The Free Wheelchair Mission revised their initial press release, which wrongly reffered to Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin was "King of Ghana"

King of Akyem Abuakwa in Ghana to Visit Orange County, CA

The King is Traveling to Attend the July 27th Free Wheelchair Mission Annual Celebration Event

SANTA ANA, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Free Wheelchair Mission announces that His Royal Majesty, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, King of 2.5 million in Ghana's eastern region, has accepted their invitation to be guest of honor and speaker at Free Wheelchair Mission's annual celebration to be held at Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Irvine, California beginning at 5 pm on Tuesday, July 27, 2004.

King Panin is an eloquent and dynamic speaker who has studied in England and the United States. His majesty has regular audiences with foreign rulers and dignitaries including Tony Blair, Prince Charles, and Chief Buthelezi of the Zulu Kingdom of South Africa, among others.

A champion for the disabled in this West African nation, King Panin is a keen advocate of health improvement in Ghana and a passionate supporter of the Free Wheelchair Mission, which provides the transforming gift of mobility -- a free wheelchair -- to the disabled poor in developing countries.

"In wealthy countries, such as the United States, disabled people have much easier access to wheelchairs," said Don Schoendorfer, Founder and President of Free Wheelchair Mission. (Featured in the recent People Magazine article: Wheel Deal http://www.freewheelchairmission.org/people.html). "In many developing countries, however, millions of disabled adults and children live without this basic form of mobility. Many are reduced to crawling on the floor or waiting for a loved one to carry them to fulfill the simplest of needs. Our vision at Free Wheelchair Mission is to deliver 20 million wheelchairs to those in need by the year 2010."

In the pursuit of this vision, Free Wheelchair Mission has grown dramatically in the last three years, delivering 100 free wheelchairs in 2001, more than 4,000 in 2002 and over 20,000 in 2003. The goal for 2004 is to raise $3,000,000 to deliver 75,000 free wheelchairs around the world.

"At $41.17 per wheelchair," said Brett Trowbridge, spokesperson for Free Wheelchair Mission, "the cost to transform a life is incredibly small. How often do any of us have the opportunity literally to pick someone up off the ground in order to show this kind of practical compassion?"

To learn more about the Free Wheelchair Mission and the King please visit the Free Wheelchair Mission website http://www.freewheelchairmission.org.

For media ops with the King and Don Schoendorfer, President and Founder of Free Wheelchair Mission, please contact:

Brett Trowbridge
Marketing Advisor
(714) 931-7443
59brett@cox.net

SOURCE Free Wheelchair Mission
Web Site: http://www.freewheelchairmission.org