Jesse and I have much to be thankful for this year: a beautiful healthy baby, a new home, our health, a wonderful job, and a new car!
When we made our first visit to Ryan House back in March, my mother-in-law, mother, and I were loading Gwen's heavy non-collapsable wheelchair into the back of our SUV (yes, it took all 3 of us!). At that exact moment, Chip Stoecker pulled up and told us he was the store manager for Ability Center, a company dedicated to mobility products. We held on to Chip's card, but we weren't exactly in the market to make the transition to a wheelchair van at that time.
A couple months passed and Chip invited us to Ability Center's open house. Jesse and I test drove some wheelchair vans and met with some of the store personnel to discuss potential conversion possibilities that would best suit our needs. We took our time. In fact we took 6 months. After all, this was going to be a huge permanent purchase. During those 6 months, Chip brought 3 different brands of vans to our home to test drive. We decided on a Toyota Sienna with a Rear Entry Ramp. Why Rear Entry you might ask? Well, handicap parking spaces are not always readily available, and when they are, there isn't always enough space for a side entry ramp to fold out.
Let me paint a scenario........If there wasn't a handicap space available and we had a side entry ramp and I was alone with Gwen (which is 75% of the time), I would have to:
A) unload Gwen at our destination (shopping mall, grocery store, Dr. office, etc.) leave her alone and go find somewhere to park,
B) unload Gwen near an open parking space and hope she doesn't get hit by a passing vehicle while she waits for me to park the van,
C) find two open spaces next to one another and hope no one parks next to us so I can freely access the ramp.
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| Original Floor & 3rd Row Before Conversion |
Ability Center works with BraunAbility, a manufacturer of wheelchair accessible vans and wheelchair lifts. Looking through their available inventory of already converted vans, Jesse and I weren't satisfied with what was available. If this was going to be our primary permanent vehicle, we weren't interested in settling even if that meant waiting on a van just because of color! Our patience paid off, and Chip was able to get us the perfect van...but it wasn't converted. So how does that seem perfect? Chip was able to locate a 2013 Toyota Sienna XLE that was purchased from a local dealer and returned with only 200 miles on it and lucky for us it had to be resold at a lesser value because it was considered USED! Chip sent the van off to BraunAbility for conversion in Kalamazoo, Michigan and after 6 weeks, our family Christmas present arrived December 21!
We would like to thank the Ability Center for all of their help and time through this process. Not once did we feel any pressure or feel rushed into making a decision we may have later regretted. Not only did we get an AWESOME wheelchair van, we formed a wonderful friendship with Grandpa Chip!
On behalf of Jesse, Gwen, Quinten, and myself, we wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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| FBC CHRISTMAS 2012 |
