Welcome to the Huntington University OTD Guatemala Mission Trip 2025 Raffle Fundraiser!
Our Mission
As a student in the Huntington University Doctoral Program in Occupational Therapy in Fort Wayne, IN, we hope to serve in Guatemala on an international outreach in May 2025. This partnership between Huntington University (HU) and Bethel Ministries International (BMI) provides an opportunity to share the love of Christ and serve by providing seating and mobility clinics for people with disabilities in Guatemala. We will be serving alongside licensed occupational therapists or physical therapists to evaluate and fit people with disabilities with a custom wheelchair or other mobility device to provide the gift of mobility. Each person who comes into the clinic will also receive a Bible in their native language and an invitation to become a part of the local church, ensuring follow-up after our short-term team leaves the country. In year’s past, the team has served over 100 people during the outreach, and we anticipate and pray for a similar impact.
Click here to learn more about Bethel Ministries International:
The Trip
The primary need is prayer for our team’s safety, meeting the spiritual and physical needs of those we serve, as well as our preparations leading up to the trip. The other need is financial as each student participant will need to raise approximately $3,000 with a group total of $30,000. The cost of the trip covers our travel expenses as well as support of the outreach. The organization is intentional about investing in local businesses to support our team, providing economic benefit to the local community as well.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 2.5 billion people need some form of assistive technology, with an estimated 3.5 billion people needing assistive technology by 2050. This statistic, along with the fact that only 5-35% of 80 million people in need of a wheelchair have access to one (2024). Providing assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and walkers, is essential to enhancing one’s “fundamental freedoms and equal opportunity” and promoting independence for those with limited mobility (Gowran et al., 2021; Smith et al., 2019).
Huntington OTD 2025 Guatemala Mission Trip Details
05/11/25 - 05/19/25
12 Students & Faculty Serving in Xela, Guatemala
Day 1: Settle in at Xela, Guatemala
Days 2-4: Provide wheelchair repairs and education at the seating clinic
Days 5-6: Provide wheelchair repairs at an orphanage
Days 7-8: Cultural and church days in Antigua
Day 9: Travel home
We can use the World Health Organization’s 8 Steps to provide mobility devices in an under-resourced country, which provides positive outcomes, including increased satisfaction and quality of life (Toro et al., 2015). These steps include:
- Referral
- Assessment
- Prescription
- Funding and ordering
- Product preparation
- Fitting and adjusting
- User training
- Follow-up and maintenance/repairs
On this mission trip, we aim to focus on assessment, product preparation, fitting and adjusting, user training, and maintenance/repairs.
The mission of Bethel Ministries International (BMI) is to advance social transformation by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ by meeting the spiritual, physical, intellectual, and emotional needs of individuals (BMI, n.d.). By working with this ministry, students can serve those in Guatemala by meeting those specific needs.
Ready to win some fabulous prizes?
Our raffle date is from January 30-March 30
Your donation will be divided into $5 tickets. For example, donating $100 would be 20 ticket entries.
Our Raffle Prizes
Make a Donation
If you are interested in supporting us financially through a donation, you can mail a check made out to Huntington University with “Guatemala OTD 2025” written in the memo line to the address below. Simply detach the bottom portion of this letter and include it with your check.
If for some reason we are unable to participate in this mission trip, the IRS does not allow us to refund gifts. However, your wonderful donation will fund another student participant and/or will contribute to furthering of the Gospel. Donations are tax-deductible (as long as you are not the parent of the participant) and you will receive a donation receipt for tax purposes.
References
- Bethel Ministries International. (n.d.). About Us. Bethel Ministries International. https://www.bethelministriesinternational.com/about-us/
- Gowran, R. J., Bray, N., Goldberg, M., Rushton, P., Barhouche Abou Saab, M., Constantine, D., Ghosh, R., & Pearlman, J. (2021). Understanding the global challenges to accessing appropriate wheelchairs: Position paper. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3338. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073338
- Smith, E. M., Rismani, S., Ben Mortenson, W., Mihailidis, A., & Miller, W. C. (2019). “A chance to try”: Exploring the clinical utility of shared-control teleoperation for powered wheelchair assessment and training. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 73(6), 7306205020p1-7306205020p11. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2019.032151
- Toro, M.L., Eke, C., & Pearlman, J. (2016). The impact of the world health organization 8-steps in wheelchair service provision in wheelchair users in a less resourced setting: A cohort study in indonesia. BMC Health Services Research, 16(26). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1268-y
- World Health Organization. (2024, January 2). Assistive technology – Key facts. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/assistive-technology