May We Help: Providing Hope and Possibilities 

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Rooms with equipment waiting for those who need it greeted me with a visit to May We Help, an organization born out of the need for custom items for people with various disabilities. Wheelchairs, bikes, lifts and even toys have been customized. These clever and thoughtful adaptations make all the difference and as I am shown around, the word “wow” is said repeatedly. 

On the cover of the annual report are the words, “Empowering Hope and Possibilities”. I see both within these rooms. There’s a lot of magic inside this unassuming warehouse on Wooster Pike. 

Founded in 2003 by the “Three Bills”, it all started when Bill Wood (who passed away in 2010 and was the CFO at Tire Discounters) met a young lady with cerebral palsy who enjoyed reading but needed to use a pencil in her mouth to turn the pages. Wood designed a device to turn the pages with the push of a button. Another Bill, Bill Deimling, a factory owner, had created adaptive devices for a family friend. The “Bills” met and joined forces to fill an unmet need-creating custom, commercial-grade assistive devices for people with disabilities.  Upon meeting a third Bill (Bill Sand, an engineer), the idea for May We Help was hatched.

With four hundred volunteers including industrial designers, engineers, welders, seamstresses, doctors, occupational therapists and more, their vision continues and has grown in the 20-plus years since its inception, helping hundreds every year receive custom devices at no cost. 

Their vision is “Empowering everyone with disabilities to increase independence and pursue their full potential by providing the tools they need to thrive while fostering a spirit of giving with our community.”

The Need for Custom Solutions

For someone with a disability, even a single piece of specialized equipment can prove transformative. For the person, for those in their care circle. The volunteer team takes great pride in their work and innovations don’t end with basic needs for mobility; they create adaptive musical instruments, sports equipment, and art tools. Through 2024, May We Help has fulfilled 1,137 custom solution requests. As mentioned earlier, they also adapt toys. 319 Tinkered Toys were delivered in 2024 during the holidays by Santa himself during a festive and inclusive event at their warehouse. Toys are available year-round for birthdays and other occasions. 

Halloween also gives volunteers a chance to bring smiles to children. These clever helpers have transformed wheelchairs into pirate ships, spaceships, magical carriages, and more. 

Parent Amy expressed her gratitude to May We Help, who has been helping her daughter, Ireland, for many years, “They have helped Ireland tremendously, especially Bill Sand, an awesome guy!” Amy shared that Sand has built all versions of daughter Ireland’s appropriately named “Shamrock Express”. As Ireland has grown, Sand has created a whimsical and practical rolling chair to help Ireland, her family, and caretaker navigate their home. In 2019, May We Help connected Ireland’s family with an accessible van being donated, making transportation and adventures possible.

I spoke with Brianne Wilkerson, Program Director, about how it all comes together.

“We were founded on custom solutions so we’re really trying to create things for people that do not exist on the marketplace and are not commercially available and that are really individualized to that person with the goal of helping them engage in daily living activities or recreation and leisure activities and getting them involved with things like sports and music and art and different things like that”.  Wilkerson continues, “A lot of our custom devices are designed with those kind of themes, we take in requests for custom solutions and people say this is the barrier I’m facing, and this is what I want be able to do, then we start with the discovery visit where our volunteers go out and meet that person in their environment and maybe talk with members of their service team and get an idea of what it is that they need.”  Adding, “Sometimes people know exactly what they want, and then other times people just know what they want to be able to do and then our volunteers during that discovery process learn more about that and then they put together about design for the product and then build it and deliver it so that’s the custom solutions piece of things.”

Beyond Custom Solutions, they also provide (for free) adaptive equipment. The demand for adaptive equipment has surged. In 2024, May We Help fielded 656 equipment requests, a 137% increase since 2021. This reflects a growing need in the community. This equipment is donated by community members and can include power wheelchairs, bathroom aids, standers, and more. There is an online request system, and equipment events take place a few times each month. By repurposing this equipment, it keeps it out of landfills and fills a need.

Much of this work takes place in The Bill Wood Invention Shop. For both Custom Solutions and adaptive equipment open houses, volunteers are ready to help. With the sound of metalwork in the background, we explore this space as Wilkerson points out volunteers busy at work. “I think what sets us apart from just going to grab equipment somewhere else is that we have physical therapists who volunteer with us, and those physical therapists are here during our events to make sure that people are getting the right fit.” Adding, “For instance, that sander running over there, it helps make adjustments to fit the person right on the spot.”  I quickly recalled seeing a child’s wheelchair that had a wooden block added to a padded side support to make it fit just right. 

“While they’re here, we can make sure they get the right fit, and then we have our volunteers, who we call our modification experts, will modify the equipment right there on the spot, maybe they need to fix the handle, or they need to add some lateral supports.”

Working with students from local universities, a host of volunteers and the generosity of donors, May We Help is able to serve a growing need in our community, children, adults, veterans, many reach out and May We Help works to find solutions to their needs, all at no cost, saving clients hundreds if not thousands of dollars, thus removing the financial barriers to acquiring this much-needed equipment. If you are interested in learning more about their mission, visit www.maywehelp.org