Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Greater Geraldton - Issue No.: 782 Issue Date: 29 Apr, 2024

I am going to show you a video about a remarkable project, but first I want to tell you a bit of the story about a remarkable man, who shows what service above self really means, and without whom this project would not exist.

Go back to 1971, St Mark’s boys school in Bedford (Perth) a young, bright, enthusiastic and talented student and footballer (me) first met the man who would be his Maths teacher, his Footy coach and eventually his Woodwork Teacher, and with whom he would remain in contact for the next 40 years.

Ollie Pickett a young Christian brother from Victoria had a passion for teaching (and footy) and it showed. He saw that academia wasn’t the only path to success and over a period of about two years had raised enough money through raffles and cake stalls to buy the materials to make the school’s first woodwork shop, he physically built it himself outside of school hours with a bit of help from a few parents.

Fast Forward to the late 1980’s, and Ollie had taken his first long service leave and travelled to Europe with a fellow Christian Brother. During his leave he decided he still had a lot to achieve in his pursuit to help others. Not long after he returned to Perth he heard about some problems out Girrawheen way where a number of young kids were regularly missing school and getting into strife.  He saw an opportunity, so he went to his boss and told him he didn’t want to return to normal teaching he wanted to go and help these kids do something useful.  After he established a very crude workshop of sorts and with the agreement of the local school and parents soon had the boys making practical things and being engaged.  Of course word spread and he realised this truancy was a wider problem so he again went to his boss and asked if they would fund the purchase of an old ute and a trailer, when they said yes he set about building a mobile workshop so he could reach a wider group of kids.  We had stayed in touch after I left that school in 1975, and I recall one day he came to see me and asked if I could help him source some small fan blades as he was getting these kids to make scale model windmills and selling them to fund the purchase of tools and materials, he was indeed making a difference.

Tony Emmott.

Fast forward again to the mid-nineties, a Rotary Club in Perth was aware of Ollies ventures and suggested they might be able to promote recycling as well as engaging these “non mainstream” kids by collecting old bicycles from the rubbish tip, refurbishing them and giving them to under privileged kids.  So Ollie went off and started scavenging at tips to find bikes, after making a few he realised this was not a practical project and spare parts were hard to find so it was put to rest.  Then around 96/97 he discovered there was a massive need around the world for wheelchairs so he designed one that was robust enough for dirt tracks and rocks and didn’t cost a lot to make, he took it to same rotary club to see if they were interested in helping him get going.  They didn’t have the same vision for the project so this was also put to rest.  Months later while Ollie was searching for something else to be involved in the Rotary Club of Scarborough (after a request from a club in Queensland) came to him and asked if he could make ten wheelchairs as they thought this project might have some merit…… And so it was in 1998 Wheelchairs for Kids began and 32000 wheelchairs later….

In about 2014 Ollies wheelchairs were given the World Health Organisation tick of approval for design and construction.  Unfortunately the over regulated Australian community does not receive any of these chairs as Australian Standards will not allow a three wheel chair to be used, funny that its good enough for anywhere else in the world.

Like I said an amazing man recently bestowed with an Order of Australia Medal takes no credit for any of this work.

                                                        TONY EMMOTT