

Born with cerebral palsy, Nada is unable to walk and has limited function on one side of her body. Mim has been her daughter’s hands and feet her entire life. In addition to the physical endurance it has taken to carry Nada day after day, Mim has also needed great endurance spiritually. Thailand is primarily a Buddhist country, and Mim internalized false beliefs concerning disability, thinking that her daughter’s disability was the result of something Mim had done in a previous life. Despite this social stigma, Mim cared for Nada with love and tenderness, wondering if their circumstances would improve in a future life.

Nada, a young girl with cerebral palsy, sits on the floor with her mom, Mim, in front of her; they both look at the camera.

Thanks to a new wheelchair and the gift of the Gospel, Mim and Nada can enjoy a better life now. This spring, Mim brought Nada to a Wheels for the World outreach hosted by the international disability ministry Joni and Friends. There, physical therapists lovingly custom-fit a wheelchair to Nada’s small frame. While mechanics worked to alter Nada’s wheelchair, Joni and Friends President Shawn Thornton shared the Gospel with Mim. He told her that her daughter’s disability was neither a curse nor a judgment from God. In fact, God had made both Mim and Nada in His own image. Above all, they were loved and embraced by a God who cares.

“What Joni and Friends does is the full Gospel, because it’s word and deed, and Jesus never separated the two,” Shawn said.

Shawn Thornton looks at and talks to Mim, Nada's mom, while Nada, a young girl with cerebral palsy, sits on a mat with a Joni and Friends volunteer next to her.

The Gospel was indeed Good News for Mim. Her daughter’s wheelchair would transform her life in practical ways. But a personal relationship with Jesus brings spiritual, mental, and emotional transformation.

This miracle of redemption was a milestone in Nada and Mim’s life, but it also represents a miracle for Joni and Friends, because Nada received the 250,000th wheelchair distributed through the ministry’s Wheels for the World program.

Shawn Thornton, president of Joni and Friends, next to Nada, a young girl with cerebral palsy, who is sitting in her new wheelchair. They both smile joyfully in front of a banner that reads “Joni & Friends Delivering the 250,000th Wheelchair.”

“The beauty of hitting a number like 250,000 is that every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God,” Shawn said. “It’s why I’m so grateful that we treat each wheelchair delivery as an opportunity to make an eternal impact on the recipient’s life by connecting them to a local church where they can grow in faith.”

This milestone was decades in the making. God planted the seed for this program in 1989, when Joni and Friends Founder Joni Eareckson Tada was in the Philippines. During a monsoon, she watched a paralyzed woman army crawl across a muddy road with only a pair of flip flops on her hands. In that moment, the Holy Spirit inspired Joni to do something to help that woman and the millions of disabled people around the world just like her.

Wheels for the World^® takes wheelchairs donated in the US, restores them in volunteer prison work programs, then distributes them to low-resource countries around the world. Each wheelchair is lovingly custom fit to each recipient to ensure that secondary issues like pressure sores and scoliosis do not arise.

Each wheelchair is also given with a Bible and Joni’s autobiography, and each recipient is connected with a local, disability-friendly church to combat the social isolation, stigma, and loneliness that all too often comes with disability.

Wheels for the World, as a program, launched in 1994 and since its first outreach in Africa, it has grown to include outreaches in nearly 90 countries.

Wheels for the World has 15 wheelchair restoration centers in correctional facilities across the US, and Joni and Friends receives wheelchair donations from 44 states. This sustainable approach ensures that redemption and restoration touches every person involved in each wheelchair’s journey from donors and inmates to recipients and their families.

Here is a brief timeline of how Wheels for the World reached the milestone of 250,000 distributing wheelchairs:

1994 Ghana – Our first Wheels for the World outreach launched a new era of kingdom impact for Joni and Friends.

2003 India – Joni and Friends delivered our 25,000th wheelchair through Wheels for the World.

2005 – Eleven years after our first Wheels for the World outreach, Joni returned to Ghana to meet and serve more people living with disabilities, offering the love of Jesus.

2014 – We delivered our 100,000th wheelchair through Wheels for the World, this time to a boy named Ebenezer in Ghana.

2021 – Our 200,000th wheelchair was custom-fitted through Wheels for the World to a boy named Levi in El Salvador.

2026 – This year, our 250,000th wheelchair was given to 11-year-old Nada in Thailand. Like every Wheels for the World recipient, Nada and her mother received the Gospel message, a Bible in their language, and a copy of Joni’s Scripture-filled autobiography.

For Mim and Nada, this new wheelchair has restored mobility, dignity, and spiritual freedom. It’s a small miracle that has been repeated over a quarter of a million times throughout the past three decades, and one that is sure to continue thanks to the generosity of our donors, the hard work of our restoration centers, and the steadfast commitment of our volunteers who travel the world to give the gifts of mobility and the Gospel.

Nada, a young girl with cerebral palsy, is sitting in her new wheelchair next to her mom, Mim

“God used Joni to start all this when He showed her that one woman way back in 1989,” Shawn said.

Looking to the future, Joni and Friends aims to accelerate its outreach.

“Our program has gotten very big, but it is still always personal, and we still share the Gospel and customize wheelchairs one person at a time. I’m hoping that as we cast a new and fresh vision, we can increase the capacity of the program,” Shawn said. “As the average American grows older, there will be more wheelchairs available than ever. To whom much is given, much is required, and there is an opportunity to scale up the programs and the volunteers as we partner not just with individuals, but with entire churches.”

About Joni and Friends : For more than 45 years, Joni and Friends has provided the hope of the Gospel and practical care to people living with disability across the globe. Ministry programs include Joni’s House, Wheels for the World, Retreats & Getaways, and disability ministry training. Joni and Friends also delivers daily inspirational media through radio programs and podcasts. To find out more, please visit www.joniandfriends.org. 