Rosalie DiMaggio is ramping up efforts once again to help bring medical equipment to Guatemalan people in need.

Two years ago, she and other Dungeness Community Church volunteers sent 146 wheelchairs, 152 walkers, 280 canes, crutches and walking sticks, and many boxes of wheelchair parts to nonprofit agency Bethel Ministries to help people with various mobility challenges.

Volunteers sent the supplies in a tractor-trailer on Sept. 20, 2022, and it arrived on Dec. 24, 2022.

Now DiMaggio, a retired catering chef, looks to replicate the team’s success.

She’s set a second goal to, by year’s end, send at least 150 wheelchairs and other pieces of medical equipment.

“I used to love going on short-term mission trips and I’m older now, so traveling is a little harder, but I can do this,” she said.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Once 150 wheelchairs are received, volunteers at Dungeness Community Church plan to ship them and other supplies to nonprofit Bethel Ministries International in Guatemala to help people with mobility challenges. They sent hundreds of supplies in 2022.

“I can make calls. I can organize.”

So far, DiMaggio has filled one donated unit at All-Safe Mini Storage with wheelchairs, and she looks to receive at least 40 more wheelchairs to fill a second unit before sending them all to Guatemala.

She’ll also need at least $8,200 for shipping.

To help with expenses, Dungeness Community Church, 45 Eberle Lane, hosts a benefit dinner at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27. Cost is $15 with music entertainment, auction items, and donated art for sale, such as pottery, paintings, jewelry, stained glass and more, with proceeds helping with shipping.

To RSVP, call the church at 360-683-7333.

Giving back

DiMaggio felt the need to do another large donation last December and started seeking donations in January with a new strategy: go to care facilities with a flyer on what’s needed.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ In order to ship hundreds of mobility devices to Guatemala, each item must be inventoried in Sequim by Dungeness Community Church volunteers.

She said some business staff have been surprised, saying to her, “You’ll take our used stuff?”

“They’re so grateful,” she said. “They’d have to take it to the dump so it’s a win-win.”

She said Bethel Ministries International hires locals in Guatemala to custom fit chairs for each person and the equipment is accepted in any condition because staffers are trained to make multiple types of repairs.

Each year, the nonprofit distributes about 1,300 repaired wheelchairs through monthly distribution events, according to its website.

DiMaggio said in a prior interview that Dungeness Community Church initially intended to go on a mission trip in October 2020 to Guatemala but it was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic; however, Bethel officials asked for wheelchairs and other medical equipment instead.

She and other volunteers gathered the supplies and raised about $13,000 for shipping to Mission Mobility in Kentucky who handles the logistics of getting the supplies to Guatemala.

Due to the pandemic impacting the supply chain, DiMaggio said there were 20-plus delays over an 18 month period waiting for a tractor-trailer.

Sequim Gazette file photo by Matthew Nash Dungeness Community Church volunteers load more than 500 wheelchairs, walkers, canes, crutches and walking sticks onto a tractor-trailer in September 2022 at All-Safe Mini Storage. Organizers worked nearly two years to gather and ship the supplies to Guatemala.

Once volunteers receive another 40 wheelchairs, DiMaggio feels a shipping container will be more readily available this time with an anticipated ship date by the end of this year, or beginning of 2025.

For those with a donation, call Dungeness Community Church at 360-683-7333, and leave their name and number and DiMaggio will call them back.

For more information on Bethel Ministries International, visit bethelministriesinternational.com.

For more on Mission Mobility, visit missionmobility.org.

Benefit dinner for shipping medical gear to Guatemala

When: 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27

Where: Dungeness Community Church, 45 Eberle Lane

Cost: $15 per person; RSVP to church at 360-683-7333

Features: Dinner, music, live auction, art for sale (woodwork, fused glass, paintings, pottery, jewelry, more) donated by artists, with proceeds to help with shipping wheelchairs, walkers, more to Guatemala

Note: To donate wheelchairs, walkers and other medical gear, call the church at 360-683-7333, and leave a message for call back